At annual bottler meeting, Dr Pepper president Jack Kilduff announces goal is to double Dr Pepper's current volume of 496 mil cases to 1 bil cases by 2009. Declares reaching 1 bil cases requires average annual growth of +7.3% and notes brand grew at that rate from 1990-99. However, Kilduff also tells bottlers that growth rate this year through August is +4.4% for Dr Pepper and +2.8% for Diet Dr Pepper. At meeting, company debuts new ad campaign with new jingle and new tagline: "Dr Pepper Makes the World Taste Better." At start of meeting, Kilduff introduces "three past presidents": Foots Clements, John Albers and True Knowles. Stitzer. Todd Stitzer -- CEO of Cadbury's Dr Pepper/Seven Up unit (DPSU) -- talks to bottlers about "passion." Says Cadbury has invested $1 bil in Dr Pepper marketing since 1995 acquisition. Notes brand accounts for 25-30% of Cadbury's annual global profits. Declares: "Given that statistic, there's zero chance anyone at DPSU will ever lose passion for investing significantly in Dr Pepper ... We're confident you'll pledge the same."

New ads focus on taste. Citing concerns over media clutter, DPSU chief advertising officer John Clarke says in last nine years, TV networks have increased average ads per hour from 12 min-45 sec to 15 min-41 sec. Dr Pepper's response, says Clarke, is to "focus ever more tightly on taste." Recalls last year's tagline was: "Dr Pepper, This Is the Taste." New tagline answers the question -- "Why is Dr Pepper the taste?" -- with response: "Dr Pepper Makes the World Taste Better." Company debuts three new spots from Young & Rubicam and two "urban" spots focused on Hispanics and African-Americans from Richard's Group Shift Advertising of Dallas. Four new Diet Dr Pepper 15-sec ads retain tagline/theme: "Diet Dr Pepper tastes more like Regular Dr Pepper." Bottlers like new ads in general, but some worry whether consumers will understand 15-sec diet spots. Snack food tie-in. Senior vp marketing Cindi Clark says company plans cross-promotion with Snyder's of Hanover snack foods.

Bottler systems; major accounts. Kilduff reports Dr Pepper is performing best YTD in Pepsi system with volume up +6.2%. In Coke and "Heartland" systems, Dr Pepper volume up +1.8%. In 3rd tier other than "Heartland," volume up +5.7%. Heartland refers to Dr Pepper Turner plus other Texas/Oklahoma bottlers. Green Sheet shows Dr Pepper US bottling territories by system. Views. Noting weaker performance in Coke system, some bottlers suggest reason relates to system's overall weaker volume this year due to upward pricing; others say Coke system focuses more display/promotional activity on Coca-Cola Co brands. Accounts. Kilduff says Dr Pepper up +33% YTD at Wal-Mart Super Centers; up +10% at Sam's Club; up +6.6% at Wal-Mart Discount stores. Notes Dr Pepper has 7.9 share of all Wal-Mart CSD volume, 6.5 share at K-Mart.

Displays; parity with Mt. Dew and Sprite? Kilduff implores bottlers to give Dr Pepper more display activity. Claims, "if regular Dr Pepper had same displays as Sprite and Mt. Dew, volume would be up +45%." Senior vps Pete Wurzer and Rick Wach provide details; Wurzer oversees Dr Pepper in Coke system, Wach in Pepsi system. Wurzer tells audience of mainly Coke and Pepsi bottlers that Dr Pepper "draws consumers to your displays" and says cola bottlers increase overall volume when Dr Pepper on-display. Wurzer notes Dr Pepper lags lead colas in %ACV display activity. Declares, "improving Dr Pepper's display execution equal to the major cola" would deliver significant incremental volume. Vending. Wach makes similar point for vending. Says research shows if bottler removed slowest-moving brand from vendor and replaced it with Diet Dr Pepper, volume would grow +15.6%. Wach calls Dr Pepper, "the point of difference."

Fountain. DPSU senior vp fountain/foodservice Bill Perley says fountain channel competitive and expensive. Notes: "Pepsi continues to come on strong, and Coke will not give up any of its turf." Says cola companies "have escalated the fountain wars and most national accounts have signed agreements (with) escalating (annual) support." Adds, "battle now turns to smaller accounts, and it won't get any cheaper." Perley says Dr Pepper outperforms industry in fountain channel. Reports Dr Pepper fountain volume up +5.3% YTD vs overall CSD fountain volume up +2.1%. 'Just Coke and Sprite?' Says consumers should have "freedom of choice," the "right to decide" what fountain drinks they want. Declares consumers "demand variety." Shows video of focus group where disgruntled youngster says: "These guys have nothing, just Coke and Sprite."

Bottlers. Bottlers like new ads. Observe: 1) DPSU executives "understand soft drinks 101, they know the score." 2) "Company has the commitment and the passion." 3) "I liked the ads on the whole, but some were weak." 4) "Ads were great, Hispanic spot is a winner with real cross-over appeal." 5) 15-second "diet ads are hard to understand." 6) "On the whole, (ads) are dramatic attention-getters." 7) "As with all soft drink media, half the ad (spending) is wasted, we just never know which half." 8) "I'm outside the demographics, and I loved the ads." 9) "Another set of winners." Diets. Asked specifically about comments re diet ads, particularly analytic Coke bottler notes: "Diet ads are fine. Consumers don't have to micro-understand them. They'll catch attention and get across the message that diet tastes like regular."

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