Pepsi-Cola North America hasn’t been shy about reaching out to Latinos in marketing for its flagship Pepsi and several other brands.
But now, the soda giant is about to test a beverage specifically designed for the Latino community, and Chicago is the company’s sole test market.
Pepsi this week rolls out Dole Aguas Frescas, a line of non-carbonated, caffeine-free juice developed for the Latino market.
Packaged in single-serve 16-ounce glass bottles and sold primarily in grocery and convenience stores in Chicago, the brand will be supported by outdoor advertising, in-store merchandising and sampling.
Pepsi’s move to test the “home-style” beverage comes at a time when firms are reassessing how they market to ethnic communities, in particular the growing Hispanic market in the U.S.
In the past, companies gave little thought to new products when it came to reaching a certain ethnic group. Instead, marketing was geared to trying to convince consumers to switch to the current stable of products with little regard to specific ethnic tastes.
But over the past few years, marketers have had to change that stance as the population of some of the larger ethnic groups, notably Hispanics, has exploded in this country.
“Latinos have been making this type of product in their homes for years,” said Chris Jogis, senior marketing manager, new products, for Pepsi-Cola North America.
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Jogis likened the product to taking fresh fruit at home and mixing it with water and a sweetener.
Key to the brand’s existence, though, is the Dole name. PepsiCo’s Tropicana unit licenses the Dole trademark.
Jogis said Dole has shown to be a popular brand among Hispanics.
Pepsi plans to run the test only in Chicago for the next six months, periodically looking at the results to see whether it is feasible to add more markets.
Last year, the bottled juice business in the U.S. grew 1.7 percent to $3.6 billion, according to Information Resources. Niche categories in the juice segment grew at an even faster clip.
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