The Pepsi-Cola Story

The Pepsi-Cola Story

Summer of 1898, a young pharmacist Caleb Bradham looking for ways to attract people to his pharmacy invented the beverage now known around the world as Pepsi-Cola. After the first advertisement the sales of the new soft drink began to go up. Knowing the importance of good distribution system Pepsi was one of the first to switch from horse drawn transport to motor vehicles. Throughout its existence Pepsi adjusted its marketing strategies trying to keep up with the social and economic conditions of its consumers. During the Great Depression and continuing into the World War II Pepsi emphasized the low prices of the drink knowing that people had narrowed their budgets. In the mid. 1950s the emphasis fell on Pepsi being a lifestyle accompaniment. The breakthrough move by Pepsi was made in the late 1950s to capture the market of new generation of baby boomers. Its best known advertisement slogans such as “You’re in the Pepsi Generation”, “Have a Pepsi day” or “You’ve got a lot to live, Pepsi’s got a lot to give” set a new standard for advertising. To dominate in a soft drink category Pepsi, after 65 years of selling only Pepsi-Cola, introduced new products: “Mountain Dew and Diet Pepsi.” To capture the completely new market of X-ers, throughout 1980s and 1990s Pepsi’s commercials featured superstars, supermodels, actors and sport stars. In the mid. 1980s Pepsi-Cola declared a victory in the cola wars.

Keeping Pepsi-Cola as its cash cow presidents of Pepsi-Cola decided to back up their positions by investing in a fast food restaurants and snack industry. In 1965 the new PepsiCo resulted from the merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito Lay’s, Inc.. Pepsi-Cola stuff knew that in order to survive in the direct competition with giants like Coca-Cola they will have to come up with more innovative products. Pepsi-Cola Company now accounts for 25% of the world’s soft drinks with more than 70% of its sales coming from North America. In the beverage category Pepsi-Cola Company had some losses but are thinking of restructuring their strategies to create a new and even more dominant beverage company. Frito-Lay Company is the most successful snack chip company on Earth with 5 of its products leading the world snack chip market. Frito-Lay leads the market with a greatest margin of lead from the closest competitor. By 1996 Frito-Lay operated in 39 countries what means that there is a long way to go. With over 30,000 restaurants, PepsiCo has more restaurants than any other company in the world. Today the new PepsiCo has grown to be one of the largest consumer products companies in the world with its best known brands such as “Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, Frito Lay and Lay’s Potato Chips.”

Knowing how important innovations are to the constantly changing environment in which consumers become more spoiled than ever, PepsiCo as always chooses the right strategy. Starting in the mid 1960s when Pepsi-Cola came up with its “Mountain Dew” the company saw the birth of an additional cash cow whose benefits it still enjoys. To appeal to the enormous variety of tastes in the early 1990s, Pepsi-Cola came up with the caffeine free versions of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew. Later they introduced the “Slice” to expand Pepsi’s soft drink portfolio. Through a partnership