The "cola wars" have been with us for well over a century now, and there are few people who can’t name the two sides: Coca-Cola and Pepsi. But even though they have practically been imprinted with slogans and catch-phrases, those same people would have to think hard, when asked to name what has the #1 impact on sales. It’s advertising.

Advertising has been responsible for the rise and fall of Pepsi’s fortunes, since its beginnings. Carl D. Bradham, who in the first part of the 1900s had a tiger by the tail when he went head-to-head with Coca-Cola, failed to take note of how important it was to put Pepsi in front of the public’s eye, and not just on the shelves. During WWI, sugar prices soared, and people just would not pay more than a nickel for their favorite soda. So the company started running at a loss. Then, like many other manufacturers, Pepsi bought a large store of sugar at inflated prices, immediately after the war. Then the sugar market busted, and prices plummeted. Pepsi was left with smaller and smaller profits to spend on advertising. Eventually they would have only sweet memories, when the company went bankrupt in 1923.

Not to worry, the assets, including the trademark to the name Pepsi-Cola was bought up, and the company was back in the running, with cleverly thought out advertising campaigns to get them back in the good graces of the public.

In the 1930s, an advertising agency created the Keystone cop type characters of Pepsi and Pete. They caught the attention of consumers, and became great favorites, along with the jingle "Nickle, Nickle" which would later become "Pepsi Cola Hits the Spot", a tune whose lyrics were so pervasive, that many people remembered them, even 50 years later.