Picture this: it’s the mid-00s, “diet” culture has died down, and the war on individual ingredients has ramped up. We’ve culturally decided sugar is the enemy, so the dark cola duo, Pepsi and Coke, quickly innovate to swap out sugar with something sugar-like. And since then, the category has boasted zero sugar innovations from most major and non-major brand, and a massive 66% YoY growth. But noticeably missing from the zero sugar conversation had been Dr Pepper.

With the segment growing rapidly, Dr Pepper decided to jump on the moving train to meet our consumers’ needs. We needed to give competitor-drinking consumers a reason to break autopilot and try us.