Mello Yello

This article is about the soft drink. For the Donovan song, see Mellow Yellow.

Mello Yello

Type	Citrus soda
Manufacturer	Coca-Cola Company
Distributor	Coca-Cola Company
Country of origin	United States
Introduced	March 1st, 1979 according to The Coca-Cola Company.[1]
Color	Chartreuse Yellow
Flavor	Citrus
Variants	Mello Yello, Mello Yello Zero, Mello Yello Melon (discontinued), Mello Yello Cherry (discontinued), Mello Yello afterglow (discontinued), Mello Yello ZERO
Related products	Vault Mountain Dew
Website	www.melloyello.com

Mello Yello in fountain at a Burger King restaurant with Diet Coke, Fanta, and Sprite.

Mello Yello is a caffeinated, citrus-flavored soft drink produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company. It was introduced on March 1, 1979 to compete with PepsiCo's Mountain Dew.^[2] There have been three flavored variants of Mello Yello. Mello Yello Cherry was released in response to Mountain Dew Code Red. The other two variants were Mello Yello Afterglow (peach-flavored) and Mello Yello Melon. All three were only available for a limited time.

In early 2010, Coca-Cola announced with images of new packaging that it would be re-branding Mello Yello to resemble the packaging in 1979. This re-branding has included an expanded distribution of the product, into such areas of the United States that have not had the product in years such as the Northeast United States and the Western United States. The Coca-Cola Company also released Mello Yello Zero in 2011.

Marketing

Mello Yello was featured in the 1990 NASCAR-based movie Days Of Thunder, in which Tom Cruise's character, Cole Trickle, drove a Mello Yello-sponsored car to victory in the Daytona 500, although the product name itself is never verbally mentioned in the movie. That livery went on to become a real NASCAR paint scheme the following year, when driver Kyle Petty drove with Mello Yello sponsorship in the Winston Cup Series. He ran four seasons (1991–1994) with the sponsor before switching over to Coors Light in 1995. Mello Yello was seen as a sponsor on die-cast toy and collectible cars for both the Days of Thunder #51 Chevrolet Lumina and Kyle Petty's #42 Pontiac Grand Prix. Mello Yello also sponsored the fall Winston Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway through 1994.

Mello Yello was also advertised in the Ernest commercials in which he coined the beverage's official slogan "Make The Mello Yello Move", followed by his trade mark phrase "knowhutimean?".

In 2011 Mello Yello relaunched its ad campaign. The commercial featured cartoon adults who boarded a boat and made a band.

International relaunches

In October 2006 Mello Yello was relaunched in New Zealand as a 'limited edition' product after a long absence, of at least 15 years, from the local market. The relaunched New Zealand version contained the original 1980s logo, and just like when it was available in the 1980s even contained the words A Product of the Coca-Cola Company on the bottle top. This 'limited edition' release was only available in 600ml and 1.5 litre plastic bottles and contained the words Limited Edition. Only 200,000 cases of the promo product were produced in 2006 according to Coca Cola. Mello Yello was once again relaunched to the New Zealand market in October 2007 and was available until the end of 2007.

In late June 2011 Mello Yello was relaunched in Japan. Packaging in Japan carries a 'Smooth Taste Smooth Times' slogan and a 'Since 1983' badge on the side of cans and bottles. ^[3]

References

1. ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4wEkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=I-4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3402,1445820&dq=mello-yello+coca-cola+1979&hl=en
2. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=4jIOEZ5F9fAC&pg=PA188&dq=%22mello+yello%22+%22coca+cola%22+%221979%22&hl=en&ei=0_UkToLpN-bv0gGbvNy0Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22mello%20yello%22%20%22coca%20cola%22%20%221979%22&f=false
3. ^ http://gourmet.oricon.co.jp/88484/full/?cat_id=tw