Fad Marketing's Balancing Act

In Japan, Pepsi's limited edition flavors can be huge hits—and then it kills them

BusinessWeek, August 6, 2007 — Only a lucky few ever got to try Pepsi's Ice Cucumber soda. The pale green drink began appearing on shelves at Japanese convenience stores in early June. Within days, clips of people swigging the stuff were showing up on YouTube (GOOG ), and bloggers were debating whether the taste was more melon than cucumber. A couple of weeks later, all 4.8million bottles of Ice Cucumber had sold out. But instead of ratcheting up production, Pepsi brand managers in Japan did the unthinkable: They discontinued the drink.