How a Legacy Soda Brand Outmaneuvered Pepsi

Yes, you read that correctly—Sprite has surpassed Pepsi as America’s third soda of choice. Dr Pepper clinched the number two spot, with Coke winning the gold. For Coke, which owns the Sprite brand, this means its product portfolio secures a large chunk of the soda market. 

As a Gen Xer and longtime CPG industry insider, this headline shocked me. Quite frankly, I never expected to see that in my lifetime, particularly because Pepsi has been quite successful in its guerilla-style marketing strategy (for example, the Pepsi Challenge) and other tactics still in use today by many in the CPG world. In short, Pepsi drove consumption, and lots of it! So how did Sprite dethroned   Pepsi, and what lessons can we learn?  

Sipping Success 

Sprite has long leaned on pop culture to market its brand, specifically basketball and hip-hop. It continues to do so today, but updated for a more modern audience. Let’s look at a few examples: 

• In 2024, Sprite relaunched its 30-year-old “Obey Your Thirst” campaign with two sports stars: the NBA’s Anthony Edwards, and track-and-field sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, the brand’s first female athlete partner. 

• Sprite is on trend, partnering with Doechii before the rapper blew up; Richardson’s commercial dropped just months before she won a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

• QR codes on packaging lead to online experiences, like a collab with Black House Radio, a platform for Black DJs. 

• Sprite became a founding sponsor of Unrivaled, a women’s basketball league. 

• Sprite scored a pretty significant flavor win with Sprite Chill, a limited-edition soda featuring a proprietary “cooling innovation.” Sprite Chill: 

• Is now a permanent product, after becoming Coke’s top seller in 2024 with $50 million in sales in 21 weeks. Sprite hired an NBA player, Trae Young, to star in its ads for Sprite Chill. 

• Has sold $100m in the past 12 months. Josh Kroo, VP of sparkling flavors at Coca-Cola, told Adweek, “It’s not just another flavor; it’s an experience.” 

Sprite has created experiences with its marketing (an often talked-about theme in my past articles) with highly successful results. According to Kroo, “Experiences are what younger consumers are looking for, whether that’s a unique vibe, a digital experience, or a new flavor.” For example, a recent TikTok hack is a fountain Sprite with three pumps of vanilla syrup, which apparently tastes like cotton candy. 

As I have also mentioned in previous articles focused on Blue Ocean Strategy that Sprite recognized the very bloodied waters of the “Soda Market Red Oceans” and chose not to look to the competition to define its strategy, but to look at new markets, new users, and delivering value at more consistent and lower cost. In fact, one could argue they took a play or two from Pepsi’s past winning campaigns and refreshed them for its consumers, all the while delivering a great experience in its consumers’ buying journey.  

For some, the bronze medal is not enough—though in the soda wars, this is definitely a gold-winning strategy and execution!  

How Can We Help?  

Let our Consumer Strategy Practice help define your consumers, their values, and—most importantly—the experiences they are seeking that have not yet been satisfied. Led by industry veteran Michael Johnson, our Branding, Strategy, and Marketing (BSM2) practice focuses on understanding the evolving marketplace and changing consumer behaviors. We work with brands to develop market strategies that are deeply connected to consumer needs.  

Further, our Business Transformation and Leader Development Practice, which cultivates high-performing leaders who can inspire and motivate teams, is more important today than ever. Led by Dr. Frank Niles, PhD, Business Psychologist at BSM Partners, this team can help develop and retain the leaders and teams needed to elevate your business. 

From consumer strategy to leader development, our comprehensive expertise helps brands, retailers, and services of all sizes make competitive comebacks and captivate your consumers today and those soon to be!  

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About the Author

Eric Rittenhouse works at BSM Partners as Business Development Manager. His areas of expertise include business development, sales and trade marketing while helping brand companies uncover and execute on opportunities to strategically dominate their niche in the consumer product space. He has completed the Blue Ocean Practical Introduction certificate by the Blue Ocean Academy and is Action Selling Master Certified by Action Selling and The Sales Board.