Why Was Sierra Mist Discontinued?

By largely dominating the soda market for years, Coca-Cola has long been a thorn in Pepsi's side. Efforts to increase profits with discontinued brands like Pepsi Blue and the now elusive SoBe drinks have met with failure in the past but to its credit, the company has never taken lackluster sales lying down. One of its most recent marketing plans revolves around the discontinuation of Sierra Mist. The lemon-lime flavored beverage was once supposed to be the answer to Coca-Cola's Sprite, which was garnering the lion's share of lemon-lime soda sales. But since its debut in 1999, the bottom line hasn't been encouraging for Pepsi.

Back in 2016, Pepsi rebranded the caffeine-free beverage as "Mist Twist," but the effort didn't meet expectations. By 2018, Sierra Mist was back in its original form, but lagging sales lingered. In 2021, Sierra Mist was barely outpacing Keurig Dr Pepper's 7-Up with a roughly $1 billion yearly market share. Sprite's success eclipsed both brands combined, with about $6 billion in annual sales.

Most recently, PepsiCo decided to discontinue the Sierra Mist line — though not without a replacement. Still interested in catching up to its competition, the soda titan supplanted Sierra Mist for Starry, a lemon-lime refreshment with an updated recipe and a new look. With snazzy modern packaging and a memorable slogan, Pepsi aims to capitalize on the growing demand for lemon-lime flavored beverages among younger customers. The drink is also available in regular and sugar-free varieties.

The move to nix the Sierra Mist line may have disappointed devoted fans of the citrusy beverage, but the motivations behind the action weren't unlike Coke's decision to discontinue lagging TaB soda back in 2020. The idea behind Starry is to appeal to a new generation of soda consumers who may be distancing themselves from Mom and Dad's favorite drinks and looking towards new brands that feel unique to them. With mascots Lem and Lime and a catchy new slogan – "Starry hits different" — the soda conglomerate is starting fresh with a marketing campaign targeted at Gen Z.

Coke's biggest rival is also putting a significant amount of energy and capital into product placement. Just as previous Pepsi products have been promoted by athletes and sports associations, Starry is attempting to entice new customers with celebrated professionals like A'ja Wilson of the WNBA and two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who are encouraging folks to give Starry a shot. With Pepsi's Sierra Mist tapping out, Sprite may have won the battle for lemon-lime dominance for now. But with the relatively recent Starry campaign, the war for lemon-lime supremacy is far from over.