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PepsiCo recently filed trademarks for two new varieties of Mountain Dew – Diet Mtn Dew White Flash and Diet Mtn Dew Ultra Violet. Both trademarks were filed at the end of 2008, suggesting that they may be a pair of pending flavor expansions. As a twist, PepsiCo did not file a trademark for a non-diet version for either flavor.
Very interesting, indeed.
Steve over at Bevreview got ahead of us on this one, so I decided to do an exhaustive search of Coke and Pepsi brands and see what they might be up to.
Here’s what I found:
-Coca-Cola
glaceau: the vitaminwater-making Coke subsidiary filed a trademark for ” glaceau essencewater” in May of 2008. While we’ve never seen it on the market, it apparently briefly appeared in stores and this YouTube video. It’s worth noting that Coke also recently announced a similar product under the name Dasani essence.
FUZE: Fuze filed a trademark for FUZE DETOX last October. We haven’t see anything by that name. Maybe it’s forthcoming, and maybe it got scrapped when recovery-drink segment itself found itself in need of recovery.
-PepsiCo
Pepsi: It looks like someone over at PepsiCo didn’t learn from the Crystal Pepsi mistake. Either that, or they’re pining for another T.V. commercial with a Van Halen soundtrack. Either way, PepsiCo filed trademarks for Pepsi Clear and Diet Pepsi Clear at the tail end of 2008. Maybe we can expect a Crystal revival sometime before 2010?
Tropicana: PepsiCo filed a trademark for Tropicana Orange Velvet last summer. We haven’t seen anything from Tropicana that would fit that name, but maybe the product got derailed by the ‘Squeeze’ packaging debacle. Or maybe it’s forthcoming.
Sierra Mist: PepsiCo’s Lemon-Lime entry had a couple of interesting trademark filings that we have not yet seen in the marketplace. PepsiCo filed trademarks for Sierra Mist Natural (filed Dec. 2006), Sierra Mist Mojito Splash (filed Sept. 2007) and Sierra Mist Next (in both regular and diet varieties, filed Feb. 2008 and March 2009, respectively).
Natural could be an eventual addition to Pepsi Natural, if PepsiCo decides to expand the line. Mojito Splash was rumored to be the subject of a limited taste-test with a potential roll-out in early to mid 2008. Nothing seems to have come of it. And Next? With a name like that, the flavor could be anything.
SoBe: The SoBe brand has covered a wide array of categories. It’s been a fountain drink, it’s been an energy drink, it’s been a juice drink, it’s been an enhanced water, and it could be a dairy drink next. PepsiCo filed a trademark for SoBe Chillz in June 2008, and the application said the name would be applied to a dairy-based beverage.
Amp: PepsiCo filed a patent for Amp Energy Shot Berry Buzz in February. This could be the next Amp shot flavor.
Gatorade: Trademark mining revealed this interesting Gatorade tidbit: we’ve seen G2, but PepsiCo’s division that deals with Gatorade also filed a trademark for Gatorade III. As with all trademark applications, this one doesn’t reveal a lot about the product. But, perhaps we can do a little mathematical extrapolation. Gatorade = full-calorie. G2 = low-calorie. Gatorade III = zero calorie? Could be.