After decades of fighting Coca-Cola to be the nation’s favorite soda, Pepsi dropped to third place, after Dr Pepper. Now PepsiCo needs to win back soda drinkers . WSJ’s Laura Cooper reports that after years of focusing on potato chips and energy drinks, the company’s new beverage head Ram Krishnan is trying to refocus PepsiCo on drinks, in part with an agreement to purchase prebiotic soda brand Poppi. Allison Pohle hosts. Further Listening: - ‘It Came out of Nowhere’: The Rise of Dr Pepper - The Fight to Kick Soda Out of Food Stamps - PepsiCo’s New Healthy Diet: More Potato Chips and Soda Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Hey, it's Kate, here to say that my colleague, Alison Poley, has stepped in to guest host today's episode. Enjoy.
You don't want me to open my Pepsi on here? I can do it. You want to hear it?
Wait, yes.
Oh my God, it's exploding. I'm covered in Pepsi over here. Oh my God.
I recently sat down with my colleague, Laura Cooper, who covers Soda Pop. So, importantly, do you say soda or pop? Soda. I'm from New York. It's all soda to me. I say pop. Where are you from? I'm from Cleveland. I was a big pop drinker growing up. If you're from the Midwest, I'm going to assume probably Pepsi. Yeah, there are a lot of Pepsi products and placements in the Midwest, for sure.
Pepsi wasn't just a part of my life growing up. There was a time when those classic blue cans were embedded in the American zeitgeist. When would you say Pepsi was at its coolest?
I mean, I look back and think that they were the coolest when Britney Spears was selling it back in the early 2000s.
But today, the magic of Pepsi seems to have fizzled. Pepsi, which has almost always been the number two cola in America after Coke, dropped to number three behind Dr. Pepper last year. And now, PepsiCo is reckoning with the fact that Pepsi might not be as cool anymore.
I do think it's an inflection point. And I do think that it's a really emotional issue for everyone who's ever worked at PepsiCo and really loves Pepsi. So PepsiCo needs to save Pepsi. Yes. And they're working on it.
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