>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <000f01bf11b3$67fd3990$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: PDFA folk peddle caffeine to kids >Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 10:34:42 -0700 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >How's this for new heights of hypocrisy? > >The advertising agencies that make up the Partnership for a Drug-Free >America (PDFA), and the PDFA, sponsored in part by Pepsi, use all their >might to convince us marijuana is bad for everyone and medical marijuana is >a hoax. Meanwhile, the same advertising agencies are selling ("positioning") >caffeine to "boys"--and gloating about their success. The LA Times reports >it all as though it were a grand thing. > >---------------- > >National Institute on Drug Abuse has the following to say about caffeine: > >Dependence: A form of physical dependence may result with regular >consumption. In such cases, withdrawal symptoms may occur if caffeine >use is stopped or interrupted. These symptoms include headache, >irritability, and fatigue. Tolerance may develop with the use of six to >eight >cups [of coffee] or more a day. A regular user of caffeine who has >developed a tolerance may also develop a craving for the drug's effects. > >Dangers: Poisonous doses of caffeine have occurred occasionally and have >resulted in convulsions, breathing failure, and even death.] > >--------------- > >Death! Marijuana has never caused convulsions, breathing failure, or death. >Ever. > >I'm afraid I'm going to have to found The Partnership for a Caffeine-Free >America! > >Enjoy, > >Peter > > >--------- > > > > > >LA Times >October 6, 1999 > >Mountain Dew Hits New Heights to Help Pepsi Grab a New Generation > >No. 4 soft drink has succeeded by taking extreme measures since its >hillbilly days and its 'tickle-your-innards' slogan. > > >By GREG JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer > > Over the years, Mountain Dew has distributed pagers to thousands of >youthful consumers and then beeped them with soft drink sales pitches from >popular athletes and entertainers. The citrus-flavored drink with the >caffeine kick has toured with the alternative music world's Warped Tour. And >the brand recently signed on as a sponsor of the new Gravity Games extreme >sports competition. > Despite the steady stream of communication, many of the brand's >youthful fans would be hard-pressed to identify Mountain Dew as a member of >the Pepsi Generation. "They don't know or care who Mountain Dew is owned >by," said Santa Barbara-based beverage industry analyst Tom Pirko. "To them, >it's an irrelevant question. These kids think they own the brand." > That sense of consumer ownership among young male consumers represents >the gold standard for marketers laboring to distinguish brands in an >increasingly look-alike world. "PepsiCo has done an extraordinary job of >positioning Mountain Dew," said Peter Sealey, a UC Berkeley adjunct >marketing professor and a former Coca-Cola Co. executive. "It's probably >Pepsi's most successful positioning since the 'Pepsi Generation' and the >'Pepsi Challenge.' " > The nation's fourth-most popular soft drink, Mountain Dew also was the >fastest-growing top-10 soda brand last year with a 9.9% increase in cases >sold, according to Bedford Hills, N.Y.-based Beverage Digest. Coca-Cola's >Sprite finished second with a 9% increase. Mountain Dew's 20-ounce bottle is >the most popular soft drink sold in convenience stores. And, while the gap >is still huge, there's talk of Mountain Dew some day challenging longtime >No. 3 beverage Diet Coke. Indeed, Mountain Dew reportedly is threatening >Diet Coke in the so-called at-home category, which excludes fountain sales. > > Consumer Tastes Are Changing > Mountain Dew and such flavored soft drinks as Sprite are benefiting >from the change in consumer tastes. Cola drinks remain the driving force in >the soft drink sector, but market leader Coke Classic was flat in 1998, and >Pepsi's share fell by 0.3%. > "Cola, no matter how well you advertise it, is very mature as a brand," >Pirko said. "And that means there's more and more opportunity for other >kinds of drinks, including Mountain Dew and Sprite. Look at bottled waters, >which are growing at the expense of colas, particularly diet colas." > Mountain Dew benefits from the fact that, unlike Sprite, its secret >recipe includes caffeine. "It's almost a stealth cola with that caffeine," >Sealey said. "It's no accident that the top three drinks around the world >are coffee, tea and colas--and each contains caffeine." > Mountain Dew's success, observers say, is a textbook example of how to >reposition a brand. As the 1980s dawned, Pepsi was still pitching the brand >as a hillbilly drink with commercials that urged consumers to "tickle your >innards." Pepsi and longtime ad agency BBDO New York successfully >repositioned the drink during the 1980s as an alternative for savvy youth. > The brand's dramatic growth was jump-started by the "Dew the Dew" >campaign that began in 1995. The campaign is aimed squarely at young >males--but manages to embrace such diverse talents as crooner Mel Torme and >punk rocker Johnny Rotten. Action-packed commercials revolve around four >dudes (Dewds?) who've never met a mountain high enough to keep them from >grabbing a snowboard. > Commercials are still populated by guys engaged in extreme sports. But >marketers have broadened the campaign's appeal through the addition of >urban-oriented commercials starring actor Jackie Chan, athlete Michael >Johnson and rapper Busta Rhymes. Pepsi also is incorporating young women >into the ads. > "The key to creativity is keeping it fresh, again and again and again," >said Ted Sann, BBDO co-chief executive and chief creative officer. "But we >know we're creating [advertising] in a prescribed space, that we have a >product with a certain attitude and dimension. We know we have to be true to >the message we're trying to convey." > Mountain Dew's consistent message to young males has turned the drink >into "one of the two or three strongest brands in the beverage industry >today," said Beverage Digest Publisher John Sicher. "Pepsi has done a >masterful job of marketing Mountain Dew." > > No Time to Gloat for Dew's Marketers > Coke hasn't been sitting idly on the sidelines. It has attacked >Mountain Dew with a pair of citrus-flavored drinks that contain caffeine. >"On my time, Coca-Cola had Mello Yello, and my successors had Surge," Sealey >said. "But both were dead in the water compared to Mountain Dew." > Mountain Dew's marketers know that they can't afford to gloat about the >brand's transformation from hayseed country cousin to a beverage of choice >among savvy young consumers. Soft drink veterans are only too aware of the >success enjoyed by Sprite, which, 20 years ago was a distant second to >category leader 7 Up. Coke's marketing might turned Sprite into the >fifth-most popular soft drink--and relegated 7 Up to the No. 8 spot. > Mountain Dew's ability to one day challenge Diet Coke will be >determined by whether the brand can begin to compete on equal footing with >Sprite in restaurants and movie theaters--outlets where Coca-Cola's fountain >sector has long dominated Pepsi's syrup distribution system. > > Challenging Diet Coke on the Home Front > Mountain Dew also must continue to build strength in grocery stores >where the most important customers are mothers who stock the family >refrigerator. According to a recent report in the trade publication >Advertising Age, Mountain Dew soon may overtake Diet Coke in soft drink >sales for home consumption. > It's only natural, marketers say, for Pepsi to push beyond Mountain >Dew's core demographic. But the soft drink giant must move gingerly to avoid >dulling the brand's razor-sharp positioning. > "That's what it's all about," said Steve Horn, Pepsi's vice president >of marketing for non-cola brands. "We don't want to do it in a way that >makes our core customers question us." > The "Dew the Dew" campaign eventually will age, and, as it does, Pepsi >will face the added challenge of keeping its marketing fresh. Scott Moffitt, >Mountain Dew's director of marketing, recognizes that challenge: "There's a >level of conviction out there [among Dew fans] that you can't fake. You >can't preach to them or tell them what's cool. You have to connect with them >on a level that's beyond the superficial." > > >* * * > > > Dew Point > Colas continue to dominate the soft drink industry, but growth is being >fueled by flavored drinks such as Mountain Dew and Sprite. Market share of >the top 10 sodas: > Coke Classic: 20.6% > Pepsi: 14.2 > Diet Coke: 8.6 > Mountain Dew: 6.7 > Sprite: 6.6 > Dr. Pepper: 6.1 > Diet Pepsi: 5.4 > 7 Up: 2.1 > Diet Coke (Caffeine-free) 1.8 > Minute Maid: 1.2 > >* * * > Source: Beverage Digest > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: