Pepsi Co. owns the 2nd largest soft drink market share in the United States. While their biggest competitor Coca Cola continues to dominate the market, it may be time for Pepsi to carve out their share in another arena: alcoholic.

Pepsi has long been the Peyton Manning to Coca Cola’s Tom Brady like dominance. During prohibition, many drinkers used soft drinks to cut the taste of moonshine furthering the desire for mixed cocktails. Pepsi suffered in a large defeat as the potential king of drink mixers in the 1940’s at the hands of the Andrews Sisters. They second largest hit of the 1940’s was their song, “Rum and Coca Cola.”

Coke has long been synonymous as a drink mixer with common favorites such as a Rum and Coke or a Captain and Coke. But, Coca Cola as the family friendly market leader in the soft drink world, would not outright advertise as a drink mixer. Pepsi as the hip alternative to your parents soft drink has an opportunity to capitalize on a sluggish market. They could use their current offerings in either a direct partnership with specific alcohol brands (ala Captain and Coke), create their own RTD (Ready To Drink) alcoholic beverages, or offer frozen mixers ready to be blended similar to that of frozen daiquiri or margarita mixes.

In 2019, following the crash of the craft beer market, consumers began to expand their alcoholic interest toward RTD beverages and bourbon/American whiskeys. Focusing on these trends, Pepsi could use their already household name to promote their new offerings into a market practically untouched by soft drink companies. They would have a leg up over their competition (Coca Cola and Keurig Dr. Pepper) by entering the market before them in order to offer a adult alternative to their already established products or recommended pairings with their current product line.

They already possess the product design and testing teams from their soft drink line as well as the logistical ability to manufacture and distribute their new offerings alongside their current products. They could also leverage their existing contracts with restaurants to include these new products in establishments nationwide.

That being said, I believe that testing of this new product in a marketplace that has characteristics that would promote the usage of this product would be key in judging the potential success nationwide. I have selected the Northern Virginia market as an ideal testing ground for a few reasons. The typical consumer is generally more affluent than more rural settings and may already have a taste for this type of product. Northern Virginia is known not just for the fast pace of business, but for the many local distilleries and large bar culture among millennial white collar workers. Finally, the Northern Virginia area is a melting pot of people from all over the country and all over the world. It would allow Pepsi to, in a small scale, analyze how this product is consumed by people, of all ages, who have come to this area from elsewhere. to judge a potential nationwide release.