Rescue The Perishing?

It is with great risk that anyone starts a business. There is no safety net in a free economy, and when you jump out of a 45th story window, you either learn to fly.

Or hit the earth with a thud.

This sobering little truth is the same for business of all sizes, all colors, all types. Each and every product decision is as important as the initial decision to enter the business arena in the first place.

And you know what? There is an amazing number of failures out there. In fact, show me a business or product success, and I'll show you 3 or 4 that didn't make it. Maybe even more.

Take the soft drink industry, for example. Although the USAmerican beverage market is a duopoly (Coke and Pepsi), from the looks of their failures, you would think they were a couple of rank amateurs. In spite of the successes of their key products, they've had more missteps than they care to remember.

Take Surge for example. Introduced back in the 1990s by Coca Cola, Surge was Coke's second attempt to try to compete with Pepsi's Mountain Dew (in the 1970s and 1980s, Coke tried unsuccessfully to sell Mello Yellow).

Surge was a super-sweet concoction that was hyper-caffeinated in an attempt to woo Dew drinkers with the substance that Coke thought was most important. And the name "Surge" itself was the result of a lengthy trademark search by Coke's legal team to find a brand name not already used in the beverage realm.

The funny thing is, a small company out of Whitefish MT was already selling a little-known energy drink powerder mix called Energy Surge. And while energy drink mixes and soft drinks are several miles apart on the product spectrum, for legal purposes this Surge was seen as just another beverage.

So Coca Cola did what it had to do. It got out the royal checkbook and bought the name. Hammer Nutrition sold the naming rights to Coke, and renamed their product Sustained Energy.

Surge hit the market with a big splat, and went nowhere. All that effort by Coke went down the drain. All that money paid to Hammer Nutrition gave someone else the last laugh.

And while there are still Surge fanatics (see SaveSurge.org to see their grassroots effort to save the beverage), there are not enough to warrant keeping the product going.

So instead, this year Coke introduced Vault...their third attempt to compete with Mountain Dew. Pepsi, of course, must be thanking their lucky stars. Over 40 years ago they bought Mountain Dew from a couple of brothers in Tennessee. Launched initially as a hillbilly beverage, Pepsi quickly saw the potential for a drink aimed at the "extreme" crowd. And the rest is beverage history.

But the list of failures does not end here. Coke has botched many a soft drink, ranging from OK Cola (a lame 1990s attempt to woo Generation-X kids), New Coke, C2 (a blend of Coke and Diet Coke), Coke Zero (a tastier Diet Coke), Vanilla Coke, and Mr. Pibb (a weak response to Dr. Pepper). Some of these products are still on the market in scattered locations, but all bear the tattoo of failure on their forehead.

Pepsi, too, has fallen flat on many an occasion, including various attempts to sell lemon-flavored colas dating back to the 1970s, Jake's Cola (a 1980s flop that was half cola, half diet cola...sound familiar?), Josta Cola (a 1990s mistake that relied on added guarana, which is a caffeine source), Crystal Pepsi (transparent cola), Pepsi Blue (21st century yecch), and various flavored Pepsis (1990s). At present they have just rolled out Diet Pepsi Jazz in two positively revolting flavors that I'm sure will quickly step into the Flop Line.

So why all new products? And why all the failures? Because in a competitive market like this, the members feel it incumbent upon them to try to wrestle market share points from the other guy(s). Given that the soda market is already flat, they try anything and everything they can to kick-start a stagnant market. Any new flavor twist with an ounce of potential is heralded as the next great things...while the other guy scurries back to the lab to come up with their own version. Even if just one new item scores well, it is worth the effort.

In the process, they come up with far more losers than they do winners. But if you don't play the game, if you aren't willing to take chances, you stand the chance of losing. You see, it's not just about trying to get ahead, it's more about trying to not fall behind.

And as long as marketers face this market reality, we will continue to see a never-ending parade of new products, not just in soft drinks, but in every consumer product category imaginable. If you don't have the stomach for that kind of high stakes risk-taking, then you probably don't belong in business.

Anyone care for a bottle of Sustained Energy?

Dr "Please Don't Ever Give Me A Tab" Gerlich