PURCHASE, N.Y. -- PepsiCo Inc. has launched a series of designs for its signature soda cans, with a new look debuting every three to four weeks. The company hopes the marketing shift will garner the attention of young consumers, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

This week, Pepsi-Cola cans with the first of the new designs will begin appearing on store shelves in the United States. The new designs—a total of 35 will make their appearance this year—include illustrations of deejays, snowboards, emoticons and other images. In addition to cans, the designs will be on the 20-ounce and 2-liter soda bottles and fountain-drink cups. The new designs make their international debut later in 2007.

Pepsi executives say the shift is a big change in strategy, with the soda can art viewed as one more way to build brand loyalty. Pepsi has permanently changed its label or logo less than a dozen times since the drink’s debut in 1898.

The new graphics highlight Pepsi-Cola’s new thematic campaign that emphasizes the brand's "fun, optimistic, and youthful spirit," the company says. Next month, an ad campaign will be launched to piggyback on the changing cans buzz, Cie Nicholson, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola's North American business, told the news source.

The first new can design—“Your Pepsi”—invites drinkers to enter a contest to design a Pepsi billboard, to be displayed in Times Square in New York in April. Nicholson said the soda can is “one of our most valuable assets,” adding that frequent changes in design will help the company better keep up with changing tastes. The cans will retain the familiar blue and Pepsi globe logo.