A word of advice for my friends in Purchase

You knew it would happen. After the news in March that Diet Coke had passed Pepsi as the second best selling soft drink in the U.S., a shake-up was inevitable in Purchase, NY.

So now, according to Ad Age, they're reorganizing the marketing department around their various 'brands' and territories in an effort to get their mojo back. If I can give the new team at Pepsi one piece of advice it would be this.

Don't over think it. It's only advertising.

Find the shows your drinkers are watching and advertise on them. Find the activities they're participating in and sponsor them. And while you're at it, you might want to look at your packaging and merchandising to help things pop more at the shelf.

It's really not that hard. But in your efforts to outsmart Coke over the past few years, you've ignored the basics. You've allowed yourself to be talked into complex programs that don't even target the people who are most likely to drink artificially flavored, sugary fizzy water. And the results have been disastrous.

Here's to hoping the new triad gets it right and the cola wars become an entertaining battle again, instead of the one-sided pummeling that Coke has been laying on Pepsi for the past few years.