Business Objective: 

Coca-Cola wanted to launch a brand to compete with Pepsi’s enormously successful, Mountain Dew soda. "Surge" was the answer — a highly caffeinated drink aimed squarely at the biggest consumers of such beverages, i.e. teenage boys.

 

Brand Strategy: 

The strategy was to position Surge as the coolest, hippest soda you can buy, and develop marketing that would appeal to the teen boy mindset with relevant, music-driven, offbeat, cult-like themes.

 

Brand Campaign: 

The “Surge! Feed The Rush” campaign was created and featured, among other things, music video type commercials starring cool young guys, in offbeat races to get a can of Surge.

 

Media: 

TV, billboards, digital ads, point-of-sale materials.

 

Result: 

Within three months of its launch, Surge had wracked up millions in sales and had outsold Mountain Dew throughout the country. It thus became the brand leader in the teen soda market and the single most successful Coca-Cola new product launch ever, pretty darned cool!