However, when it comes to the branding/advertising for Mt. Dew Throwback, they did an absolutely horrible job. For Mt. Dew fans, the 12 pack case doesn't look anything like the original and I (a hard core Mt. Dew & Dr. Pepsi fan) had a really hard time finding it at Cub Foods!

If Target replaced their logo with a white triangle, would I think they were even the same company? No. Color matters. Color and packaging is what catches us consumer's eyes as we are walking down the grocery store aisles and looking for something to drink.

So I've been telling every single person I meet who has a can/bottle of pop in their hand about the throwbacks. Every one seems to have the same reaction: they have heard of the pop but haven't tried it. Why?

When it comes to the 4 P's of Marketing: Product, Price, Place, Promotion it seems pretty obvious as to why it hasn't "taken off".

+ Product: It's great tasting, smooth, and a lot of people would prefer natural sugar over High Fructose Corn Syrup.
+ Price: It's more expensive, but with the potential health benefits and better taste- it's worth the little price increase.
- Place: I went to Walmart and walked up and down all the pop/beverage aisles and couldn't find any Throwback. I even asked two associates and neither knew if they had it. I had to make a separate trip to Cub Foods and only on one end cap of an aisle did they have about 6 cases of Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper. HELLO- If you want people to buy it you have to offer it where it's convenient to purchase. What about encouraging vending machines to try out the throwback? Customers are way more likely to try out a $1.50 20oz bottle than jump for a $4.25 12pk for their first taste. THAT's where new beverages have a chance to gain a following.

- Promotion: Given the Throwback Mt. Dew doesn't look anything like the current Green Mt. Dew brand, the $$$,$$$'s on TV commercials wasn't nearly enough to launch a whole new product. They failed to piggy back on the hugely successful/popular existing brand and they can only hope they didn't (as a result) doom the Throwback to failure.