The company is bringing back one of its iconic ’90s soft drinks and fans of The SURGE Movement couldn’t be happier.
Back by popular demand, Coca-Cola is returning Surge to select stores throughout the Midwest, South, upper Great Plains states and on the East Coast, CNN Money reported Tuesday (Sept. 8).
The citrus-flavored soda was introduced back in 1996 to compete with Pepsi’s Mountain Dew and had a good run until it was eventually discontinued in the early 2000s.
But Surge’s cult-like following continued to grow — even in its absence.
The product’s vocal fans pleaded with Coca-Cola to bring the soda back, even banning together through a social media campaign in 2013 to purchase a billboard near Coca-Cola’s Atlanta headquarters that read “Dear Coke, we couldn’t buy Surge so we bought this billboard instead,” WSB-TV reported.
In 2014, Coke executives must have gotten the message, because Surge was made available in limited quantities via Amazon Prime Pantry at a price of $14 for a 12-pack of 16-ounce cans. The re-launch was the first time the company returned a discontinued brand to the market.
Back when Surge was first made available on Amazon, Coca-Cola said the comeback was due in part to the “passionate and persistent community of brand loyalists who have been lobbying The Coca-Cola Company to bring back their favorite drink over the last few years.”
“If expectations are met, this may be only the first of a variety of efforts we explore to launch niche products through eCommerce relationships,” Wendy Clark, president of sparkling and strategic marketing, Coca-Cola North America, said in a press release last year. “This will be a great learning experience for us and a refreshing opportunity for fans.”
Fans can track the availability of Surge through social media by following the #SURGEcomeback hashtag or the soda’s official website.
We’re working to get you a #SURGEcomeback convenience store map ASAP. In the meantime, share where you find it! pic.twitter.com/rRJujaYQf5
— SURGE (@SURGE) September 9, 2015
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