CASE STUDY 3: PEPSI PREBIOTIC- MARKETING, STRATEGY, BRAND TRANSFORMATION, ADVERTISING

Deepika Sriraman
Sep 28
5 min read

Project Overview

Pepsi Prebiotic - A Marketing, Strategy, Brand Transformation, and Advertising Case Study

For Client: Pepsi

Pepsi is excited to introduce a new "Diet" version of their classic prebiotic cola, carefully crafted to be free of aspartame and caffeine, and enriched with vitamin B12. It will be launched in January 2026.

It uses monk fruit as a natural sweetener, appealing to health-conscious Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha.

Their goal is to embrace the health food market and produce at scale, making healthy choices accessible and affordable for all, without sacrificing great taste, all while leveraging their trusted Brand Equity.

Business Objective: Launch a new classic Diet Pepsi variant of its prebiotic cola (aspartame-free, caffeine-free, monk fruit sweetened with vitamin B12) as a health-conscious, next-generation soda.

Drive awareness, trial, and sales while positioning Pepsi as the choice for modern, health-focused consumers. This cola has zero calories without the slightly bitter aftertaste from Aspartame.

Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha prioritize sustainability, natural ingredients, and wellness. They want beverages that taste good without compromising their flexible lifestyles or values. Gen Z, in particular, values alcohol alternatives, and Millennials value “better-for-you” drinks—both groups prioritize eco-consciousness.

Marketing strategy: Position Classic Diet Pepsi Prebiotic as the cola of the future—healthy, sustainable, fun, and social.

Disclaimer:

Deepika Sriraman conceptualized the above case study based on a marketing brief she received for a Digital Marketing Capstone Project at Columbia Business School for “Diet Pepsi”.

Deepika Sriraman adapted the case study by updating the facts to reflect current market conditions. She incorporated Pepsi’s upcoming product launch, Pepsi Prebiotic Cola, set to debut online in fall 2025 and in retail stores in early 2026. Source: Press Release. This adjustment ensures real-world relevance while meeting all Capstone project requirements for Columbia Business School.

To further enhance the product and make the drink healthier, more relevant, and more appealing in the current competitive market, she redesigned the upcoming Pepsi Prebiotic Cola by launching a "Diet" version that contains no Aspartame. This demonstrates “Brand Transformation," "Relevance," and "Strategy."

Pepsi Gen Next - The same great flavor of Classic Pepsi Cola and Pepsi Prebiotic Cola, but with Zero Calories, that includes Prebiotics, B12, and natural ingredients for health-conscious lifestyles.

The competitor analysis for Pepsi was included as a mandatory component of the assignment brief and was not intended as a personal critique. Deepika Sriraman also uses products from other brands and endorses them accordingly.

Facts (As per the exact data provided by Columbia Business School):

PepsiCo Links to an external site.is a leading food and beverage organization that manufactures and distributes their products in more than 200 countries. You can see a list of PepsiCo’s sub-brands here Links to an external site..

Your task is to create a digital marketing strategy for the Diet Pepsi beverage.

PepsiCo works with a variety of advertising agencies to produce and promote their marketing content, both online and offline. It is your role to coordinate these efforts, within the organization and with external partners.

PepsiCo* works with one advertising agency for their creative concepts that will run in TV ads, as well as on digital platforms.

The organization works with a separate agency for digital marketing across display, paid search, and SEO.

Another agency handles social media, influencers, and video marketing.

The balance between online and offline marketing is shifting for PepsiCo, similar to many large organizations. Where the organization would historically create TV ads and then post them online, now it starts with a digital-first mentality.

In 2021, PepsiCo sponsored the Super Bowl halftime show instead of running TV ads during the game. In the lead-up to this year’s Super Bowl, PepsiCo want to run a digital marketing campaign that will culminate in a TV ad during the game.

PepsiCo will also have TV spots for two of their other brands: Mountain Dew and Tropicana.

The core objectives of the Diet Pepsi digital marketing campaign are to:

Drive traffic to the Pepsi website and social media channels before, during, and after the game.
Use innovative tactics that will attract media attention through digital marketing.
Increase awareness of Pepsi’s new packaging, which is 100 percent recycled and recyclable.
Increase purchase likelihood with the target audience. (Diet Pepsi has 3.8 percent of the US soft drinks market, compared with 7.9 percent for Diet Coke. Source: Statista.)
Increase online sales of Diet Pepsi.

To create this strategy, you will:

Research and recommend a target audience for Diet Pepsi’s campaign.
Create a brand positioning statement for Diet Pepsi.
Write a creative brief to guide your ad agency (You will not come up with the finished campaign, but you will be responsible for providing a clear brief and some content ideas to steer the agency).
Create a marketing plan for before, during, and after the Super Bowl.
Write guidelines to aid coordination and reduce friction.

Timeframe: This activity will last for one month.

Budget: $700,000 (digital marketing only—this does not include the ad agency creative costs).

*This is an invented scenario that does not reflect the real advertising situation at PepsiCo.

Requirements:

1. Challenge statement: Clear business objective, customer insight, marketing strategy, targets, and budget.

2. Data analysis and insights: What do you know about this customer? Can you use research data from last year’s Super Bowl? What further data will you ask for?

3. The customer journey and channel mapping: How does this customer typically find/research/buy your product? How does this map to marketing channels?

4. Brand positioning and competitors: Where does this brand sit within their competitive space? What’s the reason to believe for consumers?

5. Creative brief: How will you brief PepsiCo’s ad agency to enable them to produce an effective content campaign?

7. Intrafirm and Interfirm considerations: Do you need to coordinate with other PepsiCo brands? What about different marketing agencies? Are there data, tech, or organizational questions to address?

8. Digital marketing channels: Which channels will you use to promote the campaign?

9. Proposed plan: When will different channels run the ads? How will you ensure that they work together for maximum impact?

10. Assumptions and risk mitigation: What assumptions are built into your plan? How will you correct your course if things do not go to plan?

11. Budget allocation: How will you split the allocated budget across channels for optimal efficiency? How will you analyze the results and optimize once the campaign data is available?

12. Metrics: Which metrics will you look at for each channel? How do they fit with the purchase journey?

13. Future opportunities: Based on your research on the future of digital marketing, what are the three big opportunities that this brand should be aware of? Why?

Additionally, by Deepika: Creative - Ad Copies, Can Mock Up & Advertising.