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The Pace of the Fight

As I write it is the three-week anniversary of this site, and I'm delighted with the response so far. I sit on this lovely spring Saturday morning enjoying one of my hoarded previous-formula Diet Mountain Dews, and I see:

a Diet Mountain Dew Formula Change petition that's now getting 300 signatures per week (and still increasing!);
a (email address removed) inbox stuffed with plaudits;
an excellent newspaper column on our efforts;
substantial buzz throughout the blogosphere; and
the attention of the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world!

Marvelous job so far, everyone. Thank you. Now I want to talk just a bit about what we can expect in the weeks ahead.

We all know that PepsiCo made a mistake when they reformulated Diet Mountain Dew. But it is going to take some time for PepsiCo to realize that PepsiCo made a mistake. As I said in an earlier piece for this site, PepsiCo exists to make money, and it is certain that "Tuned Up Taste" would not have gone forward without seemingly solid evidence that the reformulation would increase PepsiCo's chances of doing so. Somewhere in an imposing-looking office in Purchase, New York, there is an impressive report, perhaps with the Tuned Up Taste graphic on its cover, that demonstrates on page after page that this reformulation makes good business sense. PepsiCo executives have Tuned Up Taste email folders. "Tune it up" may have entered the interoffice vernacular. It might even be spray-painted in the parking space of the person most responsible for it.

In short, we can be sure that Tuned Up Taste has forward momentum with influential people at PepsiCo. Too much time and money has been spent for that not to be the case. Forward momentum in a large corporation abates slowly, even after the brakes are thrown.

So what do you do in the meantime? First, know that PepsiCo sees you. PepsiCo visits this site, as well as FightForFlavor.com, daily. They see the signatures on the petition accelerating. They read the comments. Keep it up! Sign the petition, if you haven't done so already. Call PepsiCo. Write PepsiCo. Forward links to FightforFlavor.com and NewDietDewIsYucky.com to your friends. Put the links on your site.

Second, understand that PepsiCo needs at least one round of sales figures in hand before seriously considering restoration of the previous formula. Lacking an intimate knowledge of PepsiCo's business practices, I obviously don't know when that will happen, though it seems reasonable that it won't be until sometime after the end of the second quarter (June 30).

Some of you have expressed concern to me that PepsiCo will look at sales figures that show a spike coinciding with the introduction of Tuned Up Taste, and think "people love it!" when the spike was really created by loyal customers of the previous formula hoarding it. I'm not concerned about that for two reasons. First, as much time and money as PepsiCo spent on this product launch, there's a good chance they're tracking sales of previous formula and new formula separately, perhaps by lot number. Second, even if they're not, given their awareness of this effort, there's a reasonable chance they'll interpret such a spike correctly, especially when it's immediately followed by the plummet we know will be there.

Finally, and most importantly, remember the pace of big business. While it's not pleasant to consider that we'll be without our beloved previous-formula Diet Mountain Dew for any significant length of time, let's recall that Coca-Cola took almost three months to rectify the New Coke fiasco, and that was arguably the greatest marketing blunder of the 20th century.

All of us are understandably incredulous that PepsiCo seems to have fished the confetti of Coca-Cola's plan from an Atlanta dumpster, painstakingly taped it back together, and implemented it. That they have indicates, as I said earlier, the presence of substantial evidence that it was a good thing to do. That will take some time to undo. Tuned Up Taste is someone's, or perhaps a group of someones', sacred cow, and sacred cows die slowly.

We have troops on the ground. The troops are advancing and growing in number at a pleasingly rapid pace.

But we have only just fired opening shots.

(email address removed)

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