For Tava, “the strategy was going in to talk to the right few who could fuel the many,” she added.

In addition to providing samples to employees of companies like Apple, Bliss Spa, Google and MTV, Pepsi-Cola is giving away Tava at events like the Sundance Film Festival and to customers of businesses like Frank’s Chop Shop, a barbershop on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It will also offer the beverage to arts lovers at plays, concerts and festivals, and to celebrities at locations like the set of the TV soap opera “General Hospital.”

Image Posters in stores are part of a campaign to introduce Tava, with flavor names like Brazilian Samba and Mediterranean Fiesta.

According to Ms. Hughes and Mr. Cooper, the campaign is zeroing in on eight major markets where consumers seem to appreciate soft drinks that contain vitamins and bear new-age flavor names like Brazilian Samba, Mediterranean Fiesta and Tahitian Tamure. They are Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Seattle and Raleigh, N.C.

The online aspects of the campaign extend beyond local markets. The Web sites on which the Tava banner ads are to appear include AOL, chow.com, CitySearch, dailycandy.com, discovery.com, Evite, MSN, oprah.com, People and weather.com.

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“The target spends significant amounts of time online every day,” said Christian Dietrich, director for the Pepsi-Cola client business at the Dallas office of Tribal DDB, “not just for utilitarian reasons but for interest-based exploration.”

The idea for the banner ads is to “give you that taste, pun intended, for what the brand is about,” he added, “and increase your predisposition to click through to the Tava site.”

The content of tava.com goes beyond pitches for the product, including downloadable songs from emerging musicians like Deccatree, a rock band from California, and Stephanie McKay, a singer from New York. It also features the work of artists like Amy Guip, an illustrator and photographer, and carries information about arts events like the Boston Arts Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival and Shakespeare in the Park at Central Park.