Diet Pepsi Max

According to a survey of over 1,000 people, commissioned by Diet Pepsi MAX, 84% of Americans experience a daily "afternoon slump," and more than half of respondents admitted to yawning up to five times a day. 86% believe that those yawns are contagious, and Diet Pepsi MAX said it plans to do something about it.

"It's evident that Americans are tired and could use an extra kick to help get them through the day," said Russell Weiner, VP, Colas, Pepsi-Cola North America. "Diet Pepsi MAX was designed to offer a great-tasting solution with a unique formula that invigorates the mind and body, preventing those ill-timed yawns from taking over."

I love this marketing campaign, trying to spruce up a cool old brand before releasing it here in the US. Pepsi Max has been around for a LONG time, introduced everywhere except the US over 15 years ago. Why so long the wait? That Ace K they use for sweetening the drink was not approved by the FDA until last year, so they could not release it here. But now they spruced it up, added in more caffeine and filled our grocery soda shelves with a hidden energy drink.

Buzz/Nutrition:8
Diet mountain dew, the soda closest to being an energy drink still found in vending machines, has some serious competition on its hands... Pepsi's new ginseng infused diet cola boosts the caffeine content to 46 milligrams per 8 ounce serving compared to 24 mg in regular Diet Pepsi. That is really not sucha bad number for a soda, actually topping all the charts for that category. Sure other drinks have more caffeine, but not any others that consider themselves soda pop (even though drinks like Monster and Nos sure taste like one). A 12 ounce bottle has 69 milligrams of caffeine, which is more than Diet Mountain Dew and Mellow Yello with 55 and 51 mg per 12 ounce. The sweeteners used are acesulfame K and aspartame, so there are no calories to speak of in here. So yes folks, with the added ginseng content, this drink would fall in the Banned category at Hillsborogh Middle category and not allowed in school grounds. No nutrition here - its soda pop.

Taste:7
Unless you are a cola connessuer , this tastes like slightly more sweetened pepsi. Even then, it would take some real taste bud memory to compare to regular diet pepsi. If you fall by the pepsi side of the cola wars, this might be right up your alley. Still beware, for kids or people very sensitive to caffeine, this soda does have quite a punch in it.

Packaging:7
its soda packaging - and it is OK. Not amazing, but not bad. It lists all the good stuff and does not hide behind proprietary blend labels where there is no disclosure of caffeine or other mood enhancing drugs. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to be ashamed of either.

Website: 9 - http://www.wakeuppeople.com/
Very clean and full of information. Great use of flash and video, plus all the info you could want on the brand. Love the local flavor by inputting the state identifier so it says WAKE UP DENVER, (or whatever city you are in). The videos are hilarious, and there is definitely enough forethought into design as well and development. And going all the way to do marketing and research into yawning is a pretty awesome idea, really...
Topics: Extra-caffeinated soda