Pepsi, originally introduced as Brad’s Drink in 1893, has since grown into a multi-billion-dollar brand that has much more than just cola to offer.
PepsiCo’s Empire.
Pepsi is manufactured by PepsiCo, which also owns well-known brands such as Walker’s crisps (Lay’s potato chips), Doritos, Tropicana, 7 Up, Mountain Dew, Naked Juice, and Nobby’s Nuts.
A drugstore creation.
In 1893, Pepsi – or Brad’s Drink was created and developed by Caleb Bradham in his drug store in New Bern, North Carolina, United States, where the drink was later sold.
It was renamed Pepsi-Cola on August 28, 1898, due to two of the ingredients used in the recipe, which were pepsin and kola nuts.
The original recipe also included vanilla and sugar.
In 1903 Pepsi Cola became an official trademark. Also this year, they moved from Caleb’s drug store to a rented warehouse, and within a year, Pepsi was sold in six-ounce bottles, with its sales increasing to 19,848 gallons.
Peps-Cola hits the spot.
A year later, in 1905, the Pepsi-Cola logo was also designed and used.
In 1909, Pepsi was advertised by a famous racer at the time, who described the drink as “A bully drink… refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race.”
The slogan for the advertisement campaign was “Delicious and Healthful,” which was used for over 20 years.
In 1922 & 1933, The Coca-Cola Company was offered a chance to buy the Pepsi-Cola company, and it declined on three separate occasions.
In 1926, Pepsi had its first logo redesign since the original design in 1905, and only three years later, the logo was changed again.
From the early 1930s, Pepsi-Cola’s most used slogan was “Pepsi-Cola Hits the Spot,” – which was used again for over 20 years.
Pepsi-Cola Company was out-of-pocket.
In 1931, during the Great Depression, the Pepsi-Cola Company entered bankruptcy, mainly due to the rapid increase in the price of sugar after World War I.
The Pepsi trademark was sold to Roy C. Megargel, then shortly after sold to the President of Loft Inc, Charles Guth. Loft Inc was a candy manufacturer with several successful retail stores.
After the company got into an argument with Coca-Cola about discounts on syrup, Charles Guth used the company’s chemists to reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula.
Finding gaps in the market & backlash.
In 1936, Pepsi-Cola introduced a 12-ounce bottle for the same price as a 6.5-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola. With a clever radio advertising campaign targeting anyone trying to save money, Pepsi-Cola’s profits doubled within two years, taking them out of bankruptcy.
By the 1940s, Walter Mack became the President of Pepsi-Cola, where he aimed Pepsi-Cola at African Americans to increase sales, as soda for African Americans was an untouched gap in the market.
After a couple of years – and many problems – he hired Edward F. Boyd to run the campaign, where he led a team of black people around the country to promote Pepsi.
During this time, Edward Boyd’s team received a lot of racial discrimination, from insults by Pepsi co-workers to threats by the Ku Klux Klan.
During this campaign, they visited Chicago, where the sales of Pepsi overtook Coca-Cola for the first time.
The only problem with the advertising campaign was that by directly aiming Pepsi at black people, they were cutting out everyone else, which is not what they intended to do, as a result, once Walter Mack left the company in 1950, the black sales team was no longer used.
The rising of yet another president.
In the 1950s, the new president for Pepsi-Cola was Alfred N. Steele, whose wife, Joan Crawford – an actress – became the spokesperson for Pepsi, appearing on television advertising Pepsi.
She took on Alfred Steel’s role when he died in 1959.
Also, now is probably a good time to mention that Pepsi became the sixth-largest military in the world.
Joan held this position until 1973.
During this time, the Pepsi logo was redesigned again, which was used until 1987.
In 1975, PepsiCo set up a blind tasting between Pepsi-Cola and rival Coca-Cola; during these blind taste tests, the majority of people picked Pepsi as their favorite of the two.
This was advertised worldwide for many years, and more and more people agreed that Pepsi was the better-tasting cola.
In 1987, the font of Pepsi in the logo was slightly modified to a more rounded version which was used until 1991.
In 1991, Pepsi was sold in Israel for the first time.
Pepsi Center is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena in Denver, Colorado, United States.
Pepsi sponsors the Pakistan cricket team.
If celebrities love Pepsi – so will you!
Over the years, PepsiCo has used many celebrities to advertise Pepsi, some of these include Joan Crawford, Cindy Crawford, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, One Direction, and Beyoncé.
In 2007, PepsiCo redesigned its cans for the 14th time!
In 2009, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi & Pepsi Max used the lower-case font for the Pepsi name brand.
In 2012, Pepsi introduced Pepsi Next, which has half the amount of calories as a regular Pepsi.
In Back to the Future Part II, in the scenes set in 2015, a variation of Pepsi shown in the movie was Pepsi Perfect, which is not an actual Pepsi product… yet!
Pepsi flavors around the world…
Finally, if, like me, the only flavor you’ve seen of Pepsi is cherry, then you’ll be shocked to know there have been many flavors produced around the world.
If you’ve never heard of the Pepsi Ice Cucumber flavor, here are a few more of the most delicious and bizarre flavors we’ve found:
Australia: Pepsi Samba (Mango and Tamarind flavor).
Italy: Pepsi Twist Mojito.
Japan: Pepsi White (yogurt flavor), Pepsi Blue Hawaii (pineapple lemon flavor), Pepsi Red (spicy ginger flavor), Pepsi Baobab (monkey bread fruit flavor), Pepsi Pink (strawberry milk flavor), Pepsi Mont Blanc (based on a French chestnut dessert), Pepsi Shiso and Azuki Sweet Bean Pepsi.
Poland: Pepsi Summer Chill (apple flavor).
Russia: Pepsi Ice Cream & Pepsi Cappuccino.
Thailand: Pepsi Fire (hot cinnamon flavor) and Pepsi Ice (cool mint flavor).
USA: Pepsi Holiday (cinnamon flavor), Pepsi Vanilla, and Pepsi Jazz, which came in three flavors, black cherry French vanilla, strawberries and Cream, and caramel cream.
