NEW YORK — Diet Pepsi is sending a valentine to soda lovers, now that the soft drink's staying power has been improved with a new sweetener.
Starting at the end of January, PepsiCo Inc. will begin airing TV ads with the tag line ''Love Every Sip,'' along with the rollout of special-edition silver cans featuring the blue-and-red Pepsi logo in a heart shape. The company is working with designers to introduce other special designs later in the year, as well.
The campaign to reinvigorate the brand comes after PepsiCo quietly added another artificial sweetener to Diet Pepsi to help stabilize the taste of the drink. In addition to aspartame, the company says that Diet Pepsi will now include a ''very small amount'' of a sweetener called acesulfame potassium to help the taste maintain its potency over time.
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Before launching the new campaign, executives wanted to make sure Diet Pepsi was ''as good as it can be,'' said Angelique Krembs, vice president of marketing for the Pepsi brand. She said that process included testing various flavor tweaks.