Diet Pepsi Has Introduced a New Sweetener and Preps for “Love Every Sip” Launch in the U.S.

Diet Pepsi is preparing a new advertising campaign, which is set to launch in early 2013 under the “Love Every Sip” tagline in the US. In addition, the brand has also quietly started to use a new artificial sweetener, ace-K (acesulfame potassium), to help the taste remain fresh and sweet for a longer time.

Pic. A photo from Diet Pepsi’s 2012 campaign featuring Sofia Vergara

The new campaign set to roll out starting mid-January, will star actress Sofia Vergara, who has been Diet Pepsi’s face since early 2011. The launch will coincide with the Valentine’s Day season, and along with two ads developed by TBWA/Chiat/Day the brand will release special-edition silver cans released will feature the blue-and-red Pepsi logo in a heart shape (the brand also plans to collaborate with designers to create more special designs throughout the year of 2013). The cans with the heart design will be available nationwide from late January through late March.

The new campaign won’t highlight the use of a new sweetener, but it’s still very important step for the brand since ace-K (used in a wide range of foods and drinks including baked goods) will help stabilize the taste of the soda drink and preserve the proper taste for a longer time. Ace-K becomes part of the Diet Pepsi sweeteners mix, pairing in “a very small amount” with well-known aspartame “to ensure consistency with every sip,” says PepsiCo as reported by AP. The drink with the new sweetener, which doesn’t change the flavor in no way, hit the shelves in early December in select markets across the country, and the mix will become available nationwide in by late February.

According to Beverage Digest, Diet Pepsi become the seventh largest carbonated soft drink in 2011. “We’re looking at this almost as a relaunch for the product, with a renewed emphasis on diet, in general. We feel, to a certain extent, that we need to get our fair share of the diet segment back,” commented Andrea Foote, a PepsiCo spokeswoman to Ad Age. So far, the company doesn’t say when the new mix will be launched across the globe.