Vanilla Coke???... Where Did you GO!!! - Brand Extension

Vanilla Coke, in my opinion, was one of the best brand extensions/line extensions that has ever walked this earth. I don't know what it was, Coca Cola with a little shot of Vanilla in it, it was heaven! I was skeptical at first when I tried it, always being accustom to the regular coke, I tried it and it was love at first sight. I would go out of my way just to satisfy my craving. It was the top selling 20oz soft drink in the first four weeks after the product Launch and seemed like it was going to continue to boom, so what happened? 

But then it disappeared, gone, no longer there, vanished without a trace??? What was it? What drove it off the shelves, there was no possible way of it not being popular it was a big hit amongst my peers in high school. So what happened? Did the excitement really leave? Was there an error in the ingredients where it was harmful to us? Or was Coca Cola too afraid of the cannibalization effect that it may have on the company because it is that good!!!!? 

So I did a little research for those who are as curious as I am. I first chose to view other blogs and forums to find the answers, and located many people like me. This is what I found.

From searching these blogs and forums and even Facebook, I have found no real solid answers, I just found: I miss it, Bring it Back, Lets start a "Bring-Back Campaign", and so on, and so on... 

So now I had to search into a more reliable source. (Wiki-Pedia)

It said that the Coca Cola Company had doubts about the future for Vanilla Coke due to the decline in sales of 2004 of 35 million from 2002's 90 million. Apparently this brought Coca Cola's Stocks down by like 1%, I just blame it on the company, not the Vanilla Coke itself. 

So they closed it down on a doubt! That's it! But they are exploring new ways on how they will re-market the product and that it will be made available again, but when? They don't know yet. I still think they could have just kept Vanilla Coke and just make new campaigns. 

But thats my BrandStand on this Brand Extension, how fear of cannibalization and how companies have to make the right decisions when coming to a discontinuation of a product or not, even if there are some "Die Hard" fans. 

Oh Vanilla Coke...... We Miss You!