Bottles in a Museum

2015 marks the 100 year anniversary of something special in the soda world. Do you know what it is? It is the iconic Coca-Cola bottle! That's right. The curvy, attractive bottle was released in 1915. This is kind of a big deal. At least, it is a big enough deal for the High Museum of Art in Atlanta to dedicate a huge exhibit towards the bottle!

The Real Bottle Deal

If I lived closer, I would go check it out! (And for the record, soda didn't start coming in cans until after 1935. We will have to wait for that centennial event.)

Pepsi at the Big Concerts

Pepsi is just swaggering it's gorilla way all over Coca-Cola's turf. I shared recently how Pepsi took the lucrative NBA sponsorship away from Coke. Now, Pepsi just took away a host of music festivals. Live Nation is an organization that organizes some of the most popular concerts in the nation. 75 of these concerts will now carry exclusively Pepsi and not Coke.

Pepsi Dragonfruit X from 2013. Because, you know, Pepsi
is taking over new territory like a dragon!

I don't really begrudge the move. A large bunch of moshing and hollering young adults certainly does better fit with Pepsi's marketing image. Coca-Cola still has the warm and fuzzy Olympics, and I doubt they will ever let that go. Now that Pepsi sponsors these musical festivals, let's hope they release limited edition cans at each one. That might actually give me a reason to go.

Grape, Diet, Cherry Dr. Pepper

The wife is going away this Friday night and later this weekend. This left me to stock up on some soda cans for me and the boys. I found the Diet Dr. Pepper Avenger cans and the Cherry Dr. Pepper ones. Also, we got the generic grape since it's caffeine free for those movie nights! (It's Wal-Mart Grape, and I love the simplicity of just plastering the type of soda right on the can. No frills.)

As a side note, the Cherry box is ripped because I dropped it in my hustle to carry it to the register on my lunch break. I was going to replace it, but it was the only Avengers Cherry Dr. Pepper left in the store. So I settled for the broken box. The cans are worth it.

Artisan Sodas

The soda industry is always trying to look towards the future. (Heck, every any business worth its fructose syrup should do that.) However, people say the future for the soda industry is dim. I disagree. I think it will be changing. I just learned that Pepsi is already trying to shift the focus of soda from a casual lunch drink towards an upscale indulgence you want to enjoy on those special days. How? They are taking a lesson from craft beer.

Concern that Wild Cherry Pepsi Just Isn't Arty Enough Anymore

That's right. Pepsi has made Caleb's Kola to be sold exclusively at Costco. It's kind of a rival to the popular Mexican Coke, a coke made with real sugar and packed in real glass bottles. Executives are hoping people will reach for this and similar artisan creations when they want a soda. It might work. However, it would work best for this blogger if they put Caleb's Kola into a fancy can!

Hawkeye

Hawkeye will be joing the soda can collection! Looking good, dude!

A 104-Year-Old-Superhero

In honor of our first superhero can of the year, let's take the time to get to know a real superhero. CNN reported that Elizabeth Sullivan reached the age of 104. Her secret to such superhero longevity? She claims her habit of drinking 3 Dr. Peppers a day has helped keep her alive so long!

Dr. Pepper Ironman 2015 with some of his Avenger buddies

Who knew? You can watch an interview of Elizabeth here. It's hard to deny her spunk. She doesn't even look a day over eighty! Chug those Dr. Peppers, girl!

Coke Free Courts

Coke is out of the basketball business. That's right, Sprite. No more shall we obey our thirsts with you on the B-ball courts. Pepsi outbid Coca-Cola for a lucrative contract to be the official soft drink of the NBA. That's a quite a change after 25 years of Coke on the courts.

Guess what flagship Pepsi product will be the new face of the NBA? It's certainly not Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. It's Mt. Dew. This means we can probably start looking for Mt. Dew NBA cans next year. It also might make my LeBron James Sprite can go up in a value just a smidgen.

Classy Cans in a Scare Ad

If you read my blog, you know how I feel about all of the soda-phobia hype. Yes, it's not the best for you. But it just tastes so good. (Except Diet Dr. Pepper. Mr. Gump's beverage of choice absolutely crushes it. Dr. Pepper 10 does a good job though.) Scrolling through social media, I came across the latest soda-scare ad. I didn't get mad though. I was too impressed with all of those VINTAGE soda cans. Take a peek!

You can't get those sweet cans anymore! I believe they are all from the mid to late 00s. Also, you should know that Diet Soda sales are going down. The reason? Ads like the one above work. But people still buy soda. They just buy the full flavor versions as the real treat. Instead of having a Diet soda a day, folks are aiming for the pure version once a week. Makes sense. Still, I have no problem having several diet drinks a week if it suits me. I need the cans.

Dr. Pepper Brings the Collecting Bling

So I was prepared to let my last post stand as a notice that I would probably be on blogging hiatus for a while. And then my wife brought this home...

Yup. It's a 24 pack Dr. Pepper case showcasing the upcoming Avengers movie. I found this interesting because the packaging is blatantly encouraging soda can collecting. You clearly see there are seven cans and what each one looks like. It's like they are catering just to me and my fellow collectors!

Over a year ago, I corresponded with a collector and discussed this topic a little bit. There were often soda can sets, but it seemed the companies did little to advertise the virtues of actually collecting the cans. It seems we might have turned a corner. Each can even has the collection number on it.

Will CansintheBasement be able to get all seven of them in the Basement? We'll see!

Update

Hi Soda Fans!

I certainly haven't been posting for a while! Life gets busy, but please know lots of cans have been added to the basement. Hopefully, things will slow down in a couple of months. I look forward to sharing more great soda news and soda can pics with you soon. Until then, may all your drinks be syrupy, carbonated, and delicious!

-CansintheBasement