Greetings SURGE fans and welcome to the 116th edition of SaveSURGE News! National SaveSURGE Month may be nearing its end but we will still be going strong long after September is gone.

Speaking of National SaveSURGE Month, this newsletter is being published on the last Friday of September. That means it’s your last chance for NSSM to call Coca-Cola toll-free at 1-800-GET-COKE and request that SURGE be brought back immediately. However, just because the calendar will soon turn to October, it doesn’t mean that we should stop calling, writing and spreading the word any way we can. We encourage all SURGE fans to help the cause any way they can, all year round.

Thank you all for the tremendous effort you’ve put forth – not only this month but really since February 2002! The response to help bring SURGE back continues to amaze us and I know it’s turned quite a few heads down in Atlanta as well. Keep up the great work!

Sightings Report
Woohoo! There was 1 new SURGE Sighting reported (and confirmed) this week in Portland, OR. That’s the first confirmed Sighting we’ve added in quite some time.

Sadly, there were also 2 deletions in Berlin, CT and Murrieta, CA.

Currently, there are 56 SURGE Sightings listed. Thanks to all of you who keep an eye out for SURGE!

For more info, visit SURGE Sightings at:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/sightings.shtml

Coke Returns their Copy of “Save Surge – The Movie”
SaveSURGE.org Hall of Famer Drew Bizzell informed us this week that a copy of his documentary, “Save Surge – The Movie”, which he sent to Coca-Cola was returned to him.

Drew sent a DVD of his popular film out to Coke’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta, GA hoping that someone at the company would watch it and see just how dedicated SURGE fans are. However, we suspect that no one at Coke actually took the time to view the movie Drew worked so hard to create.

A letter enclosed with the movie was nothing more than Coke’s standard, “We’re so glad you enjoy Surge and we’re sorry it’s not available in your area (as if it is available in anyone’s area?)” form letter and a couple of $1.00 off coupons.

While it’s better than a lawsuit or a case of Fresca, it truly is a disappointment that Coca-Cola refused to even acknowledge the existence of the movie. There are a few possibilities as to why they didn’t take the time to even say “nice movie”:

In today’s corporate world, a lot of companies don’t want to directly associate with anything that doesn’t officially come from them.

Our friends over at Creating Customer Evangelists wrote a great article on that trend:
http://customerevangelists.typepad.com/blog/2004/07/paul_and_johnmo.html

Another possibility is that perhaps Coke doesn’t accept unsolicited packages. Or, maybe whoever opened the package and saw the movie just didn’t care. We’ll probably never know the true answer.

However, we are currently in the process of looking for someone specific at Coca-Cola to submit a copy of “Save Surge – The Movie” to. We’ll keep you posted.

Watch the trailer for “Save Surge – The Movie”:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/drew_movie.shtml

Get your own copy for just $5.00 (shipping included):
http://www.geocities.com/randomness_pictures/savesurge.html

dnL to be Discontinued
dnL, DPSU’s very SURGE-like citrus soda will soon be taken off of store shelves. According to George over at SodaFavorites.com, he was told by a company representative that dnL would indeed be gone by the end of this year.

Apparently sales were less than expected and the lack of shelf space that DPSU products typically receive in retail stores couldn’t help matters. In fact, it’s been said that the shelf space currently occupied by dnL will be used to stock extra quantities of the new “healthy” beverage, 7UP Plus.

Obviously, this news hurts a lot of SURGE fans. dnL was indeed similar to our beloved fully loaded citrus soda in both taste and color. It was like some magical link to the past that, while not bringing the full enjoyment or satisfaction of an ice-cold SURGE, it at least served as a tasty substitute until our favorite soda returned.

So, are we going to start running SavednL.org? Highly unlikely. While dnL is a fine beverage, it’s not SURGE. After all, the goal of SaveSURGE.org is to well, save SURGE! Taking our eye off the ball to help out a competing (yet delicious) product isn’t going to help us reach our goal.

If you’re a dnL fan and it is still available in your area, I recommend you buy up as much as you can. As we all know, when a soda is discontinued it doesn’t stick around too long.

Visit the dnL website:
http://www.dnlflipit.com

12 Pack Auctions for $98!
Another week, another gigantic price for an expired 12 pack of SURGE on eBay. This time, the price was $98.00 on the nose. A few weeks earlier, another 12 pack sold for a cool $78.24. It’s just one more sign that the demand for SURGE is still there.

For more information on this and other auctions, check out $URGE on eBay:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/special_ebay.shtml

Puckdropper Presents: SURGE
SaveSURGE.org Hall of Famer Puckdropper wrote in this week to inform us about another way he is spreading the word about his favorite soda. He decided to do a project for his professional communications course about the one and only SURGE!

He sent in an outline of the presentation for SURGE fans everywhere to enjoy. However, there was so much information in the outline that he didn’t have nearly enough time in his class to use it all!

View the outline in For the Love of SURGE:
http://www.savesurge.org/surge/puckdropper_outline.shtml

Norwegians Rally for URGE
This week we heard from an URGE fan in Norway named Halvor. He told us about a new petition out there to convince Coca-Cola to start selling URGE in 1.5 liter bottles. SURGE’s Norwegian equivalent used to be sold in that size packaging but is now limited to cans and .5 liter bottles.

You can sign the petition at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/13374/petition.html

Best of luck to our friends in Norway!

Poll Results – It’s a sign
The latest SURGE Poll asked you: “$78.00 for a 12-pack of SURGE on eBay is...”

80.4% - A sign that there is a market for SURGE
19.5% - Crazy

Total Votes: 92

It’s hard to disagree with the majority on this one. What other soda gets that kind of money on eBay? Expired soda, no less!

That’s all the time we have for this week. Thanks to you all for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Eric Karkovack
Co-Webmaster
www.SaveSURGE.org