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Surge (sometimes styled as SURGE) is a citrus-flavored soft drink first produced in the 1990s by
the Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...
to compete with
Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...
's
Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew in some countries and colloquially known as Dew in some areas, is a soft drink brand owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage Bottler (company), bottlers Barney and A ...
. Surge was advertised as having a more "hardcore" edge, much like Mountain Dew's advertising at the time, in an attempt to lure customers away from Pepsi. It was originally launched in Norway as Urge in 1996, and was so popular that it was released in the United States as Surge in 1997. Lagging sales caused production to be ended in 2003 for most markets. However, popular fan bases such as
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's "SURGE Movement" led Coca-Cola to re-release the soft drink on September 15, 2014, for the US market via
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in 12-packs of cans. Following a test-market for the beverage in the
Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...
in early 2015, Surge was re-released primarily in convenience stores in the
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and some
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in September 2015. Surge was re-released internationally in September 2018 in
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restaurants in the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines.


History


Early years

Surge, under the name of Urge, was first launched on the Norwegian market as a test product on April 22, 1996. It was first formally unveiled by Coca-Cola on December 16, 1996. Prior to production, its original
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name was "MDK," or "
Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew in some countries and colloquially known as Dew in some areas, is a soft drink brand owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage Bottler (company), bottlers Barney and A ...
Killer", as it was developed to converge with Mello Yello as a means of slowing Mountain Dew growth. Coke's attempts to draw users away with divergent products like OK Soda or with similar ones like Mello Yello had not succeeded. Surge was intended to improve on Mountain Dew by using
maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a name shared by two different families of chemicals. Both families are glucose polymers (also called ''dextrose polymers'' or ''Dextrin, dextrins''), but have little chemical or nutritional similarity. The digestible maltodextr ...
for a longer-lasting blast of energy and with bolder, brighter presentation. While preparations for the US launch were underway, the Norwegian branch of Coca-Cola was battling a successful launch of Mountain Dew in their market. Because the Surge brand was already registered by another firm, the product was launched as "Urge" and bottled by Ringnes, bottler of other Coca-Cola products at the time. It was seen as a competitor of the Norwegian orange soda
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, also bottled by Ringnes. The Norwegian market was chosen as a test market due to high consumption of carbonated beverages – then fifth worldwide – and its small population, making it easy to get feedback quickly. Local food regulation prevented the bright green color from being used, so it was launched with a pale, more natural juice drink look and given a slight orange taste to match the flavor with the color. The label's color was described as "grungy green and orange", which were noted as being fashionable at the time. The product sold well, particularly among the 12–19 age group, leading to its worldwide release. By the end of January 1997, the product had reached 2.2% market share in Norway. The sale of Surge in North America began on January 13, 1997, when the drink was released to 140 markets across the United States. Its release was accompanied by a $50 million nationwide marketing campaign that led to high sales and popularity. A few years after the release, sales began to slip. Surge continued to be sold in vending machines, and promotional coolers. The Surge coolers were placed in high traffic areas in gas stations as a key promotion to push sales away from competitors coolers in the back of stores all over the United States. Surge could be found in cans and fountain drinks until its eventual discontinuation in 2003. Until September 15, 2014, when Coca-Cola re-released Surge, Norway was the only country where one could still buy a similar soft drink in any form, as the original Surge recipe was still popular there. Surge was widely associated with the
extreme sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk of injury or death. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extre ...
lifestyle, with television commercials similar to those used by Mountain Dew at the time. The drink was also prominently advertised by
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, with product placement on
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and pay-per-view. Coca-Cola also used provocative catchphrases to market Surge to extreme sports enthusiasts and teenagers alike. Some of these catchphrases included "Feed the Rush", "Life's a Scream" and the references to Surge as "A Fully Loaded Citrus Soda." Further touted was that Surge had a considerable number of
carbohydrates A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ma ...
, hence the "with carbos" tagline that was occasionally used in the marketing campaigns to emphasize the fact that Surge was supposed to be more than a soda, but an energy drink as well. After its inception, Surge's logo was updated and redesigned to a sharper and more modern look by graphic designer and marketer Colin Nekritz.


Trademark

In 1997 Coca-Cola settled a trademark dispute with Babson Bros., an industrial cleaning product company whose cow-milking machine has been known as Surge since 1925.


Revival

After the discontinuation of Surge in cans, a community was formed by web designer Eric "Karks" Karkovack entitled "Save Surge". The community initially mapped the locations at which Surge could be purchased in fountain form. Upon cancellation of the fountain syrup, the community continued, adopting an approach of activism that led to the creation of the citrus soda Vault in June 2005. After Vault's release, Karkovack announced the closure of SaveSurge.org. Vault was discontinued in 2011. As a result of Vault's discontinuation, a group was started on Facebook by Evan Carr called the "Surge Movement". The group repeatedly posted requests on Coca-Cola's Facebook page, and encouraged its members to call Coca-Cola's consumer affairs hotline at 1-800-GET-COKE to voice their desires further, once every month. The movement gained around 200,000 Facebook "likes" in the months after it was started and continues to grow. On September 15, 2014, Surge was re-released as an Amazon.com exclusive in packs of twelve cans. On February 10, 2015, Coca-Cola announced that it had begun test-marketing Surge with independent resellers and vending machines across the Southeast United States. The test run ended in late-May 2015. Two months later, Coca-Cola announced that it was preparing for a large-scale Surge retail release across the Eastern United States. Surge was re-released at convenience stores across the Eastern United States on September 7, 2015. In August 2018, Surge became available in Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, exclusively at
Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...
. It is available in several varieties, including Cherry, Grape, Vanilla, and Zero Sugar.


Slushy versions

In 1999,
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introduced a Surge-flavored Slurpee. On November 16, 2015, Burger King restaurants released a slushy version of the beverage called "Frozen Surge" as a limited edition slushy. Burger King reintroduced it in their restaurants as a fountain drink in August, 2018 In late 2016, Valero Corner Stores partnered with Icee to release an Icee form of Surge at select locations. On January 11, 2017,
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released a slushy version of the beverage called "Surge Frozen" for a limited time before being discontinued in spring 2017.


Formulation

Comparisons of Surge have been made to a later Coca-Cola product, Vault, which was first released in 2005—around two years after the discontinuation of Surge. Vault has also been discontinued as of December 2011. The two drinks are noted to have had similar taste, although Vault contained higher levels of caffeine at 70.5 mg per 12 fl. oz serving (equivalent to ) and contained artificial flavors in its recipe. The caffeine content of Surge was comparable to that of other citrus soft drinks in the American market during its time at 51 mg per 12 fl. oz serving (). Below is a listing of the ingredients of Surge, per the label on the canned and bottled versions, as well as the ingredient listings from both a Surge fountain syrup box, and a Surge frozen carbonated beverage (FCB) box. All four differ slightly; however, more information regarding the Surge formulation can be gleaned from both syrup variations, as they were to be mixed using a ratio of 4.4 parts cold, carbonated water to 1 part syrup.


See also

* Bawls * Jolt Cola * Josta


References


External links

*Jay Moye (September 15, 2014)
"SURGE Returns: Back by Popular Demand, Brand Now Available Exclusively on Amazon.com"
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

"Nutritional Facts"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surge (Soft Drink) Coca-Cola brands Products introduced in 1997 Products introduced in 2014 Products and services discontinued in 2003 Citrus sodas Caffeinated soft drinks Soft drinks