Crystal Pepsi
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Crystal Pepsi is a cola soft drink made by PepsiCo. It has been marketed in the United States and Canada initially from 1992 to 1994, and has had sporadic limited releases since 2016.
In 1991, PepsiCo's risk-taking leadership ambitiously reshaped the company. It pushed consumer research to harness the clear craze and the New Age trend and to find a healthier recipe to stimulate the slowing cola market. After 1,000 product concepts and 3,000 formulations, it discovered a lighter flavor and appearance, with modified food starch instead of caramel color, and 20 fewer calories. It is a "totally new product" which resembles standard Pepsi but reportedly tastes less "acidic".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Crystal Pepsi was launched in 1992 with a huge marketing campaign and to great success, capturing a 1% soft drink market share worth Template:US$ in its first year. PepsiCo made some mistakes, and Coca-Cola launched Tab Clear as a deliberate "kamikaze" copy to sabotage Crystal Pepsi, so it was off the market in 1994. Inspired by a grassroots campaign via telephone and the Internet, it was briefly re-released sporadically in the 2010s.
Creation
Background
The Coca-Cola Company had produced a clear cola in the past, produced as a secret one-off made as a particular political favor between General Dwight D. Eisenhower and top Soviet General Georgy Zhukov. Clear Coca-Cola, named White Coke, was produced to disguise the beverage as vodka.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The clear craze was a global marketing fad in the 1980s and 1990s, equating clarity with purity. The fad was inspired by the reintroduction of Ivory soap and its marketing slogan of "99 and 44/100 percent pure".<ref name="Garber">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1990, a Canadian manufacturer released a colorless cola, called Canadian Spirit, which it tested in Boston, New York, Washington, Toronto, and Montreal.<ref>"White Coke Template:Webarchive". The Boston Globe. October 15, 1990. p. B1.</ref> Soft drink sales boomed in the 1980s with popularization of diet drinks, but in 1991 slowed to a 1.8% growth rate.<ref name="own place" />
Pepsi-Cola North America CEO Craig Weatherup was ambitiously internally restructuring the company while launching a multi-faceted development and marketing plan to expand as a "total beverage company".<ref name="Zinn" /> This included the fast-growing and expandable New Age beverage market, with established competition from Clearly Canadian (reportedly having "built a new market in two years"<ref name="Cinc9C" />), Nordic Mist, Snapple,<ref name="Zinn" /> and the waning Original New York Seltzer.<ref name="Cinc9C" /> PepsiCo was reportedly "a lot more free-thinking and willing to make errors [... already having] made some very good errors".<ref name="Zinn" />
Development
PepsiCo's internal research already had "1,000 different product concepts", but its consumer research demanded a healthier variety of cola, which was the number one soft-drink segment<ref name="Cinc9C"/> at 60% and yet slowing.<ref name="Zinn"/> Food technologists knew that food color strongly affects flavor perceptions, associating light flavors with light colors. Pepsi's traditional caramel coloring, which adds body and flavor, was replaced with modified food starch for body with a clear look.<ref name="Cinc9C">Template:Cite news</ref> PepsiCo devised 3,000 formulations of a new clear drink, under consumer testing.<ref name="own place">Template:Cite news</ref> A Template:Convert serving of Crystal Pepsi has 134 calories compared to Pepsi's 154 caloriesTemplate:Mdash20 fewer.<ref name="Cinc1C">Template:Cite news</ref> In November 1991, Pepsi-Cola publicly confirmed that it was working on a colorless version of Pepsi.<ref>"Colorless Pepsi in works Template:Webarchive". The Pittsburgh Press. November 25, 1991. p. B6.</ref>
Yum! Brands chairman David C. Novak is credited with introducing the Crystal Pepsi concept. In a December 2007 interview, he reminisced:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
It was a tremendous learning experience. I still think it's the best idea I ever had, and the worst executed. A lot of times as a leader you think, "They don't get it; they don't see my vision." People were saying we should stop and address some issues along the way, and they were right. It would have been nice if I'd made sure the product tasted good. Once you have a great idea and you blow it, you don't get a chance to resurrect it.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Distribution
On April 13, 1992,<ref name="NYT92">Template:Cite news</ref> Crystal Pepsi was launched in test markets of Dallas, Providence, Salt Lake City, and Colorado<ref name="test diet"/> to a positive response.<ref name="Zyman"/><ref name="WPTest">Business Digest and Bloomington, Illinois. The Washington Post, April 14, 1992</ref><ref name="Zinn">Template:Cite news</ref> One month in test markets showed an unusually and unexpectedly strong launch due to product uniqueness and unprecedented consumer awareness.<ref name="test surge">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In Colorado, interviews of 100,000 customers further revealed demand for a diet version. This led to PepsiCo launching Diet Crystal Pepsi on August 8, 1992, initially in a new test market Grand Rapids, and launched in Colorado in October.<ref name="test diet">Template:Cite news</ref>
Crystal Pepsi was launched nationwide in the US beginning in first half of December 1992.<ref name="NYTCoke"/> The drink was also informally referred to as "Crystal Clear Pepsi" or "Pepsi Clear".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In its first year, it captured one full percentage point of U.S. soft drink sales, or approximately Template:US$ (equivalent to $Template:Formatprice in Template:Inflation-year).<ref name="percentage">Template:Cite news</ref> The drink also launched in Canada in January 1993.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Coca-Cola followed by launching Tab Clear on December 14, 1992.<ref name="NYTCoke">Template:Cite news</ref>
PepsiCo did not release Crystal Pepsi overseas while it was being marketed in the United States and Canada. The company instead released a different low-calorie drink, Pepsi Max, in Europe and Australia in 1993.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
By late 1993, Crystal Pepsi was discontinued, and the final batches were delivered to retailers during the first few months of 1994. Several months later, Pepsi briefly released a reformulated citrus-cola hybrid called Crystal From Pepsi.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Brody">Template:Cite book</ref>
Marketing
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Crystal Pepsi was marketed as a caffeine-free "clear alternative" to normal colas.<ref name="Zyman">Template:Cite book</ref> Its official slogan was "You've never seen a taste like this".<ref name="Garber"/>
Gary Hemphill, public relations manager for Pepsico Inc, said "The basic philosophy behind Crystal Pepsi is this: Crystal Pepsi is not Pepsi with the color stripped out. It's a totally new product. It tastes differently than Pepsi [... which we married] to some of the attributes of the so-called New Age type products: lighter and less sweet tasting, clear, caffeine-free, all natural flavors, and no preservatives."<ref name="case"/> A senior vice president relayed expectation of forging "an entirely new category that really transcends New Age".<ref name="own place"/><ref name="NYTCoke"/> Test marketing suggested that 80% of sales would come from non-Pepsi consumers.<ref name="case"/> The goal was to capture 2% of the Template:US$ retail soft drink market by the end of 1993, or about Template:US$, but without harming the flagship Pepsi product.<ref name="Zinn"/>
The Template:US$ marketing campaign included a teaser ad during the television coverage of the inauguration of the US President and Template:US$ of Super Bowl advertisements.<ref name="Zinn"/><ref name="case"/> The company invented the world's first photo-realistic, computer-generated bus wrap printing. A series of television advertisements featuring Van Halen's hit song "Right Now" premiered on national television on January 31, 1993, during Super Bowl XXVII.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This advertisement was parodied by Saturday Night Live as Crystal Gravy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Full-sized sample bottles were distributed with the Sunday paper deliveries such as the Boston Globe in Massachusetts.<ref name="Zyman" />
According to Coca-Cola's chief marketing officer, Sergio Zyman, Tab Clear was released at the same time, as an intentional "kamikaze" effort to create an unpopular beverage that was positioned as an analogue of Crystal Pepsi to "kill both in the process". The "born to die" strategy included using the poor-performing Tab brand rather than Coke, labeling the product as a "sugar free" diet drink to confuse consumers into thinking Crystal Pepsi had no sugar, and marketing the product as if it were "medicinal". Zyman said "Pepsi spent an enormous amount of money on the brand and, regardless, we killed it. Both of them were dead within six months."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Reception
In its first year, Crystal Pepsi captured 1% of U.S. soft drink sales, or approximately Template:US$. Beverage Digest said "This is another instance where Pepsi has really shown leadership to strike out in a new direction."<ref name="percentage"/> Crystal Pepsi was named Best New Product of the Year for 1992 by Richard Saunders International, based on consumer preference polls among 16,000 new grocery products, scoring higher than any other beverage in the poll's history. Robert McMath, editor of Brand Week, said that "new sells [and] clarity equals purity" but he doubted the strategy of positioning such a new and different product directly alongside the old flagship product.<ref name="case">Template:Cite news</ref>
Shortly after Crystal Pepsi's nationwide release, The Coca-Cola Company followed by launching Tab Clear on December 14, 1992. During 1993, several other manufacturers also released colorless versions of their existing products, such as colorless Palmolive dish soap, colorless Softsoap liquid soap, and colorless Rembrandt mouthwash.<ref>Plotnikoff, David (March 30, 1992). "1993 could be remembered as year of the clear Template:Webarchive". The Daily Herald (Provo, Utah). p. 24.</ref> Even the Miller Brewing Company released a colorless beer, called Miller Clear, in Richmond, Minneapolis, and Austin the following year.<ref>Stoughton, Stephanie (June 27, 1993). "Miller Clear — cheers, jeers Template:Webarchive". Associated Press. The Daily News Leader (Staunton, Virginia). p. 5.</ref>
However, after its initial success, Crystal Pepsi quickly became more of a fad as the trend of clear sodas wore off.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to PepsiCo, Crystal Pepsi sales played a large part in the company's profits for the first quarter of 1993 (when it launched nationally), but otherwise did not have much impact for the full year profits of 1993.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Subsequently and presently, Crystal Pepsi has been viewed as a failure.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Its failure has also been attributed to the apparent detoriation of its taste when the bottle was exposed in the sun.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Revival
In 2005, a similarly transparent Pepsi cola was launched in Mexico and sold for a limited time as Pepsi Clear.<ref name="Clear">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On August 22, 2008, PepsiCo filed for trademarks in the United States on the product names "Pepsi Clear" and "Diet Pepsi Clear", but both were soon abandoned. Pepsi Clear was later released in Thailand in 2025, but as a zero sugar clear cola. <ref name="Clear" /> In September 2019, a clear cola drink called Pepsi Nex II was launched in Japan by the local distributor, Suntory. This occurred not long after the local release of Coca-Cola Clear.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In March 2015, an online grassroots campaign began to bring back Crystal Pepsi, encouraged by a similar campaign that made The Coca-Cola Company reintroduce Surge in the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The following month, a second, separate petition was led by an online competitive eating personality, Kevin Strahle, also known as The L.A. Beast, who had made a 2013 viral video of himself drinking a vintage bottle of Crystal Pepsi. This generated enough interest for a telephone and email campaign, garnering around 37,000 Change.org petition signatures,<ref name="Crystal Pepsi 2018 Forbes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> tens of thousands of tagged comments on social media, 15 billboards erected around the Los Angeles area, and a commitment to ride a mobile billboard truck at PepsiCo's headquarters in Purchase, New York with a gathering of supporters at a park nearby<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> on June 15 and 16, 2015.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The interest from this campaign led to an official response to Strahle by PepsiCo on June 8, 2015: "We've had customers ask us to bring back their favorite products before, but never with your level of enthusiasm and humor. We're lucky to have a Pepsi superfan like you on our side. We definitely hear you and your followers and we think you'll all be happy with what's in store. Stay tuned."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="CNBC sweepstakes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A year later, PepsiCo officially brought back Crystal Pepsi for a limited time, beginning on July 11, 2016 in Canada and August 8 in America.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was promoted with a retro styled website and marketing video, including The Crystal Pepsi Trail browser game as an officially licensed parody of the classic The Oregon Trail.<ref name="Prepared-Foods-2016">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="CNBC-June-2016">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="TCPT">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> PepsiCo brought the product back again as part of the drink's 30th anniversary in 2022 with a total of 300 units given away as part of a competition.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>