I need help creating a thesis and an outline on Integrated Promotional Strategy: Pepsi Max. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required. PepsiCo is a beverage company based in Australia. It needs to capitalize on its formidable position in Australia’s food and beverage industry in a bid to increase its revenue base through the sale of its new soft drink called Pepsi Max (Deichert et al. 2006. PepsiCo 2015).

At present, a majority of Pepsi Max consumers are drawn from Australia and New Zealand, with a greater proportion being the major Australian cities. While the company has achieved its objective of appealing to the customers in major Australian cities, the rural and remote regions in Australia have not been sufficiently targeted with the product. Hence, the company will need to take this idle market into perspective (Berch et al. 2014). Pepsi Max is yet to achieve an international appeal that obviously offers potential for rock-solid financial growth. This shows that while PepsiCo operates in a thriving market, it still needs to focus more on international customers, such as in New Zealand and the larger Australasia. At any rate, current estimates show that PepsiCo operates in a thriving market that provides much potential for growth through 2020 (PepsiCo 2015).

Currently, PepsiCo is a leading macro snack product operating in Australia. Its key competitors include Solo, Passiona, Schweppes, and Coca-Cola. Each of the four competitors has brands in similar soft drink market niche (PepsiCo 2015). The new brand diversifies PepsiCo’s offering and Australia’s food and beverage industry (Deichert et al. 2006). However, none of PepsiCo’s worthy competitors currently runs an integrated promotional strategy. PepsiCo’s should take advantage of this to promote its new offering in order to strengthen its footing in the industry.

Pepsi Max has performed poorly since its launch in 2012 (Isapien 2012). PepsiCo’s annual report for 2014 indicates that its ineffective marketing strategies have affected its sales revenues. This is also linked to the major changes in the food and beverage industry globally, where the industry has witnessed significant transformation due to the adoption of online retailing and the use of discount channels (Deichert et al 2006). Indeed, this has affected the company’s competitiveness and sales output prompting a need to have an effective marketing strategy. According to its annual report for 2012, the company reported a decrease in profit by 5% because of higher costs of commodity and costly yet non-rewarding advertising (Isapien 2012).&nbsp.