after it's initial push a year ago, i hardly ever see it anymore.

granted, i live in NYC where shelf space is limited, so i don't see a lot of things most of you probably see.

what's the word on vault? is it still selling or has it flopped? does coke even advertise for it anymore?

I see it in the stores with a trend of reduced facings.
I have been told by a few of our Coca Cola experts that it
does sell. I do not see it as having a great market presence.
I never see it on end cap displays or feathered on weekly hot
sales (POP and weekly add promotions).

As far as a replacement beverage for Mt Dew, yes, I believe it flopped. As far as a volume seller I would say it was successful, from an initial marketing/sales standpoint, but not in longterm pull through.

Coke does what it normally does when it goes head to head with Pepsi. A great initial push to really get things going and then a quick fade away in hopes that the drink will sell on its "momentum". If Coke is ever really going to attack Mt Dew with a real contender it will have to accept the fact that it must do more than spend major ad dollars in 2 consecutive quarters to maintain any real serious competition to the Dew.
Although the marketing effort was grand it didn't hold up over the long haul. Coke had their marketing concepts drawn up for a short quick burst of sales volume and then moved on to something more exciting: COKE BLAK! LOL.

I had lunch at a Chic-fil-a yesterday that used to serve Vault from their fountains. Much to my surprise, I found that the Vault had been replaced with Mello Yello. They had also replaced a fruit punch drink with Barq's Root Beer. The lady I spoke with said that Vault and the fruit punch had not been selling very well.

Ughh..

No, VAULT hasn't flopped and nor will it flop. It's a great product and personally here in GA - I think it sells very well. Also, no, it doesn't have the same exposure that Mountain Dew has, it's been around for ages - but VAULT is a very young products, it's only 3 years old and it continues to get older and I have faith that it will not follow the path of other products like Coke Blak, etc.

Back in July 2006, just a year after it came out here in market testing, it was huge - it was growing more and more each day. Fact (about our market from July 2006):

* VAULT is the 7th highest volume SKU in any Coca-Cola product packaging (including 20oz, 2-liters, 6-packs, 12-packs, 18-packs, etc.)
* VAULT is the 4th highest volume SKU of any 20oz Coca-Cola product packaging.
* Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated of Columbus, GA has sold over 61,000+ cases of 20oz (1,464,000 packages) since inception (late last year).
* Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated of Columbus, GA sells over 5,000+ cases (120,000 packages) each month, with a steady growth rate.

CCBCC does this by not only introducing a product but standing behind the product like other bottlers might not. If you live somewhere that doesn't have an increased amount of VAULT, well - you either (a) live in a strong MD market (b) your bottler doesn't care to promote it, all they care about is getting the product out there and leaving.

I can say personally that CCBCC stands behind VAULT 100% and will never leave post, they have VAULT ads on the back of every side-loader truck, they run billboard ads every single month, they have a fleet of CXT trucks owned and operated by them that travel to each state every week and promote their products, they run 99 cent promotions in all markets almost every month (if not lower), they have VAULT vending machines all over town, they produce promotional packaging such as 24oz bottles, 16oz cans, 18pk cans, etc, and look.. it's a success because they believe in it.

Of course, some of you will have the natural reply "Yeah, well - it's just selling well in your neighborhood" but I'm not talking about my neighborhood, CCBCC in all their territories are selling VAULT like crazy. In the long run, we'll see how this plays out.

--amyers

Out in my PBG territory and the ones close to it here in hampton roads..we have been giving CCE(the number one coke bottler) an ass whooping with the mt dew. This is not even a "huge" mountain dew area it is just that the Vault is NOT selling. My apologies..it does sell..when your giving it away for free..haha(and trust me..they forced out TONS of 20oz cases initially and set up rounder displays of it..at like 50cents per bottle and STILL couldn't sell it all..cases of it in a lot of their stores went out of date before it sold). As Greg said..coke made a HUGE push..and kept it strong for about twoish quarters..then plateu..decline then another big half ass push with red blitz..then plateu and then decline. Mountain dew drinkers are far too brand loyal. The ones that actually drunk vault usually only go for it because its cheaper..not because its the superior product. Vault is not going to see much if any increase anymore..mello yello was much better tasting anyway..they should switch because in the near future vault will be like mello yello with one facing until they come up with another imitation mt.dew csd.

In Vegas it was really hard to find it! I only saw it available at Wal-Mart, at the fast food area at Meadows Mall, at Coca-Cola Store, at the souvenir store next to MGM Grand, and the vending machines at the MGM self parking lot... BTW I drank one bottle during the Coke store and I brought one home...

Vault has been selling well for me and it does a phenomenal job in the summer since my store is by the beach. The only thing is that I don't think it would sell that well if the 99 cent deal had been removed. I've never tasted it but those who drink it buy 2 and 3 bottles at a time. The vault red does even better. I see more youth drinking it than anyone else.

Bash, where is your store located?

In Indianapolis we still have Vault. It no longer has shelf space like it once did. Mello Yello has about the same amount of space.