I admit it - I'm a fan of Pepsi Throwback. It just arrived in Canada and I snapped up a case as soon as I could. In fact I've dropped my usual Coca-Cola on the weekend in favour of Pepsi's retro cola.
But marketing Pepsi throwback is an interesting challenge, isn't it? It's almost like admitting there's something about your current product that isn't as good as it used to be, hence the need to reintroduce an old formula as a "throwback".
In the 80s and I guess part of the 90s, pop was made with real sugar. To save money, major drink manufacturers slowly moved to high-fructose corn syrup. As a teen I didn't really care, but as a responsible grown up I preferred not to drink high fructose corn syrup. That, and the cola just didn't taste as good.
But now Pepsi from the 80s is back. So what's the message here?
Does it undermine the current Pepsi branding by suggesting that the formula from 20 odd years ago is better than their flagship brand?
Or is it a harmless line extension that will help sell some cola?
I think it's a bit of both.
Bringing a cola product to market that pushes the "made with real sugar" angle certainly suggests that there's a reason you'd want to have sugar rather than corn syrup. It would be like launching a KitKat bar made with "real chocolate" (slight exageration but chocolate substititues have increasingly shown up in chocolate bars over the years to keep costs down so you're getting a lot less chocolate than you used to.)
And once you switch a cola drinker to the retro product, you'd better be prepared to keep it on the market since you may not get them back if you pull it. They may seek out sugar-based alternatives (the premium "Jones Soda" brand would be one option).
However, Coke currently doesn't offer a sugar-based option so its possible Pepsi will sway some cola drinkers who keep hearing bad things about high fructose corn syrup.
And, if you assume most current Pepsi drinkers skew younger because of the brand's relentless pursuit of the younger end of the market, a "throwback" product doesn't seem terribly likely to cannibilze sales (teens and 20-somethings don't think much of retro products).
Should be interesting. In the meantime, I'll keep enjoying a small slice of younger days.
