Soft Drink Ad Spending Rises Slightly in 1997

From Beverage Digest 4/24/98

Soft Drink Ad Spending Rises Slightly in 1997.
Coke Down. Pepsi and Cadbury Up.

US tracked media spending by major beverage companies totals $630.7 mil in 1997, up just $600,000 vs 1996. Table shows measured ad spending 1987-1997. Source: LNA/Mediawatch.

US Tracked Media Spending ($ mil)

1997		1996	1995	1994	1993	1992	1991	1990	1989	1988	1987	1986
Coca-Cola Co	277.1	327.6	215.0	237.2	171.2	211.5	193.9	204.8	174.6	187.1	141.3	151.8
Pepsi-Cola	197.8	169.3	177.5	148.3	166.2	147.3	159.1	180.8	152.2	145.1	135.4	130.1
Dr Pepper/Seven Up	129.4	128.7	108.2	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
--Dr Pepper	79.9	67.0	62.1	59.8	51.2	48.2	47.2	30.8	27.2	24.7	20.5	16.3
--7Up	38.7	33.2	23.1	27.0	29.7	26.4	38.0	40.6	36.8	49.3	46.9	43.1
--Cadbury Bev	10.8	28.5	23.0	19.6	14.2	10.6	15.1	8.3	12.8	12.2	14.1	21.2
--A&W	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	11.1	13.5	11.5	10.8	11.4	8.5	8.7
Triarc	26.4	4.5	6.4	8.5	3.8	3.1	3.5	6.3	8.2	8.8	9.9	9.9
Total	630.7	630.1	507.1	500.4	436.3	458.2	470.3	483.1	422.6	438.6	376.6	381.1

Details. Coca-Cola Co spending down -$50.5 mil in post-Olympic year. Pepsi up +$28.5 mil. Outlays by Cadbury's Dr Pepper/Seven Up (DPSU) unit up slightly overall; but ad buys for Dr Pepper increase +$12.9 mil; spending for 7UP increases +$5.5 mil. Triarc. Company's spending shoots from $4.5 mil to $26.4 mil, but year-to-year comparisons not applicable, as Triarc Beverage Group bought Snapple in mid-1997.

Worldwide. Coke's 1997 annual report indicates global ad expenditures total $1.6 bil vs $1.4 bil in 1996. PepsiCo reports worldwide ad spending of $1.8 bil, unchanged from 1996; PepsiCo's spending includes both Pepsi and Frito-Lay. More. Issue supplement, The Green Sheet, details major soft drink ad spending 1997 vs 1996.

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