Having just spoken on New product innovation around the globe last week at the InnoBev Congress in Poland, I fired off a few questions to the PepsiCo press office.
Jeff Dahncke, senior director media bureau for PepsiCo and a company spokesperson, responded with refreshing detail:
How is PepsiCo planning to reinvent the soft drinks market?
Jeff Dahncke: We are keenly focused on innovation across our food and beverage portfolio. Consumers are clearly changing their habits, preferences and consumption patterns, and we have invested in R&D to help us develop more breakthrough innovation that allows us to capture new growth opportunities.
In fact, we opened three new R&D centres in 2012 alone (an Asia R&D centre in Shanghai, a fruit and vegetable centre in Hamburg and a baking centre in Mexico).
Looking specifically at beverages, one area we’re focused on is dialling up our support on zero-calorie products and offering reduced calorie carbonated soft drinks. We see continued progress here, as 49% of our US beverage volume comprised low- or zero-calorie beverages, sports drinks and juices.
Which recent launches that reflect this new image have been most successful?
Jeff Dahncke: Pepsi Next is a platform for cola innovation that has shown good results. In the US, Pepsi Next delivers real cola taste with 60% less sugar than Pepsi-Cola, and the brand achieved more than $100m in retail sales in less than 12 months on the market.
Pepsi Next also just launched a new campaign with actor William Levy.
How are consumers taking to drinks with natural sweeteners?
Jeff Dahncke: We have increased our investment behind natural sweeteners. Trop50 reduced-calorie orange juice, which is naturally sweetened with stevia, is a great example. The brand continues to have terrific success in the US, and also expanded earlier this year into the UK.
In which channels are drinks with natural flavours being sold?
Jeff Dahncke: We see demand from our retail customers across all channels.
Areas I noted in my recent presentation at InnoBev on product innovations around the world include:
Which categories do you see as having traction?
Jeff Dahncke: We are building from our positions of strength in four key platforms: Grains (Quaker), Fruits & Vegetables (Tropicana), Sports Nutrition (Gatorade), and Super-Premium Juices and Protein Smoothies (Naked Juice).
We are also working to unlock growth opportunities in new product categories, such as dairy with our business in Russia, our joint venture with Almarai in parts of the Middle East, and our Muller Quaker Dairy joint venture in the US; hummus and other fresh dips with Sabra and Obela; and baked grains with Stacy’s.
My thanks to Jeff Dahncke for his quick response to my questions. So, there’s plenty happening out there in terms of NPD in beverages, dairy and snacks.
There’s a full PepsiCo AMEA interview coming up soon in Beverage Innovation magazine.
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