Pepsi is finally rolling out the promised Pepsi NEXT, an optimized cola that tastes like a regular one but has only 60 calories per can. 

Photo: the Pepsi Next ad, from AP

Being PepsiCo’s biggest product launch in many years, Pepsi NEXT is expected to appear on store shelves in the USA by the end of March. With the new low-calorie drink, Pepsi hopes to boost its sales as people change their drinks preferences and consume more plain water or lower-calorie beverages.

To create the NEXT, Pepsi uses a different formula to more closely imitate the taste of regular soda. The beverage is made with a mix of three artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup.

According to AP, Pepsi spokeswoman, Melisa Tezanos, said that PepsiCo developed the cola based on the research of the ‘taste curve’ that consumers experience when drinking regular soda. The research was similar to the wine degustation starting with the evaluation of the feeling when the liquid touches the tongue to the aftertaste it leaves.

Pepsi already has other low-calorie variety of beverages in its portfolio including G2 by Gatorade sports drink and Trop50 by Tropicana juice. But Pepsi NEXT is definitely misses to target health-conscious people as it doesn’t have ‘healthy’ elements if compared with G2 or Trop50.

According to Beverage Digest, healthier drinks are growing more popular, with bottled water accounting for 11 percent of all beverages consumed in 2010, up from 2 percent in 2000. Consumption of sports drink rose to 2.3 percent, from 1.2 percent, while diet soda rose to 29.9 percent in 2010, up from 24.7 percent in 2000.

Rolling out Pepsi NEXT, PepsiCo hopes to fight back its place on the market where Coca-Cola is leading now with its 17 percent market share. To do this, Pepsi will launch its first global ad campaign this summer and increase marketing for its brands by $500 million to $600 million this year.