Sometimes stylized as “TaB,' the drink had been introduced in 1963 as an alternative for calorie-conscious consumers. After a sabbatical, Zyman-a notoriously combative executive who earned the nickname the “Aya-Cola” for his management style-returned as chief marketing officer and devised an ingenious plan to stifle Crystal Pepsi without risking the reputation of Coca-Cola Classic. Before coming to Coke, Zyman had been a director of sales and marketing for Pepsi he defected to Coca-Cola just in time for the highly successful launch of Diet Coke in 1982.

Tempting fate with a Clear Coke was out of the question. Worse, the company had stumbled badly with New Coke in 1985, a new formula intended to replace the classic version that drew public criticism and created a public relations disaster. But few within the company were sold on the longevity of the clear soda craze. Like a boxer preparing a counter-attack, Coke couldn’t simply sit back and allow Pepsi to strike without retaliation.

And if Pepsi could do that, it would mean less money for Coca-Cola. That light could pass through the beverage was a novelty, albeit one that Pepsi believed could help them carve out a 2 percent slice of the $48 billion soft drink market. Crystal Pepsi was essentially a fruit-flavored variation of regular Pepsi, with all the typical amounts of sugar and calories but no caffeine. Coca-Cola also produced Sprite, a fizzy, lemon-tinged drink that didn’t use coloring.īut it wasn’t until Pepsi unveiled Crystal Pepsi in 1992 that marketing departments began to pay close attention to transparency in their product. to make an appeal for Coca-Cola to produce a clear version of their drink so he could enjoy it surreptitiously and without being accused of indulging in a capitalist product the soda maker removed the caramel from the recipe, which essentially de-pigmented it. In the 1940s, Soviet leader Georgy Zhukov used his friendly relationship with the U.S. The Coors company even produced a clear alcoholic malt beverage, Zima, to capitalize on the craze, but porting it over to the soft drink market was nothing new. In the early 1990s, beverage manufacturers were heavily preoccupied with the idea of clear drinks that communicated a sense of wellness. Flying in the face of convention, the launch of Tab Clear was deliberately designed to self-destruct. But behind the scenes, Ivester and chief marketing officer Sergio Zyman were convinced Tab Clear would be a failure-and that is exactly what they hoped would happen. Publicly, Ivester boasted that Tab Clear would be yet another success in Coca-Cola’s long history of refreshment dominance. While it retained its bubbles, the liquid was transparent, an obvious nod to rival Pepsi’s introduction of Crystal Pepsi earlier that year. The product was Tab Clear, a new version of the sugar- and calorie-free diet drink first introduced in 1963.

In December 1992, media outlets from around the country filed into the Hayden Planetarium at New York City's American Museum of Natural History for what soft drink giant Coca-Cola was trumpeting as a “truly out-of-this-world experience.” In front of reporters, the company's North American president, Doug Ivester, unveiled a 16-ounce silver can that he hoped would change the landscape of soda.

Kamikaze drink history