USA Today has just reported that PepsiCo has created a new plastic bottle made entirely of plant material. Made from things like switch grass, pine bark, corn husks and other materials, the company claims the bottle performs exactly like its ugly predecessor: plastic. Named as the keys to the future in one of the most famous lines from that classic film, "The Graduate," plastic has long since lost its shimmer, dulled by the costs to our environment.
But what about the future? A look at our predictive metrics of what's driving loyalty and engagement among consumers in the soda category, we see that "green" increasingly plays a role. how do the brands stack up as "green" against the consumer's Ideal? Let's take a look:
- Pepsi
- Coca-Cola
- 7-Up
- Mountain Dew/ Dr. Pepper
However, values are subtle and very different things, as we in the brand business have long understood. What happens when you shuffle the deck on another value -- in fact, one closer to home on the subject: Recycling?
- Coca-Cola
- Pepsi
- 7-Up
- Mountain Dew/ Dr. Pepper
It turns out, PepsiCo is indeed short of a full liter bottle when it comes to what the bottles are made of, so this move would appear to be going in the right direction for creating more powerful brand engagement. At least in this value, though there are others, bubbling up in the consumer's hierarchy, that may cause all the brands in the category to swallow harder, like what's inside the bottle. That's why a view of the consumer Ideal matters most of all. Brands that have those metrics hold the card to the future.
