‘It Came out of Nowhere’: The Rise of Dr Pepper

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.2 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There is a new contender in the cola wars, and it isn’t a cola. It’s Dr Pepper. WSJ’s Jennifer Maloney unpacks how after decades as a distant competitor, Dr Pepper has climbed the soda ranks with help from hefty marketing, novel flavors and TikTok videos. Further Reading: - Dr Pepper Ties Pepsi as America’s No. 2 Soda Further Listening: - The Agony and Ecstasy of Tab Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Do you know how many studio policies that I'm breaking right now in this moment?
0:11.0	Tell what are the rules that you're breaking?
0:14.0	You're not supposed to bring liquids into the studio, and yet.
0:19.0	Uh-oh.
0:20.0	Do you want to know how many liquids that I have brought into the studio with me today?
0:24.0	Show me.
0:25.0	So I have three cups of ice, which is, you know, that's not that dangerous, but it obviously
0:31.4	melts. I have a jar of pickles. I have
0:36.7	coconut-flavored coffee creamer. Oh my gosh. And finally and most importantly, five cans of Dr Pepper.
0:50.0	Dr Pepper. The other day I talked to our colleague Jennifer Maloney,
0:54.4	who covers the beverage industry,
0:56.1	about Dr Pepper, which just achieves something
0:59.2	kind of unexpected.
1:01.4	Dr Pepper is now tied with Pepsi as the number two soda brand in the US.
1:09.4	With all due respect to Dr Pepper, I knew that it existed, but I didn't think that it was anywhere near being like among the giants in the soda world.
1:18.0	It wasn't, and now it is.
1:20.0	Dr. Pepper, like, where did it come from? It came out of nowhere.
1:24.0	For most of the last century, the top two soft drinks in the U.S. have been Coke and Pepsi.
1:31.0	So, how did Dr Dr Pepper catch up?
1:37.3	Welcome to the journal, our show about money, business, and power.
1:42.0	I'm Ryan Knutzen. It's Friday, June 7th.
1:51.0	Coming up on the show, how a soft drink underdog swept the soda market. Pets brings so much joy from those happy greetings at the door to the warm
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.