A former Pepsi executive has issued a cryptic message as he prepares to leave the company, just days after the soft drink lost its position as America’s second favorite soft drink.
Todd Kaplan – who oversaw last year’s mega-million dollar rebrand – is leaving after 17 years.
In a LinkedIn post, he had left to “pursue an opportunity outside the company.” He accompanied the message with a rocket ship emoji.
On Monday it emerged that Pepsi has fallen to number 3 – behind Dr Pepper – for soft drink sales in the US.
Coca-Cola, the bitter rival that nearly overtook it in the cola wars of the 1980s, is clearly in first place at number one.
Todd Kaplan and influencer Zach King at the YouTube Brandcast 2024 at David Geffen Hall on May 15, 2024 in New York City
Kaplan became Chief Marketing Officer in 2022 after holding other senior marketing positions.
In 2023, he oversaw the first logo and product redesign in 14 years and pivoted the brand away from the Super Bowl halftime show.
His departure after reports of declining Pepsi sales is a coincidence, says a Pepsi insider.
In the post, Kaplan wrote, “Since joining PepsiCo as an MBA intern, I have been fortunate to cram the equivalent of ten careers into one.”
The news comes days after the standard version of Dr Pepper overtook Pepsi in market share in America.
Just 20 years ago, Dr Pepper’s sales were less than half of Pepsi’s.
At the time, one in nine soft drinks purchased in the US was Pepsi, and Dr Pepper was only the sixth most popular after Sprite.
The diagram belowbased on a report from Beverage Digestshows how the two’s market share has converged – with Dr Pepper now very slightly ahead.
Coca-Cola is still the undisputed king of the $97 billion U.S. soft drink industry, with more than double the market share of all its rivals: 19.18 percent.
Pepsi’s market share is 8.31 percent and Dr Pepper now 8.34 percent.
The Pepsi brand remains the number 2 soft drink when you take into account the diet and sugar-free versions.
Soft drink price increases have hit consumers over the past two years.
Coca-Cola recently announced the full extent of its price increases. Speaking at earnings for the first three months of the year, bosses said the company had boosted profits in the US, thanks to customers buying more drinks at higher prices.
Globally, drinks – including Minute Maid, Topo Chico, Smart Water and Costa – cost an astonishing 13 percent more on average than at the beginning of 2023.
Despite the price increases, the number of cans, bottles and soft drinks sold between January and March grew by 1 percent compared to a year ago.
That double whammy of more drinks sold at higher prices helped sales rise 3 percent to $11.3 billion, Coca-Cola said today as it reported quarterly results. Profit also rose slightly to $3.18 billion for the three months.