Sprite said “Obey Your Thirst.” America listened.
The lemon-lime beverage is now the nation’s third-favorite soft drink, surpassing Pepsi for the first time last year. Only Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper rank higher.
In terms of sales volume, Sprite controls 8.03% of the U.S. carbonated soft drink category, according to recently released 2024 figures from trade publication Beverage Digest. Pepsi, meanwhile, accounts for 7.97% of the market.
How Sprite burst the bubble
Sprite’s fizz to the highest echelons of the soda wars follows a year in which its owner, the Coca-Cola Company, has been shaking up its marketing strategy and investing more in the brand.
In April last year, Sprite returned to its “Obey Your Thirst” tagline, originally launched in 1994 in a spot fronted by then-NBA star Grant Hill.
The 2024 version paid homage to Hill and the ethos of individuality presented in the iconic ad campaign. This time around, though, it was squared toward Gen Z. The ad puts NBA player Anthony Edwards and sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson – the brand’s first woman athlete partner – front and center.
The campaign spanned TV, packaging, sports sponsorships, and digital. Josh Kroo, vp of sparkling flavors for the Coca-Cola Company, said the campaign has helped the brand index higher with Gen Z.
The relaunch was followed by Sprite’s first holiday push in three years, promoting its limited Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry flavor and sugar-free variation. The spot starred Edwards as “Anta Claus,” set to a hip-hop version of “Carol of The Bells,” and nodded to its legacy as the first mainstream brand to line up behind the musical genre.
“Sprite has always, over the years, constantly recruited the next generation, which is now Gen Z,” Kroo told.
To stay relevant with younger drinkers and boost its market share, Sprite has funneled its marketing dollars into other partnerships at the intersection of sports and culture, including becoming a founding sponsor of Unrivaled, a new women’s three-on-three basketball league.
“We’re continuing to push the boundaries and give back to the culture in a way that we think resonates with younger audiences,” he said.
Duane Stanford, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, said Sprite has benefited from creative innovation and marketing itself as a way of life, rather than simply positioning itself as a superior lemon-lime soda.
“It also has strong positioning with multicultural consumers, a growing and active segment,” Stanford added.
Sprite is rethinking its media mix, too. The brand is engaging basketball fans and flavor-hackers (creators who toy with unexpected food and drink combinations) on TikTok, while continuing to invest in big TV tentpole moments, such as ESPN’s NBA Christmas games.
Product innovation has also helped the brand take a bigger swig of the soda market.
Sprite Chill, which claims to offer a unique cooling sensation, debuted for a 13-week limited run last year. The drink became a permanent fixture in Coca-Cola’s product roster, and was the top-selling innovation in North America in 2024.
Kroo revealed Sprite Chill has sold $100 million in the past 12 months. The drink has also become a springboard for further innovation, including cherry lime and strawberry kiwi flavors.
“It’s resonating and recruiting new consumers into the brand,” said Kroo. “It’s not just another flavor; it’s an experience.”
Kroo told the Coca-Cola Company plans to invest more in Sprite, underscoring a “recognition of the role Sprite can play” in the business’s long-term growth ambitions across its portfolio.
Sprite is certainly doing something right in recent years to connect with consumers beyond merely investing more in media than its rivals.
When compared to Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, and Pepsi, Sprite is the smallest advertiser, according to data from marketing intelligence company MediaRadar. Although Sprite is now pouring more dollars into the brand, it was the only beverage among the other category leaders to lower its ad spend in 2024 compared to 2023, decreasing it from an estimated $24 million to $22 million.
Overall, the carbonated soft drink category spent $1.1 billion on advertising in 2024, up 13% compared to 2023.
Soda evolution
One factor behind Sprite’s ability to rise into third place has been Pepsi’s decline.
Put another way: Since 2004, Sprite’s market share of the U.S. carbonated soft drink category increased 2.4 percentage points. Pepsi’s, meanwhile, decreased nearly 3.5 points during the same period.
On a grand scale, the soda industry is shrinking. In 2024, the volume of soft drinks bought in the U.S. was down 27% compared to 20 years prior.
Pepsi’s parent company, PepsiCo, is aware of this shift in consumer preferences. In response, it’s been busy diversifying its portfolio of beverages to better position itself for the future. Beverage Digest’s Stanford, for example, noted that PepsiCo has recently focused on promoting Pepsi Zero Sugar.
In a statement to ADWEEK last year following news Dr Pepper had bumped Pepsi out of second place, Greg Lyons, the former chief marketing officer of PepsiCo’s North American beverage segment, noted he and his team were constantly monitoring shoppers’ attitudes and behaviors for growth opportunities.
“We’re continuing to prioritize the business to meet the growing consumer demand for healthier, functional, sugar-free options,” said Lyons. “We remain focused on Pepsi and Pepsi Zero Sugar in the U.S. and internationally, putting Zero Sugar at the center of the portfolio transformation, which in turn lifts our trademark.”
While ‘regular’ Sprite moved more volume in 2024 than ‘regular’ Pepsi, the family of Pepsi products – from Diet Pepsi to Pepsi Zero Sugar to Pepsi Wild Cherry – still represents a larger share of the carbonated soft drink category (13.5%) than Sprite and its lineup of associated beverages (8.9%), per Beverage Digest.
