The hyperlink may be one of the most consequential inventions of the late 20th century. Just think of all the rabbit holes you’ve been led down just by clicking a link on a web page. They can take you to the most unexpected places.
That happened to me in 2002 or thereabouts (it’s been a while). I suddenly had difficulty finding my favorite soda – Coca-Cola’s SURGE. It disappeared from grocery stores and I wanted to know why. Was it discontinued? Was there a shortage? I missed my daily dose of bubbly citrus taste and caffeine.
A web search led me to a beverage-themed message board owned by the industry publication Beverage Digest. Another SURGE fan, Avery Lund, posted that he was experiencing the same sad scenario.
The news seemed dire. Coca-Cola was discontinuing the product – presumably due to low sales. The drink was supposed to compete with Pepsi’s established titan Mountain Dew. That didn’t work out so well.
Avery and I got to talking. We wanted to do something about this great injustice. So, we collaborated on a website.
It wasn’t much at first. But then people started showing up and things got interesting…
An Online Movement Before the Advent of Social Media
SaveSURGE.org launched a few years before social media took the world by storm. So, how do you drive traffic to a website with no marketing budget or public town square? Word of mouth.
Message boards were big in the early 2000s. Online communities of all stripes used them for communication between members. So, we shared our site with people we thought would be interested. Gamers were a primary target. Most of the sharing wasn’t done by us, though.
We encouraged visitors to spread the word. Their participation was the only realistic way for the site to gain a following, and it was also our chance to get Coca-Cola’s attention.
The site also needed interesting content to keep visitors coming back. We didn’t have much to go on in the beginning. The site consisted of a mission statement and a link to a petition started by another SURGE fan. Not exactly a roaring start.
However, that changed quickly as people began contacting us: Fans sent us places where SURGE could still be found, photos of them drinking it, and stories of how much they loved the soda. It was an unexpected twist that gave our little site some life.
We decided to use these items to inform and entertain:
As a call-to-arms Web site, SaveSurge.org rivals the complexity and depth of many political websites. It features some 500 pages of Surge testimonials, photographs of Surge marketing paraphernalia, and recipes for Surge Jell-0 and Surge Cookies. Members debated activist strategies and tactics in a discussion forum. An online petition to resurrect Surge collected 13,799 signatures. Surge sightings were maintained in a searchable database; fans kept tabs on Surge found at restaurant soda fountains or convenience scores. Demand for expired Surge was economically real and profitable. Twelve packs of the soda four years past their expiration date have sold for $152 on eBay. Not unlike what large-scale political action groups do with their members, Karkovack and Lund made it easy for fellow activists to send prewritten letters to senior Coca-Cola leaders, its consumer affairs department, and local bottling companies. They posted phone numbers and e-mail addresses of those authorities and encouraged community members to lobby them. They made it easy for fellow SaveSurgians to create their own SaveSurge.org business cards and pamphlets that explained the group’s mission.
Huba, Jackie, and McConnell, Ben. Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message. Kaplan Publishing, 2007.
The site went from a two-person operation to a full-blown community. People wanted to contribute. Some offered to send money (we politely refused).
My decision to find out what had happened to SURGE was a lark. It evolved into something much bigger.
Contributions and Community
I was stunned at the amount of content people were sending. It was arriving daily and I scrambled to post it on the site. Spending a couple of hours a day adding new items wasn’t unusual.
Some fans were repeat contributors. They sent us artwork – some even contributed songs. Our message board was buzzing with people wanting to help and reminisce.
We had a somewhat diverse community as well. It skewed mostly male, but there were several female members. Ages ranged from teenagers to the middle-aged. Geographically, we had fans chime in from all over the USA and some from Europe (URGE, the precursor to SURGE, is still sold in Norway).
Some went to extremes for the cause. A couple of ladies created their own Save SURGE booth at a music festival – paid out of pocket. Oh yeah, an aspiring filmmaker also made a documentary.
We wanted to find a way to thank people for going above and beyond. That’s how the SaveSURGE.org Hall of Fame was born.
I chose people who contributed the most (or most special) content. They received a bio page in our Hall of Fame section, a featured interview, and a custom mug. By the end, we had “enshrined” 28 fans.
Looking back, it’s interesting how contribution seemed to fuel itself. Spotlighting fans and their content made others want their moment in the sun. It was a great way to build momentum.
Here Come the Soda Activists
The site’s mission wasn’t just to pay homage to SURGE – we wanted it back on store shelves. That also required the community’s participation.
To help, we provided contact details for individual Coke bottlers and the company itself. We held monthly “Call Coke” days where fans would request their favorite beverage. I imagine we had a few people at Coke HQ laughing.
We were also helped by media coverage. Avery and I got on a few radio shows. A local TV station interviewed me. The site was featured in a few beverage industry trade publications. We were profiled in a book called Citizen Marketers.
Our big break came in 2005 when an Associated Press reporter contacted me. They wrote a story about our little community that appeared in newspapers nationwide. That led to more media requests and publicity for our cause. Perhaps the biggest moment was seeing that AP story on the front page of Yahoo! – the traffic crunch crashed our site.
It was fun – but not all smiles. I received a good bit of hate mail. Most of it asked why I was wasting my energy on soda and not something worthwhile. I tried not to let it affect me. But it was a lesson in how we judge people before knowing them.
The important thing (in my view) was that we finally received some attention from our corporate overlords.
Collaborating with Coke
We had little communication with Coca-Cola during the first few years. A few employees signed up for our newsletter. I heard from lower-level folks interested in what we were doing. The media attention changed things.
I was contacted by an executive who wanted to see if a return to the market for SURGE was viable. They encouraged me to run a survey on the site asking specific questions. I recall him being floored at how many responses we had.
A few potential plans were discussed but nothing ever came to fruition. There was a lot of disappointment for me. And I couldn’t go into details with the community as nothing was official.
Eventually, Coke released a SURGE-like citrus soda called Vault. The taste was similar and a lot of fans were pleased. So, I built another site to sing its praises. It didn’t last long. On the bright side, I received a lot of free soda and merch.
The result wasn’t what I wanted. But I was proud that we got Coke’s attention. Not many fan movements could say they made a giant corporation rethink a decision in that era. Even better was that it happened organically.
Leaving It to the Next Generation
I decided to end my role with SaveSURGE.org in 2008. I could see that SURGE wasn’t coming back anytime soon. Vault’s release was a positive, but it seemed there was nowhere else to go.
That was that – or so I thought. Vault was discontinued in 2011. There were still SURGE fans who didn’t want to give up. It also happened to be when social media was in its heyday.
Musician Evan Carr launched the SURGE Movement Facebook group. He recruited friends Matt Winans and Sean Sheridan to help. Things were about to get a little crazy.
Together, they harnessed the platform to rally SURGE fans from all over. They crowdfunded billboards near Coke’s Atlanta, GA headquarters. They called the company and wrote letters.
Most importantly, they convinced Coke to reintroduce SURGE in 2014. The drink was initially available at Amazon. It moved to brick-and-mortar retailers, then as an exclusive treat at Burger King.
Thanks to the SURGE Movement, I was among the first to get my hands on a can of the green nectar.
To say I was shocked is an understatement. People just wouldn’t let go of SURGE and the memories associated with it. I bet Coke had no clue what it started when the drink launched in 1997.
I even brought SaveSURGE.org back for a short time. It was a way to celebrate an unexpected victory.
Sadly, SURGE is no longer available. Coke gave it the ax a few years into the revival. The SURGE Movement hasn’t given up, though. They continue to rally fans to action.
It’s also worth noting that SURGE hasn’t left the pop culture consciousness. A Funko Pop! figure was released in 2024.
Oddly enough, the drink continues to thrive in Norway. Any friends in Oslo want to hook me up? Note: I’ll need the zero-sugar formula (better for diabetes).
The Lessons and Memories Stayed with Me
The experience marked an unexpected and bizarre chapter in my life. I still get asked about it every so often. And people who didn’t know about it previously are surprised by the story.
It was incredibly fun to connect with people over a common cause – even if it wasn’t the most serious one. Maybe it also did some good. I hope it gave young people a way to experience democracy. Perhaps it also served as an introduction to activism.
Regardless, it led me to do things I never would have done otherwise. I learned a lot about marketing and community. For example: Give people a task and make them feel important. Give them an easy path to contribute. The results might surprise you.
Also, take note of any links you click. One might take you somewhere interesting.
Gallery
Enjoy a taste of nostalgia with these images from SaveSURGE.org.
