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You may have thought a turkey-and-gravy-flavored soda would be disgusting. No, it gets worse. A Christmas-season four-pack of Seattle-based Jones Soda features bottles labeled Sugar Plum, Eggnog, Christmas Tree, and Christmas Ham. (There's a Chanukah pack, too, with a dreidel inside: latke, applesauce, chocolate coins, jelly donut.) But we're not here to be disgusting, we're here to be informative.
Jones Soda, you may recall, made a big splash with its quirky flavors and off-beat promotions a few years back. While assiduously courting taste-making skateboarders, they also managed to be named "official soda" for assorted big league sports teams, including the New Jersey Nets. Then their stock started to tank, the board threw out the founder (with a $20K a month severance), installed a new CEO (who even happened to be named Jones) and started cutting costs. Nothing helped. The stock price is three-for-a-buck, down from $20+ just 18 months ago. And now Jones wants out of the NBA deal.
The whole sad story is on Downtown Dispatch.com this morning, where publisher Alex Mayer admits his posts are opinionated, to say the least. He claims to be inventing a new style of journalism that combines investigative reporting, infotainment and hatred for big business. "Unchecked corporate greed has helped destroy our country," he says. "I feel we should start becoming aware of the useless products and insulting marketing being spoon-fed to us." Spoon-fed like turkey and gravy.
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I know the NJ Nets are impressive, but aren't these guys also the official soda dudes of our late, beloved Seahawks?
The soda supplier to their South Lake Union landlord, Paul Allen, yes.
I like it. The 'green apple soda' makes my tongue lime green. Turns on the chicks.
I've heard the Vulcan babes really love that look.
Maybe that's the Paul Allen connection?
Every time Jones Soda comes out with one of these novelty boxes they get coverage on TV, newspapers and blogs across the country.
Contrary to the ramblings of Mr. Mayer I'd call this brilliant promotion. There are obviously other problems going on at Jones, based on the stock performance, but these promotions aren't one of them.
Mr. Mayer appears to have an ax to grind.