Pepsi Raw
Cola soft drink from PepsiCo with natural ingredients
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pepsi Raw[1] was a cola soft drink created by PepsiCo and Britvic as a "Sparkling Cola Drink with Natural Plant Extracts". The drink first launched in February 2008 in Britain, targeting upmarket pubs.[2] It was then also launched in Norway in August 2010,[3] in Australia in 2011.
| |
 Bottles of Pepsi Raw | |
| Type | Cola soft drink |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | PepsiCo |
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Introduced | 2008 |
| Discontinued | 2011 |
Marketing
Pepsi Raw contained naturally sourced ingredients that were free from artificial flavouring, colourings, preservatives and sweeteners.[4] Advertising for Pepsi Raw presented the product as a natural alternative to other colas.
To help promote Pepsi Raw, an experiential marketing campaign dubbed "Natural Born Cola" was launched. Promotional workers traveled to grocery retail, shopping malls, train stations, offices and via roaming hit squads in key cities nationwide. During the 6 week campaign 1,295,500 bottles of Pepsi Raw were distributed with 82% of consumers saying they liked the taste and a further 75% claiming they would go on to buy it.[5]
Ingredients
- Sparkling water.
- Cane sugar.
- Apple extract.
- Colour: plain caramel.
- Natural plant extracts (including natural caffeine and kola nut extract).
- citric, tartaric and lactic acids.
- Stabilizer: gum arabic.
- Thickener: xanthan gum.
Discontinuation
Legacy
Pepsi Natural
In March 2009, a product called Pepsi Natural, whose recipe is similar to that of Pepsi Raw[note 1], was rolled out in the United States and Mexico.[10] It did not stay in the market for long.
Pepsi Nama
A product named Pepsi Nama was launched in 2021 by Suntory, the Japanese distributor of Pepsi. The marketing stresses that the cola spices are not heated and therefore the drink is natural.[11][12] Officially, its Japanese product name's kanji character '生' corresponds to 'Nama' in English, but third parties sometimes translate it to 'Raw' in English;[13] while 'Pepsi Nama' and 'Pepsi Raw' are by and large unrelated technically, they are often discussed together because of the similar abstract meanings their names carry. In addition to the original, Pepsi Nama comes in other flavours. For the PRC market, PepsiCo has its own production lines for them in Mainland China which are also responsible for their supply to Hong Kong and Macao; for the ROC market, Vedan is appointed to produce them in Taiwan.[14]
