OCTOBER 15, 2003
Still Trying to Save Surge
There are few beverages which can be said to have reached the status of a "cult brand,"—having the almost fanatical devotion of an Apple Computer, for instance, or a Star Trek. But Surge Cola comes close, thanks to a grassroots, mostly Internet-based campaign to bring back this defunct soda.
Surge, the citrus flavored, green hued carbonated drink launched by Coke in 1997, can no longer be found on store shelves, but that hasn't stopped Erik (sic) Karkovack, a 26-year-old Pennsylvania, USA-based Web designer from persisting in his campaign to bring Surge back.
"I think it just had a very unique taste," says Karkovack, explaining his love of Surge. "It was brought out to compete with Mountain Dew and everything, but the taste, to me anyway, was so much better than Mountain Dew. There really was nothing else like it on the market. Just about everything I did while I was a teenager, I had Surge with me," he says.
Now that's devotion.
So will his ongoing efforts to bring Surge back succeed? As of September, Karkovack says he has reached the ears of some in the soft drink industry, but it's still too soon to say if Surge will one day find its way onto store shelves again.
—A.K.
Visit Beverage World at www.beverageworld.com
