Daily Buzz- March 25, 2009
Posted by Generate Studios on March 26th 2009 in Generate Insight Daily Buzz
Topic: Natural Pepsi
As mentioned back in January, society is returning to a back-to-basics approach. Scaling back on purchases, spending more time with family/friends, and focusing on the ‘realness’ of the people, places and things in their lives. We are now seeing marketers jumping on this societal trend by launching campaigns and products that speak to ‘real’, ‘authentic’ and ‘pure’ experiences. We have seen Dentyne launch a new campaign called ‘Making Face Time’, Coke’s ‘Open Happiness’ and now Pepsi launches a product that embraces the trend – “Pepsi Natural”.
Other then the natural ingredients, the soda is housed in a glass bottle – as opposed to the plastic bottles the regular version is sold in (which is cool and environmentally-safe, but the convenience and breakability may pose a problem with portability).
The ingredients on the ‘natural version include: sparkling water, sugar (as opposed to high-fructose corn syrup) and kola nut extract . Compared to the normal Pepsi, you’ll find a different sweetener, a different type of fizzy water, an additional color source, different acids, and the addition of the kola nut extract. But the real question is, how does it taste?
We had a handful of community members who are both fans of Pepsi and have tried the new ‘Pepsi Natural’. The response was extremely positive. Here are the differences:
- ‘Natural’ didn’t have the acidic smell of regular Pepsi, in fact the insighters said it was odorless.
- ‘Natural’ was darker in color but lighter on taste, meaning that it was smoother and more mellow than the regular Pepsi.
- ‘Natural’ didn’t have an after-taste or the ‘gritty’, ‘sour’ mouth feel of the regular Pepsi.
Overall, Pepsi Natural scored well amongst their fans and our test-sample group of Insighters. Check it out on shelves now!
What our community members had to say about Pepsi Natural:
“I have done the Coke/Pepsi taste test several times – and every time I picked Pepsi. I know how it tastes and know that it tastes 10 times better than Coke. I was shopping with my mom the other day and saw the new ‘Pepsi Natural’. I made her buy it, even though it was a little more expensive. I sold her on the fact that it was made with spring water and natural sugar. When I got home, me and my bro poured out some Pepsi in a glass and some natural. We could definitely tell the difference. Who knew that Pepsi had a weird after taste and sandy feel after drinking. The Natural was like drinking water – it was so smooth. I am a HUGE fan now.” – Leanne, 16
“Pepsi Natural is very good. I love that it comes in a glass bottle – it’s recyclable and just looks classier. It tastes SO much better than regular Pepsi. It’s not as sweet and it’s a lot more mellow on the taste buds. It’s weird because when I drank the regular Pepsi again, it tasted sour to me.” – Chris, 20
“I am a Pepsi girl – always have been – but I wasn’t sold on the Pepsi Natural stuff. I mean, is it really natural? So I read the ingredients in the store – and wow, it is! I added it to the shopping list for my Dad to pick up. We as a family love it. My mom likes that it has no smell to it…Pepsi and other colas do smell funny…my brother likes how it comes in a glass bottle (which I didn’t like because I would drop it and break it– and that’s not good), and I just liked how smooth it was and didn’t leave my breathe smelling all gross 15 minutes after drinking it. My dad said he will definitely add it to the list each week. It’s nice to have natural things inside our bodies, that taste good too. Pepsi rules!” – Diana, 17
“So good, such a great package, a good name by a good brand – and finally it tasted the same as Pepsi but better – less intense!” – Mark, 19
