Pepsi brings back beloved soda Coca-Cola does not offer

Published 6:15 am Saturday, January 27, 2024

: Pepsi killed Sierra Mist in January 2023.

At least some soda drinkers have favorite beverages they rarely deviate from.

That means that when a soda that does not sell all that well — at least by big-company standards — gets discontinued, it leaves a lot of people unhappy. And in some cases, that leads to a movement.

For example, an active committee of sorts is working to persuade Coca-Cola (KO) – Get Free Report to bring back Tab, the company’s original diet soda, which predated Diet Coke. That beverage was discontinued in October 2020, and the Save Tab Soda Committee has tried petitions and a protest to bring back the once-popular beverage.

That hasn’t worked, but that does not mean Coke and rival PepsiCo (PEP) – Get Free Report aren’t listening. Both companies have brought back discontinued flavors even if for only limited runs.

Pepsi, for example, brought back Crystal Pepsi in 2022. That was a massive 1992 product unveil, and it flopped so big that people remained intrigued by the clear cola 30 years after it launched and 28 years after it was discontinued.

Coca-Cola even brought back New Coke — its own spectacular marketing failure — in 2019 as part of a marketing campaign with Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

It’s rare, however, that a soda flavor goes away and then makes a true comeback. PepsiCo, however, has quietly brought a polarizing fan favorite that’s sure to delight fans of the brand.

PepsiCo discontinued Sierra Mist in 2023.

Image source: TheStreet

PepsiCo celebrates a classic soda

Pepsi has struggled to find an answer to Coca-Cola’s Sprite line, cycling through Slice, Sierra Mist and, now, Starry with limited success. Coke has had similar problems answering PepsiCo’s MTN Dew line of beverages.

PepsiCo has built a platform around its original MTN Dew. While it’s sort of a lemon-lime-flavored beverage, the original MTN Dew was more of a lifestyle brand built around skateboarding and other high-energy solo sports.

In many ways, the flavor was less important than the marketing, and PepsiCo built out a variety of flavors targeting different audiences. MTN Dew has an energy-drink spinoff as well as a series of limited-edition flavors that seem to come and go at random.

One of those flavors, MTN Dew Baja Blast, has been promoted a bit like the McDonald’s McRib. It has generally been a summer flavor, but it has also disappeared from shelves on numerous occasions (although it has always been offered as a fountain soda at Taco Bell locations).

Now, in honor of the soda’s 20th anniversary, PepsiCo is bringing MTN Dew Baja Blast back to store shelves.

Pepsi brings back MTN Dew Baja Blast

“Starting now, you can snag legendary MTN Dew Baja Blast not just at Taco Bell but in stores nationwide for the rest of the year. It’s like a flavor revolution, and you’re invited to the party,” the company said in a news release.

Baja Blast, a tropical-lime flavor, has a devoted fan base as do all the flavors in the MTN Dew product lineup.

Coca-Cola does not have an equivalent product sold on a national basis. The company does sell Mello Yello, a soda that can be called a knockoff of its better-selling rival, but only in limited markets in the Northeast.

Coke promotes the soda on its website but uses a marketing message very different from the one than PepsiCo has traditionally used for MTN Dew.

“The smooth citrus soda taste of Mello Yello Citrus Flavored Soda has refreshed people’s thirst for over two decades,” the company writes.

“Its unique taste and confident, in-control style sets it apart from other soft drinks. Mello Yello highlights the smooth choices in life — because when you drink Mello Yello, everything goes down easy.”

PepsiCo has not committed to making the Baja Blast return to store shelves permanent. It has, however, said the soda would be sold nationally in stores, not just at Taco Bell, through the end of 2024.