I recently had the privilege of being part of a virtual conversation hosted by Dr Pepper Snapple group in partnership with The Motherhood. As part of this blogging group, we learned a great deal about Dr Pepper Snapple and their continued commitment and support of local and/or national programs that encourage active lifestyles. Special thanks to both The Motherhood and Dr Pepper Snapple for sponsoring today’s post. While I will receive compensation for my time, I only share content I feel is of value to you. All opinions are my own.
When you read or hear the names Dr Pepper Snapple, you probably think of drinking one of their delicious beverages and with good reason. I know I love an ice cold glass of Dr Pepper from time to time and I’d be lost if I suddenly couldn’t find a chilled bottle of Snapple Peach ice tea. With so many drink options available, you probably have a Dr Pepper Snapple product in your home right now.
About Dr Pepper Snapple Group:
- 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
Those are very impressive stats from a business perspective, but I learned so much more about the very heart of the Dr Pepper Snapple group during our hour long conversation. While we did touch on flavors and fun facts about what goes into making a great tasting beverage, the true focus of our conversation was to share their commitment to healthy lifestyle choices.
They (DPS) want us, the consumers, parents, teachers, community volunteers and most importantly our kids to know about their take action plan, starting with the 2015 Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) Calories in; Calories out program and industry led changes, commitments and initiatives.
There’s a lot of information to share, so I will break it down into sections that hopefully will help you come away with a better understanding of this amazing company and brand.
DPS commitment:
"We believe that healthy lives depend on balance, balancing the calories you consume through food & beverages with the calories you burn through physical activity and by supporting local and national programs that encourage active lifestyles and fitness."
DPS Calories In information:
“Our initiatives as a company to promote balance reflect a larger commitment by the beverage industry to deliver meaningful solutions to obesity.”
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.
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.
Posts
