PEPSI ONE: PHIL MARINEAU.(marketing plans for Pepsi One diet cola)(Brief Article)

Advertising Age, June, 1999 by Kramer, Louise

When a new sweetener won long-awaited approval from the Food & Drug Administration last July, Phil Marineau wasted no time. That day, the president-CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America announced the marketer would launch Pepsi One, a new diet cola made with the sweetener, Ace-K.

It was the first new national brand for Pepsi in six years, and Mr. Marineau's first big splash since joining the company in late 1997. The former Quaker Oats Co. executive-credited with building up Gatorade- backed the cola launch with a $100 million marketing blitz.

The headline-grabbing effort helped wake up the sleepy diet cola segment of the $54 billion U.S. soft-drink business, and signalled a new aggressiveness at the nation's No. 2 cola company.

Pepsi One was...

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