More about the quest to find C2

I just realized a few days ago that I have not provided any update on my search for Coca-Cola C2 (or Coke C2). (see the first two posts here and here).

The tast time I tackled the subject, I was convinced C2 was being pulled off the market. A month after posting that my friend Sara, whom I was visiting in Florida, welcomed with a dozen cans of C2, which she said at the time she had no trouble finding.

I was happy and suddenly thirsty. I drank as much as many of them as I could (I had to leave a couple in the hotel) and took two back to Washington to have as reminders of a lost era (they are the cans in the picture above).

I still haven't seen C2 in Washington and I don't know is Sara can still find it in Florida. All I know is that the speculations have now gone "mainstream" as the Wikipedia entry for C2 speculates that its future is uncertain.

And here is this omnious graph from a November story on diet sodas in Marketing Week (scroll far enough down on this site and you'll find it).

"C2 was launched less than a month after Pepsi announced the debut of mid-calorie Pepsi Edge in March 2004. Neither sold well, as marketers, who had found it easy to market regular and diet versions of drinks to specific consumers, struggled to repeat the trick with a third tier of "mid-calorie colas". Pepsi announced in May 2005 that it will discontinue Pepsi Edge next year. Coca-Cola is persevering with C2, though its 1.2 per cent share of the diet market is disappointing."

There are some good news (signs of hope) too. I found a blogger who says he found C2 a couple weeks back, bought three 12-packs and did a happy dance (can't figure out which city this happened in).

It may well be that the beverage will go extinct in the United States, but flourish in other parts of the world. All I know is that my fridge is not stocked with this weird drink anymore. And sometimes -- not often -- that makes me kind of sad.

Technorati tag: Cola