Ten Free ACA Virtual Camps for Kids:

• The leader in flavored carbonated soft drinks
•  Sells more than 50 brands of carbonated soft drinks, teas, juices, mixers and other premium beverages
• Out of our 14 biggest brands, 13 are #1 or #2 in their respective category·6 of top 10 non-cola soft drinks brands in the business
• 19,000 employees
• Fortune 500, publicly traded (NYSE:DPS) operations in North America, Caribbean 
• The DPS R&D is spread across 4 Locations: Plano, Texas (headquarters), St. Louis, Missouri , Irving, Texas (pilot plant) and Mexico City, Mexico

Industry-led Initiatives: 

• As an industry, we took full-calorie beverages out of schools voluntarily through the School Beverage Guidelines, which have reduced the calories in beverage shipments to schools by more than 90%. 
• DPS and other leading beverage companies launched the Clear on Calories Initiative: put calorie counts on the fronts of all beverage containers. 
• Balance Calories Initiative with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the American Beverage Association goal: reduce the calories consumed in beverages by 20% over the next 10 years by focusing on smaller package sizes, innovation, marketing and distribution of low-and no-calorie beverages. 
• Mixify: a multi-year national consumer awareness and engagement program by the beverage industry to talk to teens about the importance of balancing what they drink and eat with what they do.

Consumers have been talking, and clearly Dr Pepper Snapple has been listening. I for one am happy to know that the industry is doing all they can to offer healthier beverage options in our schools! 

DPS understands what’s important to us, the consumer and has worked hard towards answering our needs by understanding consumers are diversified! 

For example- men prefer not to purchase low calorie or “diet” beverages, so DPS responded to consumers who want products with only natural sweeteners.  They’ve been testing naturally sweetened versions of Dr Pepper, 7UP and Canada Dry, sweetened with a blend of stevia and sugar, with only 60 calories per 12 oz. serving.

They didn’t forget to improve their juice and tea either. Earlier this year they introduced a line of Mott’s with  bold new flavors that offer 40% less sugar than fruit juices with 100% Daily Value of Vitamin C in three kid-preferred flavors.

And for us Snapple drinkers, they’ve rolled out diet half & half (half lemonade, half iced tea) and this year have been testing a straight up tea, otherwise unflavored, with a touch of sugar and 80 calories per bottle.

All I can say is- Thank you DPS! 

DPS knows we expect great tasting beverages at an affordable price that our packaged for convenience for active, busy lifestyles, especially Moms! They know we don’t want to say no to the beverages our kids ask for, so they are helping with the Calories Out part of their initiative.

“Balance is key, both to fit physical activity into their routine and to have food and beverage choices that have health benefits and are low in calories.”

Calories out: Commitment to Active Play 

The Physical Activity Deficit:

• Only 20% of children live near a park
• Two-thirds of kids get less than an hour of play a day
• They’re increasingly time-crunched, with 12 fewer hours of free time per week
• Disadvantaged inner-city youth participate 40% less in sports and fitness
• And recreational time is increasingly spent on devices. Kids 8-18 spend an average of 7.5 hours per day on media

  

The consequence of all this is poorer eating and drinking habits and an obesity rate that has tripled! 

DPS says “To help address the decline of active play in communities across the U.S., Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) launched Let’s Play to provide the tools, spaces and inspiration to make play a daily priority.”

Let’s Play: A Meaningful Part of the Solution -DPS has:

•      To date, built or improved 2,000 playgrounds

•      To date, have provided 5 million children with the opportunity to play

•      Worked in partnerships with our retailers and bottlers

•      Involved government officials

•      To date, have engaged more than 2,300 employee volunteers

•      To date, have donated more than 18,000 volunteer hours

I was very impressed with the amount of hours and the overall level of commitment from DPS employees! The Let’s Play program is doing well, in fact, it’s expanded!

Let’s Play timeline and how we can get involved:

•   DPS launched Let’s Play in 2011 with a $15 million three year partnership to build or improve 2,000 playgrounds with KaBOOM!, a national non-profit dedicated promoting active play.
•  In 2014, DPS and KaBOOM! extended their partnership through 2016 with an additional $10 million commitment from DPS to continue providing kids the active play they need.
• This year, DPS made a $1 million commitment to Good Sports, a national non-profit dedicated to promoting active play among older children by providing athletic equipment to disadvantaged young people nationwide.

Let’s Play has expanded to include older children who lack the opportunity to participate in organized sports due to the cost of equipment, uniforms and entry fees. I encourage everyone to go to the Let’s Playgrants page, and see what grants are available! By the end of 2016, we will have donated more than $26 million to Let’s Play since we started three years ago.

I left the DPS conversation with a new outlook on the brand and company as a whole and was inspired to visit KaBoom! and Let’s Play to see how I could become active in my own community. I encourage you to do the same.

Before we left our virtual conversation, our merry band of bloggers had decided that a road trip to the DPS facility in Texas was in order so we could walk around and see all the amazing research and development in action and yes, we did ask this question:

What are the 23 flavors in the formula for Dr Pepper? The DPS answer was as interesting and funny: “Only two people in the world know the formula to Dr Pepper. We can’t tell you who they are, but they are not in this room! It’s very, very top secret – that is for sure. “

It is my sincere hope that you have gained a better understanding of Dr Pepper Snapple from my post today and will take a moment to visit them and the Let’s Play sites and then- log off your computer and get outside and play with or without kids!

Happy Holidays!

Please share in comments: Does your community have enough playgrounds? How would you like to see your community improve in this area?  

Disclosure: My thanks to The Motherhood and Dr Pepper Snapple for sponsoring today’s post. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.