JOLT COLA OFFERS TASTE CHALLENGE
By Adnews Staff
The Jolt Company of Rochester, New York made a cheeky offer this week to Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola which the the two soft drink giants refused. The smaller company challenged them to a blind taste test of their cola soft drinks by 1000 consumers, with each company putting up $100,000. The winner would walk away with $300,000 to donate to a favorite charity. Jolt gave its competitors two days to respond. Pepsi told Jolt it couldn't do it because of strategic reasons, and Coke never responded to the request, Jolt spokesperson Julie Quattro told Adnews last week. The two companies did not return phone calls from Adnews. Separately, Jolt has redesigned its packaging and introduced two new beverages to the North American market, called Pirates Keg root beer and Blu Botol mineral water. The new packages and products will hit the market over the next 30 days. North American advertising for Jolt's cola and the new drinks began last week using print, and promotions with distributors. The tag line for the cola ad is "Americas Most Powerful Cola." The theme for the root beer ad is "The Legendary Brew," and the ad for Blu Botol states "The Quintessential H2O." The campaign is being handled by Infantino Associates of New York.