Food and drinks giant PepsiCo Inc plans to spend 30 per cent more to pitch its beverages on US television in 2011 than in recent years, says a media report.

According to The Wall Street Journal , the company “plans to spend 30 per cent more to pitch its beverages on US television in 2011 than in recent years — with much of the money aimed at propping up the sagging Pepsi-Cola brand.”

Besides, PepsiCo is also working overtime to develop better-tasting, low-calorie natural sweeteners for its colas, revamp its packaging and make other tweaks to its product line-up as part of a broader overhaul to try and claw back the market share, the report noted.

Pepsi-Cola and Diet Pepsi saw their US sales volumes in 2010 fall sharply by 4.8 per cent and 5.2 per cent, respectively, the report said citing Beverage Digest, a trade publication and data service.

Those numbers contrasted with a more modest 0.5 per cent industry wide decline in US carbonated soft-drink sales, it added.

Similarly, PepsiCo’s market share in carbonated soft drinks slipped 0.6 percentage point to 29.3 per cent last year, while Coca-Cola’s share inched up 0.1 percentage point to 42 per cent.

Attributing to Mr Massimo d’Amore, Chief Executive of PepsiCo Beverages Americas, the report said, “PepsiCo is totally committed to expanding its soft-drink sales and plans to launch a new television advertising campaign for its flagship Pepsi-Cola this summer.”

The report further said that PepsiCo is shelling out about $60 million to sponsor ‘X Factor’, a television talent show that debuts this autumn, in response to Coca-Cola’s nearly decade-long sponsorship of ‘American Idol’.

“We need television to make the big, bold statement,” the report quoted Mr d’Amore as saying.

PepsiCo, which has used musical stars such as Michael Jackson and Britney Spears in the past advertising campaigns, did not divulge the details of its upcoming Pepsi-Cola TV commercials.

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