In an interview with the Journal, the Plano, Texas-based beverage company's chief marketing officer, Jim Trebilcock, said the newly "restaged" 7UP will hit U.S. stores in September, and that the company is using technology to give the drink a "crisper" lemon and lime taste.[image-nocss]
Dr Pepper also will use new graphics on the brand's packaging, said the report.
Trebilcock said the moves could help raise the brand's sales volume as soon as the fourth quarter.
7UP is a key brand for Dr Pepper in the United States and is the company's biggest-selling carbonated drink after its namesake Dr Pepper, according to the report.
"We grew 7UP last year. We wanted to see if we could accelerate it," Trebilcock told the newspaper.
In relaunching its 7UP brand, Dr Pepper appears to be trying to make a bigger push against rival brands from its bigger U.S. competitors, like PepsiCo's Mountain Dew and Coca-Cola's Sprite., said the report. 7UP has lagged these brands domestically in terms of market share.
According to the report, citing trade publication Beverage Digest, 7UP has a 1% share of the U.S. carbonated soft-drink market, Mountain Dew has a 6.7% share, and Sprite has 5.5%.
"7UP has performed better recently. They may have started getting some momentum. Keeping the pressure on makes sense," John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest, told the paper.
Dr Pepper Snapple's flavored soft drinks, including Dr Pepper, have done well, even though overall volumes in the broad carbonated soft-drink market in the United States have been declining, the report added.
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo's U.S. carbonated soft-drink volumes fell last year, according to Beverage Digest, but Dr Pepper's soda volume rose 4.8%. Last year, those gains were fueled by the company's new Dr Pepper Cherry product, the report said.
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