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Pepsi quenches thirst for choice
New holiday drinks offered to satisfy demand for variety; exclusive beverage created for Taco Bell.
August 6, 2004: 8:45 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Pepsi has a drink for every occasion, whether it's trick-or-treating, sitting 'round the yule log or running for the border, offering two new holiday-themed soft drinks and a new Mountain Dew drink available only at Taco Bell.

The the world's second-largest soft drink manufacturer said it's offering the new drinks in large part as a response to market demand.

"People like new products. They're much more interested in variety nowadays than they were just a few years ago," Dave Burwick, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America, said in a statement.

According to company statistics, more than half of all soft-drink buyers purchase six or more different brands, and more than 80 percent of soft-drink buyers purchase three or more brands.

The first holiday drink on tap is the Halloween-themed Mountain Dew Pitch Black, which will be sold from Aug. 21 through Oct. 31, according to a Pepsi press release. The new twist on an old favorite combines Mountain Dew with black grape flavor.

Pepsi Holiday Spice, the company's trademark Pepsi-Cola drink mixed with ginger and cinnamon, will be sold from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31.

Tampering with time-tested recipes has given the soft-drink giant somewhat of a boost, with the company's first limited-time offering, Mountain Dew LiveWire, a been a strong performer for the past two summers. According to Pepsi, LiveWire boosted overall sales of Mountain Dew by 10 percent during its six-month run in 2003.

And Pepsi and Taco Bell are launching yet another shade of Mountain Dew available only at the Mexican fast-food chain.

Mountain Dew Baja Blast, featuring a Mexican-inspired tropical lime flavor, marks the first time a beverage company and fast-food restaurant have created a proprietary beverage specifically designed for the food, the strategy being to increase drive-thru beverage sales.

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A Taco Bell press release said two-thirds of its business is generated at the drive-thru. The companies said in a statement that they hope the new drink will give customers a compelling reason to purchase a beverage when they order food, rather than leave and drink what they have at home.

"Pepsi has proven to be a true strategic partner and understands our need to continue to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace," said Greg Creed, chief marketing officer at Taco Bell, in a statement.  Top of page


-- from staff and wire reports




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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.