WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- Kum & Go LC has called a tie of sorts in its Pop vs. Soda contest, declaring "Soda Pop" the winner because the results were "too close." On the Pop vs. Soda website, the convenience retailer "is urging voters to come together in the spirit of unity to embrace 'soda pop' as the new beginning to a unified nation."
The retailer launched the standalone www.pop-vs-soda.com in May 2008, saying at the time that "Kum & Go knows the extreme loyalties involved in the pop/soda divide across the country and [image-nocss] is going to resolve the war on carbonated words through the official 2008 Kum & Go Pop vs. Soda debate." The promotion runs through August 31.
“The pop/soda divide is an ongoing trend we 've noticed in our stores over the years. This summer, Kum & Go is asking consumers to officially decide for themselves,” said Kevin Krause, senior vice president of marketing for West Des Moines, Iowa-based Kum & Go.
"There will be several other product promotions this summer," company spokesperson Sarah Wille told CSP Daily News at the time. "The idea is to provide a limited-time price to customers on one of our best-selling products—the 32-oz. fountain drink."
The company said on the site, "This summer, Kum & Go is taking the pop-or-soda debate to the next level by tracking actual sales in more than 430 stores." Votes were tallied when consumers purchase one of two 32-oz. discounted fountain cups labeled either “pop” or “soda." "Ringing up the UPC tracks the sales count," Wille said.
The site told visitors "make your voice heard" and allows them to click on four choices of what they call carbonated beverages—"pop," "soda," "coke" or "other." It also offered a comment function and posts the comments on the website on the red side for pop and the blue side for soda. The site also let visitors scroll over states in Kum & Go's marketing region, colored red or blue based on sales of pop or soda, to view the percentage of in-store sales in each state that customers designated as pop, soda, coke or other, as well as in terms of online votes.
As of late May, for in-store sales, pop was winning in nine of the 12 states, compared to soda, which has only three states. Online, pop lead with 55%, with soda second with 34%; coke and other follow, both with 5%. The site no longer offers voting or vote tallies.
A Kraft/CSP Daily News poll in May asked, "What do you call carbonated beverages: pop or soda? Or something else?" The results:
Pop, 66 votes (25.3%). Soda, 131 votes (50.2%). Coke, 45 votes (17.2%). Other, 19 votes (7.3%). Total Votes: 261 Votes.Kum & Go has more than 430 convenience stores in 12 states (Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin). Kum & Go provides customers a proprietary mix of products under the Hiland brand name. Other proprietary product offerings include Java Ridge Premium Coffee, Napa Creek and Sea Ridge wines, Go Fresh Market sandwiches, Nuclear energy drinks and Nutri2O nutraceutical waters.
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