Failure: Dr Pepper TEN ; The difficulties facing "not quite diet" carbonated soft drinks

Summary
Carbonated soft drinks face an increasingly hostile environment, with consumer health concerns continuing to pressure sales across the board. This includes the diet segment, with consumers being lost to non-soda categories both on health grounds and due to perceptions that diet sodas are experientially inferior to their full-calorie siblings. This has led a number of major producers to experiment with so-called mid-calorie sodas, which offer a taste/flavor experience closer to the original full-calorie product but with a much reduced (but not zero) calorie count. Results to date have been mixed, however, showing a number of weaknesses in the concept.

Key Findings
- Although not a failure in the fullest sense of the word, TEN has not been the all-out success that Dr Pepper's investment in the brand suggested the company hoped it would be. Mid- or low-calorie soft drinks sit in an uncomfortable position between the options consumers are most likely to choose - zero-calorie or the standard product.

- The audience for low to mid-calorie soft drinks like the TEN range may be a transitory one; companies rely on capturing sales from those looking for lower calories but not satisfied by diet soft drinks' tastes. However, those consumers are still likely to migrate to zero-calorie drinks or ultimately out of the perceived unhealthy category altogether.

- As the original marketing campaign for TEN demonstrated, poorly judged demographic clichés can be very damaging to a product's chances, and hurt the overall umbrella brand. It can call into question the strategic decision-making of the brand owner and the values it may (or may not) have as a business.


Synopsis
"Failure Case Study: Dr Pepper TEN" is part of Canadean's Successes and Failures research. It examines the details of and reasons behind the failure of Dr Pepper's TEN platform, the business's mid-calorie soft drink product.It delivers the critical "what?", "why?", and "so what?" analysis to teach you crucial lessons that increase your chances of launching successful products.


Reasons To Buy
- Reduce the risk of failure by learning from brands/products that have under-performed: failed innovation can severely impact profit and reputation.

- Understand the relevant consumer trends and attitudes that drive and support innovation success so you can tap into what is really impacting the industry.

- Gain a broader appreciation of the fast-moving consumer goods industry by gaining insights from both within and outside of your sector.

- Access valuable strategic take-outs to help direct future decision-making and inform new product development.

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