7 Up: 7Up Ten

Made with an unconventional blend of high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, and ace-k, 7UP Ten is a low calorie beverage that fits in between their zero and full calorie offerings. Obviously, it’s a lot closer to zero than it is the 102 calories that make up a regular 7UP, but when it comes to flavor, this is a very good substitute for its high calorie/high sugar counterpart (it is very sweet tasting). The citrus flavor does a great job of hiding the aftertaste of the sweeteners, which is always the Achilles’ Heel of zero calorie beverages. On the packaging front, the “TEN” message is pretty easy to understand and the branding is straight forward. On the other hand, their nutrition label math is not -- 8 ounces equals 10 calories, 20 ounces (the entire bottle) equals 20 calories. While we realize that this is the result of nutrition label calorie rounding that is part of the FDA’s labeling rules, we don’t think that consumers will understand this. Finally, this product seems like something that is going to cannibalize sales of other 7UP flavors rather than bring consumers back to the brand who stopped drinking it. So, while this is a product that will probably do well, we suspect that the net gain (if there is any) for the brand will be minimal at best. Still, it’s a well executed product for what it is.