The Surge soft drink quickly flew off the shelves (in this case Amazon's e-shelves) when Coca-Cola put the super-caffeinated product back on the market on Monday.
The citrus drink was discontinued in 2002, but an online fan campaign called the "SURGE Movement" convinced Coca-Cola to put the '90s favorite back into production. The Coke company had never revived a discontinued beverage before the movement. Responding to the grassroots social campaign may give Coke a young, hip advantage over its competitors, according to marketing professor Steve Posavac at Vanderbilt University.
"The fact that this is in response to a social media campaign may lead to consumer perceptions of Coke being a younger and more hip brand - a goal Coke often pursues in its advertising," Posavac told Today.
Coca-Cola re-introduced Surge exclusively on Amazon and it sold out within an hour on Sept. 15. The e-commerce site restocked and it quickly sold out again. A 12-pack of 16-oz cans sold for $14, plus shipping.
"The costs of bring back Surge through only the Amazon channel are quite low, the branding ROI [return on investment] for all Coke brands based on this move should be very favorable," Posavac added.
The "SURGE Movement" garnered more than 140,000 likes on its Facebook page and raised $4000 from online donations, according to Today. Some of the money went to renting a billboard about a half-mile from Coca-Cola's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
"Dear Coke, We couldn't buy SURGE so we bought this billboard instead," the advertisement read.
The campaign organized call-in days to flood Coca-Cola's phone lines demanding a Surge comeback. The beverage company eventually invited Sean Sheridan, a 31-year-old IT worker from Texas, and his two movement co-founders to Coke headquarters to make the announcement that they had succeeded.
The trio controls all the marketing for Surge's revival, but don't receive any compensation from Coca-Cola. This allows them the freedom to write and say whatever they want about the product, except for Facebook posts promoted by Coke.
The movement had two objectives when it began back in December 2011. It completed its first mission to bring Surge back to the market, and next it wants to ensure the soft drink "long-term success," according to the movement's Facebook page.
"Coca-Cola's goal is to have a steady supply in Amazon so that they do not have stock-outs constantly," read a Facebook post on Sept. 16. "Therefore, it MIGHT be a couple days before the newest run of SURGE will be available again for purchase. Remember that it WILL be available soon and we ask that our community waits patiently."
Coca-Cola started selling Surge in 1997 to compete against Pepsi’s Mountain Dew. Coke introduced Vault, which had more caffeine than Surge, three years after the latter stopped production.
