NEW YORK–Pep­si is rolling out a new shape for its 20-ounce (567-gram) bot­tle for the first time in al­most two decades.The new bot­tle has a con­toured bot­tom half that ap­pears eas­i­er for hold­ing, and the wrap­around la­bel is short­er so that more of the drink is ex­posed. The change fol­lows a num­ber of splashy moves in the past year by Pep­si­Co to im­prove re­sults for its name­sake so­da, in­clud­ing a mul­ti­year deal to spon­sor the Su­per Bowl half­time show and a wide-rang­ing deal with the pop star Be­y­once.

An­drea Foote, a Pep­si­Co spokes­woman, said the new bot­tle s part of the com­pa­ny's on­go­ing up­date of mar­ket­ing and pack­ag­ing ma­te­ri­als for the co­la. The sin­gle-serve bot­tles, which are wide­ly sold in cool­ers at drug­stores and oth­er re­tail­ers, will be­gin rolling out in April. Foote said it will take a year or two be­fore the new bot­tles en­tire­ly re­place the cur­rent bot­tles, which the com­pa­ny says were in­tro­duced in 1996.

AP