Marketing Plan: Demographic and Behavioral Analysis of Diet Pepsi

This report presents a comprehensive marketing plan analysis for Diet Pepsi, a product of PepsiCo. The plan identifies the primary target market as health-conscious women and working professionals, along with secondary markets like young to middle-aged individuals seeking low-calorie energy drinks. The demographic analysis highlights the target consumers' age, income, and gender, with a focus on individuals aged 18-40 with a higher income. Behavioral characteristics are also considered, with a focus on heavy users, including those with diabetes, obesity, and active lifestyles. The report examines consumer benefits, focusing on the desire for a healthy, sugar-free, and energy-boosting beverage. Psychographic and lifestyle characteristics are discussed, focusing on health-conscious consumers from upper and middle classes. The analysis incorporates external databases and resources, such as Infoscout and Business Insider, to gain insights into consumer behavior and market trends. Furthermore, the report assesses the competitive landscape, including the carbonated beverage market's growth and key players like Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper. Finally, the report considers secondary markets and offers recommendations for increasing product sales and market share by introducing new flavors and tastes to retain customers.

Running Head: MARKETING PLAN 1
Marketing Plan

MARKETING PLAN 2
Table of Contents
Answer 1......................................................................................................................................................3
Answer 2......................................................................................................................................................3
Answer 3......................................................................................................................................................3
Answer 4......................................................................................................................................................4
Answer 5......................................................................................................................................................5
Answer 6......................................................................................................................................................5
Answer 7......................................................................................................................................................5
Answer 8......................................................................................................................................................6
Answer 9......................................................................................................................................................6

MARKETING PLAN 3
Answer 1
Diet Pepsi is a no-calorie carbonated cola soft drink that is produced by PepsiCo Company.
Primarily, the company is targeting diabetic and health conscious people who prefer to try
something new in Pepsi drinks.
 The primary target market for Diet Pepsi is Women as they are very much conscious
about their health and weight. Moreover, this market includes the obese and overweight
people as well (Green, 2013).
 Secondary market for Diet Pepsi is working professionals who have very hectic lifestyle.
By using an innovative add, i.e. “taking a break” from busy and working day.
Additionally, it is focusing on young to middle aged people who prefer to drink energy
drink with low calories.
(Source: https://www.businessinsider.in/PepsiCo-Exec-Admits-That-Diet-Pepsi-Is-Basically-
Only-For-Women/articleshow/21199628.cms)
Answer 2
The major demographic characteristics of Diet Pepsi’s markets are their age, income, gender,
occupation etc. The customers of Diet Pepsi are generally somewhat higher income and older
age. Generally, the people buy Diet Pepsi during larger stocking trips. The demographics
indicate that;
 Company’s target market covers the both males and females from young and adolescent
age groups.
 The people with income group of 40K to 60K prefer to buy this product of PepsiCo as it
is costlier than its normal drinks (Infoscout, 2018).
Thus, the company is marketing this product among the population with above demographic
characteristics.
(Source: https://www.infoscout.co/brand/diet_pepsi)

MARKETING PLAN 4
Answer 3
Considering behavioral characteristics, Pepsi is targeting its customers as per the usage rate.
Among users of Diet Pepsi, the usage rate is very higher. There are various people such as
diabetic, obese, gym freaks and young travellers, who come into the category of heavy users.
This rate is high among these people as company is able to fulfill their expectations and needs
towards energy and fresh drink with no sugar. As per the report of Statista, the number of
households in 2018 is amounted to 8.05 million (Statista, 2018). Moreover, this rate is very
lower among non-users as they buy Diet Pepsi in the case of urgent need. Non-users of Diet
Pepsi prefer to have the energy drink with delicious taste.
Figure 1: Households with Customers of Diet Pepsi in US 2018
(Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/228157/diet-pepsi-consumption-usa/)
Answer 4
There are various benefits that the customers want from the product of Pepsi brand. It offers that
is a non-sweetened soft drink for the people as they are seeking for healthy and energy drink and
they do not to lose loyalty for Pepsi. The people are looking for the drink which can help them to

MARKETING PLAN 5
stay fit and healthy (Cherney, 2017). They want to get a fun of soda and energy drinks without
gaining weight. Before introducing this product, PepsiCo Company has identified that
customers’ demands are developing towards this type of drinks due to their benefits. So, they
will enjoy the crispy and refreshing taste of Diet Pepsi product.
(Source: https://www.livestrong.com/article/466636-what-are-the-health-benefits-of-drinking-
diet-soda/)
Answer 5
Yes, the target markets of this company possess different psychographic and lifestyle
characteristics. The company can divide its customers on the basis of lifestyle and psychographic
characteristics like values, classes and attitudes. Primarily, the product is targeted the customers
with healthier lifestyle who wish to live a fit and healthy life. Moreover, there are various people
with the busy life style who prefer to have this drink to be more energetic and refresh. It can
focus on the people from upper and middle classes. Diet Pepsi targets a broad market under this
category because Diet Pepsi is a healthier option to shift sodas. Thus, the company emphasizes to
target the people by focusing on different lifestyles but for the customers who want a healthier
option. It indicates that it has targeted the population age 18 to 40 years as this group is very
much health concerned and they are into healthy lifestyles (Marketing Schools, 2012).
(Source: http://www.marketing-schools.org/consumer-psychology/marketing-soft-drinks.html)
Answer 6
Yes, the existing customers of the company have been analyzed by using a data base. This data
base has assisted in getting the information about different customers and their segmentation
characteristics. It indicates that company is targeting its customers considering their different
characteristics like age, income, lifestyle, gender, social class etc. and offering the products as
per their needs and demands (Marketing Schools, 2012). The data base shows that PepsiCo is
able to meet the expectations of its existing customers.
(Source: http://www.marketing-schools.org/consumer-psychology/marketing-soft-drinks.html)

MARKETING PLAN 6
Answer 7
There are various external data bases and resources which are useful and important to this
marketing plan and research. One of the major databases is the website of Infoscout that assisted
to give the shopper and consumer insights which explain the attitudes and behaviors of
customers. This website is very useful in gaining the data about the demographic and other
characteristics of Diet Pepsi’s customers (Infoscout, 2018). It states that the customers of this
brand are from the older age and higher income group. There are various customers who prefer
to buy Diet Dr. Pepper, Diet Mountain Dew etc. Moreover, there is an external website of
business insider that clearly indicates that PepsiCo has introduced Diet Pepsi for women
segment. Thus, these external data bases are very important as they give real time information
about customers and their behaviors towards particular product.
(Source: https://infoscout.co/brand/diet_pepsi_max)
Answer 8
The carbonated beverage market is estimated to approach US $412.5 billion by the year 2023 at
a growth rate of 2.8% (Grand View Research, 2015). This sector is one of the growing industries
all over the world. There are various players in this market such as Diet Coke, Diet Dr. Pepper
etc. Other players are posing competition to this company. Currently, the market is growing at a
growth rate of 4.5% that indicates that leading players like Diet Pepsi is doing and performing
very well (Statista, 2018). It can be seen that nowadays people are becoming very much
conscious towards health and taste. This is the major reason behind significant growth and
development of perspective market.
(Source: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/carbonated-beverages-market)
(Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/829737/growth-rate-carbonated-soft-drink-market-
regular-diet/)
Answer 9
In the context of secondary markets, it can be stated that there are various smaller markets which
are worth going after. These markets can assist PepsiCo to increase its product sales and market

MARKETING PLAN 7
share. It can increase the customer base of the company that will help it in generating more
revenues. To retain the secondary customers and converting them into primary customers, it
should make more efforts and initiatives. For example, it can introduce the Diet Pepsi product in
different flavors and tastes so that it can retain the young teenagers and adolescents (Infoscout,
2018). In this way, the company can increase the number of customers and enhance its brand
presence.
(Source: https://www.infoscout.co/brand/diet_pepsi)

MARKETING PLAN 8
References
Cherney, K. (2017). Are There Health Benefits of Drinking Diet Soda? Retrieved from
https://www.livestrong.com/article/466636-what-are-the-health-benefits-of-drinking-diet-
soda/
Grand View Research. (2015). Carbonated Beverages Market Analysis, Market Size, Application
Analysis, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies, and Forecasts, 2015 To 2022.
Retrieved from https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/carbonated-
beverages-market
Green, D. (2013). PepsiCo Exec Admits That Diet Pepsi Is Basically Only For Women.
Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.in/PepsiCo-Exec-Admits-That-Diet-Pepsi-Is-
Basically-Only-For-Women/articleshow/21199628.cms
Infoscout. (2018). Diet Pepsi Consumer Sights. Retrieved from
https://www.infoscout.co/brand/diet_pepsi
Infoscout. (2018). Diet Pepsi Max Consumer Insights. Retrieved from
https://infoscout.co/brand/diet_pepsi_max
Marketing Schools. (2012). The Psychology of Marketing Soft Drinks. Retrieved from
http://www.marketing-schools.org/consumer-psychology/marketing-soft-drinks.html
Statista. (2018). Growth rate of the carbonated soft drink market in the United States between
2011 and 2016 (in billion gallons), by type. Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/829737/growth-rate-carbonated-soft-drink-market-
regular-diet/
Statista. (2018). Households with consumers of Diet Pepsi in the U.S. 2018. Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/228157/diet-pepsi-consumption-usa/

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MARKETING PLAN 10