With soda volume down globally, most brands like Coke are pushing amped-up waters, juices and tea beverages in hopes to keep its increasingly health-conscious consumer in its court. Dr Pepper Snapple Group, however, is swerving heavily back in the direction of that most American of beverages: a can of soda. The company is counting on its new Ten platform—all the taste, just 10 calories—to become the vehicle for a reconnection with soft-drink fans that will stun the industry.

In rolling out 7Up Ten, A&W Ten, Sunkist Ten, Canada Dry Ten and RC Ten, in addition to its existing Dr Pepper Ten, company CEO Larry Young is insisting that Dr Pepper Snapple will not be cowed by increasingly aggressive attacks on the effects of soft-drink consumption on the American diet.

"You have to step up to the plate and take a big swing, so I think it's a necessary action," he said on a conference call recently. "We're not going to sit back and let [attacks] bring our volumes down and affect us. We're behind this." 

Meaning, of course, the company is getting behind its rollout of the Ten platform across the variety of its soft-drink platforms, which comprise a stable of iconic brands that Dr Pepper Snapple has assembled over the years. The company plans a $30 million marketing outlay this year to launch 12-ounce-serving versions of the drinks across the U.S. in 2013.Continue reading...

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Want to get your brand some notice? Start a gender war. That'll get you noticed.

That seems to be the tactic Dr Pepper Snapple Group is taking with its latest product, Dr Pepper Ten. The idea behind the drink, revealed earlier this year, is that men don’t generally like to be seen drinking “diet” sodas so this sugared drink will go over the top to showcase just how manly it is in order to show men that even though it has only 10 calories, that doesn’t mean they have become girly men.

The company has gone so far as to create a Facebook app (dubbed Ten Man'ments) for the soda that invites "men only" to check out content such as a shooting-gallery game in which players aim at lipstick and high heels. It Facebook tab is being promoted with the tagline, "Gendergated, just for guys." You can imagine how that's gone down.Continue reading...

Dr Pepper 10, a new diet version of the classic soft drink, is aiming squarely at men by deriding so-called "lady drinks" with a slogan that reads, "It's not for women." (What would Dr Pepper endorser Fergie think?) 

The 10-calorie (hence the name) beverage is being tested in six US markets ahead of a wider rollout.

Check out its 30-second tongue-in-cheek ode to masculinity below or on its Facebook page, where fans will be able to follow a mobile 'man cave' that will visit American 'testosterone zones' in April.Continue reading...