Pepsi’s big reboot: How the soda giant plans to win back market share from Coke and Dr Pepper

Pepsi’s plans to win back market share

Classic Pepsi is falling behind—and the company knows it. With US market share of Pepsi’s flagship cola slipping behind Dr Pepper, and Gatorade also bleeding customers, PepsiCo is making an all-out push to regain its footing in the American beverage market, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A slow decline in soda sales

Pepsi’s fall hasn’t happened overnight. Since 2010, sales volume of its carbonated soft drinks—including Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Zero Sugar—has dropped 32%, compared to Coca-Cola’s 14% decline, according to Beverage Digest. Pepsi’s signature blue-can cola has slipped to third place in the soda rankings. Even Gatorade, long a staple of the sports-drink market, has lost ground.

The broader challenge? Americans are drinking less soda. They’re shifting toward energy drinks, kombuchas, and healthier options. Health officials labelling sugary drinks “poison” hasn’t helped.

Reboot from the top

Ram Krishnan, PepsiCo’s new North American beverage chief, has launched an aggressive campaign to revive the brand since taking over in February 2024. His strategy includes early-morning store visits, hands-on sales checks, and a marketing reset.

Krishnan’s schedule is relentless: 5 a.m. meetings with sales teams, 7 a.m. roundtables with managers, and store walkthroughs at chains like Walmart, Dollar General, and 7-Eleven. Armed with scorecards, his teams evaluate product placement, shelf fullness, and whether Pepsi is prominently featured at checkout coolers.

“Maybe we lost the focus,” Krishnan admitted. Now, he’s trying to bring it back.

Turning up the pressure—and the ads

Pepsi is trying to reignite the energy of its famous 1980s cola wars. The brand relaunched its Pepsi Challenge this year, pitting Pepsi Zero Sugar against Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. New campaigns claim that Pepsi pairs better with food, citing in-house research on flavour and carbonation. The tagline: “Every burger deserves Pepsi.”

The company has also started to spend more—especially on social media. It’s pushing new ads, focusing on taste, and introducing “undercover agent” campaigns where Pepsi swaps into fast-food meals.

Sales are starting to respond

Krishnan says sales of blue-can Pepsi have increased 5.8% this year, reversing a 1.5% decline in 2024. Pepsi Zero Sugar and Wild Cherry Pepsi are seeing double-digit growth.

But the challenge remains steep. Independent distributors, many of whom have been loyal to Pepsi for generations, say they’ve never seen a worse time for the brand. Some have started distributing rival beverages like C4 Energy.

Fixing what went wrong

Critics argue Pepsi lost ground because it pivoted too hard into snacks and healthy products. Former CEO Indra Nooyi diverted marketing from soda to items like Sabra hummus and Naked Juice. Gatorade and Mountain Dew were also sidelined for new acquisitions like Rockstar energy drinks and Poppi, a prebiotic soda brand bought for $1.95 billion.

Now, PepsiCo is trying to better integrate snacks and drinks under a unified distribution team, hoping to avoid inefficiencies like sending separate trucks for Lay’s and Pepsi to the same store.

The path forward

The company is betting that renewed marketing, more strategic operations, and a simplified message—great taste and food pairings—can revive its soda fortunes. Krishnan insists it’s still early but says proof is emerging that “some of the pivots we are making are working.”

Pepsi isn’t ready to cede the cola wars just yet.