If Coca-Cola can kill Tab, then no soda brand has a guarantee of survival.
The original diet soda had seen its sales fall as Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Coke Zero, and other diet brands took market share.
It's not that Tab lacked a following: While the brand had steadily become less popular, it retained a diehard following that mobilized to lobby Coca-Cola (KO) to bring it back. The "Save Tab" committee has a website and a mission.
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"On October 16, 2020, the Coca-Cola Company announced they would discontinue TaB — their original diet cola — after 57 years of production. That’s where we come in," the committee wrote.
"We’re TaB drinkers with a purpose. We’re the SaveTaBSoda Committee, and we’re working hard to convince Coca-Cola to reverse its decision to eliminate TaB. Please join us."
Efforts to lobby the company for a return have included a protest at headquarters, petitions and social-media pressure, but nothing has worked. The reality is that soda giants like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo (PEP) have broadly decided to shrink their portfolios because it makes more financial sense.
That means that aside from a few gimmicky limited offers, like Pepsi bringing back Crystal Pepsi as a prize in a contest, discontinued brands aren't coming back.
Image source: TheStreet
Pepsi killed a popular soda flavor
Pepsi has never had a real answer for Coca-Cola's Sprite. The lemon-lime-flavored soda dominates the market and has fended off challenges from a variety of contenders. First, Pepsi offered Slice, a Sprite knockoff that eventually branched out into a number of flavors.
That Sprite rival was killed in 2005 (although it has since been sold by Pepsi and brought back as a flavored sparkling water in 2022). PepsiCo replaced Slice with Sierra Mist, another Sprite clone that had its fans but was never really a contender for the throne.
Sierra Mist had a nice run, but it was surprisingly discontinued in January 2023 to make way for Starry, a similar product that's trying to appeal to Millennials.
"Starry, using the tag line, 'Starry Hits Different,' brings a new lemon-lime flavor to the mix for a consumer who is simultaneously optimistic about the future and brings a sense of irreverence to their everyday," PepsiCo said in a news release.
That seems like a whole lot of marketing-speak, a sort of wordy way to say "we're trying to buy hipper Sprite," but the end of Sierra Mist also killed a beloved seasonal version of the soda.
Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash, a winter flavor that had a devoted following, was sacrificed as part of Sierra Mist being discontinued.
Coca-Cola offers a variation of the departed favorite, Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry. And now KeurigDrPepper (KDP) has introduced a new Canada Dry flavor that might fill the void for people who miss the Sierra Mist Cranberry flavor.
KeurigDrPepper has a new soda flavor
In the soda world, KeurigDrPepper comes in a distant third place. It's not McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's; it's closer to McDonald's, Burger King and Arby's.
Still, the company has a national platform and you can argue that it dominates in one popular soda variant. KeurigDrPepper has Canada Dry Ginger Ale, a top-tier product with a devoted following.
To celebrate National Ginger Ale Day on March 13 (one of the lesser-known national holidays), the No. 3 soda brand has a new flavor that mixes ginger ale and fruit. It's not a direct replacement for Sierra Mist Cranberry, but the flavor profile is similar.
"Canada Dry Fruit Splash is a cherry-flavored ginger ale with a splash of real fruit juice that offers a sip-sized dose of comfort that Canada Dry Ginger Ale fans know and expect," Chew Boom reported.
The new Canada Dry flavor is a permanent flavor, not a seasonal offering. It will be available in regular and zero-sugar versions.
