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{{short description|Experimental soft drink}}
{{Infobox Beverage
|name         = OK Soda
|bgcolor      =
|logo         = OK Soda - 1993.svg
|type         = [[Soft drink]]
|abv          =
|proof        =
|manufacturer = [[The Coca-Cola Company]]
|distributor  = [[Coca-Cola Enterprises]], others
|origin       = [[United States]]
|introduced   = 1993
|discontinued = 1995
|colour       =
|flavor      = [[Cola]]
|variants     =
|related      = [[Coca-Cola]]
|website      =
}}

'''OK Soda''' is a discontinued [[soft drink]] created in 1993 that courted the American [[Generation X]] [[demographic]] with unusual advertising tactics, including [[neo-noir]] design, chain letters and deliberately negative publicity. After the soda did not sell well in select test markets, it was officially declared out of production in 1995 before reaching nationwide distribution. The drink's slogan was "Things are going to be OK."

==History==
In 1993, Coca-Cola CEO [[Roberto Goizueta]] rehired [[Sergio Zyman]] to be the chief of [[marketing]] for all Coca-Cola beverage brands, a surprising choice given that Zyman had worked closely with the [[New Coke]] campaign, possibly the largest marketing failure in Coke's history.<ref name="msnbc-nc">{{cite web | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7209828 | title=It seemed like a good idea at the time: New Coke, 20 years later, and other marketing fiascoes | publisher=[[NBC News]] | date=22 April 2005 | access-date=26 August 2013|last=Ross|first=Michael E.}}</ref> However, after revamping the can design and print advertising campaigns for [[Diet Coke]] and [[Coca-Cola Classic]] with great success, Zyman was given free rein to design new products with aggressive, offbeat marketing campaigns.<ref name=ilwbc>{{cite book|title=I'd Like the World to Buy a Coke: The Life and Leadership of Roberto Goizueta|date=25 May 1999|orig-year=1st pub. 1998|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|location=[[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|New York]]|isbn=9780471345947|pages=233–235|last1=Greising |first1=David |author-link1=David Greising|chapter=The Big Brand Machine}}</ref>

International market research done by The Coca-Cola Company in the late 1980s revealed that "[[Coca-Cola|Coke]]" was the second most recognizable word across all languages in the world.  The first word was "OK".  Zyman (who also conceived [[Fruitopia]]) decided to take advantage of this existing brand potential and created a soft drink with this name. He conceived of a counter-intuitive advertising campaign that intentionally targeted people who did not like advertising.  He predicted that the soft drink would be a huge success, and promised Goizueta that the soft drink would take at least 4% of the US beverage market.<ref name=emwki>{{cite book|title=The End of Marketing as We Know It|date=7 November 2000|orig-year=1st pub. 1999|publisher=[[HarperCollins|HarperCollins Publishers]]|location=[[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|New York]]|isbn=9780887309830|pages=47–49|last1=Zyman |first1=Sergio |author-link1=Sergio Zyman|edition=reprint, revised|chapter=Chapter 3: Marketing Is Science}}</ref> Coca-Cola's special projects manager Brian Lanahan explained to ''[[Time Magazine]]'' that they chose the name "OK" because "It underpromises. It doesn't say, 'This is the next great thing.' It's the flip side of overclaiming."<ref name="Galindo,">{{cite news |last1=Galindo |first1=Brian |title=The Strange Story Of "OK Soda" |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/the-strange-story-of-ok-soda |access-date=30 January 2019 |work=BuzzFeed |date=February 25, 2013 |language=en}}</ref> [[Coca-Cola marketing]] consultant Tom Pinko told [[National Public Radio]], "People who are 19 years old are very accustomed to having been manipulated and knowing that they're manipulated," and that OK Soda's audience possessed a "lethargy [that] probably can't be penetrated by any commercial message."<ref name="Schulman, 2015">{{cite book |last1=Schulman |first1=Michael |title=Attacked from Beneath by Carp and from Above by Seagulls: A Collection of Summer-Suitable Reading from the Believer Magazine |date=2015 |publisher=McSweeney's |isbn=9781940450889 |language=en |chapter=Everything Is Going To Be OK|url=https://believermag.com/everything-is-going-to-be-ok/}}</ref>

===Testing===
[[Image:OK Soda Original 4.jpg|right|thumb|352px|The original four cans used in test markets]]
Despite a US-wide advertising campaign and intense media attention, OK Soda was [[test marketing|marketed only in select areas]], representing different demographic areas during the summer of 1993. Four separate can designs were used (with each test market getting all four designs).  The Coca-Cola Corporation announced at the time that they would continually update the cans with new designs (later designs can be identified by having an explanatory tag saying that it is "A unique fruity soda"). Some of the testing locations were:
* [[Atlantic Canada]]
* [[Austin, Texas]]
* [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]]
* [[Denver]], [[Colorado]]
* [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]]
* [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]]
* [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]
* [[Fargo, North Dakota]]
* [[Knoxville, Tennessee]]
* [[Little Rock, Arkansas]]
* [[Lynden, Washington|Lynden]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]]
* [[Minneapolis]]-[[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]], [[Minnesota]]
* Northern [[Wisconsin]]
* [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]]
* [[Omaha, Nebraska]]
* [[Portland, Oregon]]
* [[Providence, Rhode Island]]
* [[Sacramento, California]]
* [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]]

OK Soda never captured more than 3% of the beverage market in any of the target locations, failing to match Zyman's hype.   The project was canceled by Coca-Cola just seven months after its kickoff, and the soft drink was never widely released to the public.<ref name=fgccc>{{cite book|title=For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It|date=17 March 2000|orig-year=1st pub. 1993|publisher=[[Basic Books]]|location=[[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|New York]]|isbn=9780465054688|pages=400–403|last1=Pendergrast |first1=Mark |author-link1=Mark Pendergrast|edition=2nd|chapter=Chapter 21: Global Fizz}}</ref>

==Marketing==
[[Image:OK Soda - can.jpg|framed|One of the OK Soda can designs; illustrated by [[Charles Burns (cartoonist)|Charles Burns]]]]
[[File:OK Soda Prize Can.jpg|thumb|OK Soda prize can with prizes]]
OK Soda has been remembered more for its unique [[advertising campaign]] than for its fruity flavor.  The name and advertising campaign attempted to poke fun at the "''[[I'm OK – You're OK]]''" [[pop-psychology]] of the early 1970s. OK Soda was intentionally marketed at the difficult [[Generation X]] markets, and attempted to cash in on the group's existing cynicism, disillusionment and disaffection with standard advertising campaigns.<ref name="Galindo," /> OK Soda's concept was that the youth market was already aware that they were being manipulated by mass-media marketing, so this advertising campaign would just be more transparent about it.  Its indirect advertising was a form of rebel advertising similar to the [[McDonald's]] commercials for the [[Arch Deluxe]].  The campaign was designed by [[Portland, Oregon]]-based advertising firm [[Wieden+Kennedy]].  Spokespeople for the company and their advertisers were very frank about the fact that they were marketing the drink entirely on the "feeling" rather than the taste.<ref name=atc-ok>{{cite web|title=Coke Hopes to Sell New Drink on How It Feels, Not Tastes|url=http://home.pacifier.com/~ntierney/npr.htm|work=[[All Things Considered]]|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|access-date=26 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041016183939/http://home.pacifier.com/~ntierney/npr.htm|archive-date=16 October 2004|date=27 May 1994}}</ref> OK Soda's own advertisements went so far as to disparage the beverage's taste comparing it to things like "carbonated tree sap".<ref name="TIME, 2010">{{cite magazine |title=Top 10 Bad Beverage Ideas |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1913612_1913610_1913576,00.html |magazine=Time |date=23 April 2010}}</ref>

The general public did not respond to the offbeat campaign, and most critics point out that the campaigning was too overt in its courting of the youth and teen market.<ref name=time-gx>{{cite magazine|last=Hornblower|first=Margot|author-link=Margot Hornblower|title=Great Xpectations of So-Called Slackers|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]|date=9 June 1997|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986481-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401223258/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986481-1,00.html|archive-date=1 April 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=26 August 2013}}</ref>

===Can design===
Both the cans and the print advertisements for the soft drink, created by [[Wieden+Kennedy]] creative director [[Charlotte Moore (brand consultant)|Charlotte Moore]], conceptual artist [[Peter Wegner (American artist)|Peter Wegner]], and designer [[Todd Waterbury]],<ref name=wk-cm>{{cite web|last=Moore|first=Charlotte|author-link=Charlotte Moore (brand consultant)|title=PORTFOLIO 3 (OK Soda)|url=http://www.charlottemoore.it/charlottemoore.it/PORTFOLIO_3.html|access-date=26 August 2013|year=1994|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826114909/http://www.charlottemoore.it/charlottemoore.it/PORTFOLIO_3.html|archive-date=26 August 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> featured work by popular "alternative" cartoonists [[Daniel Clowes]] (''[[Eightball (comics)|Eightball]]'', ''[[Ghost World (comics)|Ghost World]]'')<ref name=mojo-ce>{{cite web|last1=Gilson |first1=Dave |author-link1=Dave Gilson|title=Clowes Encounter: An Interview With Daniel Clowes|url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/2010/05/dan-clowes-comics-cartoons-interview|work=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]|publisher=[[Foundation for National Progress]]|access-date=26 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130818005333/https://www.motherjones.com/media/2010/05/dan-clowes-comics-cartoons-interview|archive-date=18 August 2013|page=2|date=13 May 2010}}</ref> and [[Charles Burns (cartoonist)|Charles Burns]] (''[[Black Hole (comics)|Black Hole]]'', ''[[The Believer (magazine)|The Believer]])'',<ref name="Schulman, 2015" /> as well as work from illustrator Calef Brown.<ref>{{Cite web |title=OK Soda |url=https://www.calefbrown.com/ok-soda |access-date=2022-05-29 |website=Calef Brown |language=en-US}}</ref> Though skeptical of the campaign, Clowes took the job because his work illustrating a couple of cans and a few posters paid more than publishing five books of comics. In an act of subverting OK Soda's already subversive marketing scheme, Clowes gave his OK Soda mascot the facial features of [[Charles Manson]], saying that none of the contracts he signed said, "Don't put a mass murderer on the can."<ref>{{cite web | title=Everything is Going to be OK | date=February 2014 | url=https://www.thebeliever.net/everything-is-going-to-be-ok/ }}</ref>

Unlike the brightly colored Coca-Cola cans, they were decorated in drab shades of gray, with occasional red text. In addition to the primarily two-tone illustrations, the cans featured a special code that could be entered at the [[toll-free number]] "1-800-I-FEEL-OK" that led callers through a series of true-or-false prompts inspired by the [[Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory]]. Cans also sported a "Coincidence" in the form of an odd OK Soda-themed [[urban legend]] set in various towns around the United States, each anecdote ending with the statement, "This is a coincidence." OK Soda's marketing team also mailed out these "Coincidences" in the form of [[chain letter]]s to promote the soda, and in turn these chain letters were read on TV spots for OK Soda.<ref name="Schulman, 2015" />

===Prize can===
Randomly included with OK Soda selections in vending machines was an OK Soda "prize can". Similar to a can of instant soup, the top could be peeled completely off revealing the prize inside. Prizes included some form of OK Soda merchandise rolled to fit (usually a hat) and an additional two quarters to purchase another can of OK Soda. The design of the prize can was different from the others and represented a fifth design overall. It was also more cylindrical in shape, considerably lighter (without soda inside) and included a light-blue banner, the only such design to include this color. This program was similar to Coke's previous [[MagiCan]] campaign.

===Manifesto===
Excerpts from the OK Soda manifesto, written by associate creative director Peter Wegner, were printed on the cans, and were also available for a short while on OK Soda's website.<ref name="Schulman, 2015" />  Some of the sayings were:
*What's the point of OK? Well, what's the point of anything?<ref name=time-wtbi>{{cite magazine|last1=Greenwald |first1=John |author-link1=John Greenwald |last2=Calabresi |first2=Massimo |author-link2=Massimo Calabresi |last3=Van Tassel |first3=Jane |author-link3=Jane Van Tassel |title=Will Teens Buy It?|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]|date=30 May 1994|volume=143|issue=22|pages=50–52|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101940530-164486,00.html|access-date=26 August 2013|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602032514/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101940530-164486,00.html|archive-date=2 June 2013}}</ref>
*OK Soda emphatically rejects anything that is not OK, and fully supports anything that is.
*The better you understand something, the more OK it turns out to be.
*OK Soda says, "Don't be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything."<ref name=time-wtbi />
*OK Soda reveals the surprising truth about people and situations.
*OK Soda does not subscribe to any religion, or endorse any political party, or do anything other than feel OK.
*There is no real secret to feeling OK.
*OK Soda may be the preferred drink of other people such as yourself.
*Never overestimate the remarkable abilities of "OK" brand soda.
*Please wake up every morning knowing that things are going to be OK.

==Composition and taste==
OK Soda had a more "[[citrus|citric]]" taste than traditional colas, almost like a fruit punch version of Coke's [[Fresca]]. It has been described as "slightly spicy" and likened to a combination of [[orange soda]] and flat [[Coca-Cola]].

===Ingredients===
[[Carbonated water]], [[high fructose corn syrup]] and/or [[sucrose]], [[citric acid]], [[caramel color]], [[potassium benzoate]] (to protect taste), [[phosphoric acid]], [[acacia]], [[natural flavors]], [[potassium citrate]], [[caffeine]], [[dipotassium phosphate]], [[glycerol ester of wood rosin]], [[brominated vegetable oil]], [[Red 40]]

==Legacy==
After its production ceased, OK Soda enjoyed a [[cult following]] on the internet, including the use of a [[newsgroup]] at alt.fan.ok-soda, which was fairly active for several years.  Fans would reminisce about the offbeat advertising materials, sell merchandise and intact cans, and trade recipes for home-brewed OK Soda facsimiles.

While OK Soda appears on retrospective lists of failed soft drinks and fluke ad campaigns, Analyst Thomas Flight posits that OK Soda may have been "ahead of its time" in its attempts at "brand disillusionment" through its subversion of traditional marketing.<ref name="Ifeanyi, 2017">{{cite news |last1=Ifeanyi |first1=K. C. |title=How Coca-Cola's Doomed "OK Soda" Can Lead To Your Next Great Ad Idea |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/40439705/how-coca-colas-doomed-ok-soda-can-lead-to-your-next-great-ad-idea |access-date=30 January 2019 |work=Fast Company |date=11 July 2017}}</ref> For example, [[Liquid Death]] has used similar "lifestyle play" marketing techniques with great success.<ref name="TC1">{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/24/a-brand-called-liquid-death-wants-to-sell-mountain-water-to-the-cool-kids/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241226132333/https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/24/a-brand-called-liquid-death-wants-to-sell-mountain-water-to-the-cool-kids/|archive-date=December 26, 2024|title=A Brand Called Liquid Death Wants to Sell Mountain Water to the Cool Kids|work=Tech Crunch|first=Connie|last=Loizos|date=January 24, 2019|access-date=September 27, 2024|url-status=dead}}</ref>  Meanwhile OK Soda's original merchandise, cans and advertising material can still be found readily on [[eBay]] with asking prices sometimes in hundreds of U.S. dollars.<ref name="Mistercola">{{cite web |last1=Mistercola |title=Vintage soda cans COCA COLA OK bank tops Project X 4-20-94 Set of 4 Very Rare |url=https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-soda-cans-COCA-COLA-OK-bank-tops-Project-X-4-20-94-Set-of-4-Very-Rare-/163513362465 |website=eBay |access-date=30 January 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|1990s}}
* [[Arch Deluxe]]
* [[Crystal Pepsi]]
* [[List of defunct consumer brands]]
* [[Pepsi One]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060222022119/http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1101940530-164486,00.html "Will Teens Buy It? Coke's new OK soda uses irony and understatement to woo a skeptical market"] — A critical business perspective from ''[[Time Magazine]]'' on OK Soda as a case study for marketing to [[Generation X]] (May 30, 1994)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181215171854/http://www.suck.com/daily/96/02/14/daily.html OK Marketing] — A retrospective of the OK marketing campaign by [[suck.com]] (February 14, 1996)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041124093558/http://home.pacifier.com/~ntierney/oksoda.htm The OK Soda Page] — an unofficial site with comprehensive information (from web archives)
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225853/http://tx4.us/ok.htm Austin TX 10th Anniversary OK Soda Page]}} observations from a test market.
* [http://thepilver.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/ok-soda/ OK Soda Letter] A letter from Coca-Cola explaining the end of OK Soda
{{Colas}}

{{Coca-Cola brands}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ok Soda}}
[[Category:Coca-Cola brands]]
[[Category:Products introduced in 1993]]
[[Category:Products and services discontinued in 1995]]
[[Category:Discontinued soft drinks]]
[[Category:Generation X]]