Global soft drinks giant PepsiCo is to axe its Pepsi Edge brand.
The 'mid calorie' cola drink, launched a year ago with 50% less sugar than its full-calorie Pepsi stablemate, is deemed a failure by the US-headquartered company.
Before its launch, industry analysts warned that consumers would not understand how Pepsi Edge differed from the company's other diet products and PepsiCo now admits: "If we've learned anything, it's that consumers are more interested in zero-calorie diet colas than mid-calorie diet colas."
The company's arch rival, Coca-Cola, has a similar product, C2, which is having similar problems - although Coke is not yet ready to swing the ax. That may come with the imminent launch of diet brand Coke Zero, a new product distinct from the hugely succesful Diet Coke range.
Data sourced from AdAge.com; additional content by WARC staff
