| Pepsi Kona | ||
|---|---|---|
 A photograph of the can design of Pepsi Kona. | ||
| Description | ||
| Flavor: | Coffee Cola | |
| Color: | Brown | |
| Details | ||
| Current Status: | Discontinued | |
| Locations Available: | United States | |
| Year(s) Available: | 1996 | |
| Gallery | ||
Pepsi Kona was a Pepsi cola flavor first test-marketed in east coast regions of the United States in 1996. By 1997, it was discontinued due to low sales, lasting a single year of production.
Description[]
Pepsi Kona was a Coffee flavor of Pepsi and was also available in Diet.
History[]
In January 1996, PepsiCo first began to test market Pepsi Kona alongside its Diet variant in east coast regions of the United States, aiming at coffee drinkers.
The technical development of Pepsi Kona went successfully, thanks to the core competencies of PepsiCo in soft drink development and its knowledge of the coffee business gained through its relationship with Starbucks. A coffee-brown label, prominently displaying the Pepsi logo and the Kona name in script, was prepared, and the decision was made to package the product in 20-ounce bottles and 12-ounce cans.
A full-scale promotional assault was readied. Several weeks before the launch, Philadelphia television stations began airing 15-second teaser spots with themes, "Spank Your Senses" and "Grab Life by the Konas." Once Pepsi Kona was released, it was available virtually everywhere Pepsi products were sold.
A full-length TV commercial was aired, in which singer Tom Jones stood on a table in a crowded cafeteria and belted out his song "It's Not Unusual" while sipping Pepsi Kona. Consumers were advised to keep their eyes peeled for the "Kona Hummer," a large vehicle from which samples of Pepsi Kona were distributed.
The east coast test market went poorly. While brewed coffee continued to be popular, the ready-to-drink coffee market (i.e., soft drinks containing coffee) began to level off and eventually declined during the mid-1990s. Some observers commented that the TV spots and the Kona Hummer were rarely spotted. Furthermore, many consumers stated that they didn’t like the flavor combination of Pepsi-Cola and coffee. Pepsi Kona was withdrawn from east coast regions in 1997 and never went into national distribution.
Trivia[]
- This is the first attempt of many at a morning drink from PepsiCo. Excluding Pepsi A.M., these coffee-flavored variants include Pepsi Cappuccino and the Pepsi Café line of two flavors, Original and Vanilla. Most of these are American attempts, while Pepsi Cappuccino was attempted in several countries.
- As for The Coca-Cola Company, there were two attempts. One is Coca-Cola BlāK from the 2000s, and the second is the latest line of many Coca-Cola with Coffee flavors released in early 2021.