PepsiCo is to bring back early-2000s CSD Pepsi Blue in the US.
The berry-flavoured Pepsi, which first launched in 2002, will return to shelves from 3 May, PepsiCo said late last week. According to the company, the limited relaunch – for an undisclosed period – is down to consumers “clamouring” for a Pepsi Blue comeback.
PepsiCo said the return comes in time for the warming weather and the return of summer-time activities “from marathon barbecues to afternoons by the pool or binge-watching comfortably in the AC”.
Pepsi Blue will be available in 20oz (59cl) bottles and multi-packs.
The beverage, which is blue in colour, was first rolled out in August 2002, a few months after Coca-Cola launched Vanilla Coke. PepsiCo’s North American management said at the time the soda had the “potential to reinvigorate the cola category”.
Pepsi Blue was discontinued in 2004.
The move follows other attempts to play on consumer nostalgia for past beverages. In 2019, Coca-Cola briefly revived New Coke as part of a marketing campaign with Netflix show Stranger Things while, in 2016, PepsiCo returned the 1990s-era Crystal Pepsi to its North America portfolio for a limited time.
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