Bullitt's Bros

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Insight into Myself

I've been looking at the coolest site in the world.

It's a history of soda, albeit a very selective one that begins in roughly 1990.

This article clued me in to why I like soda so much--or better, not why I like soda so much but why I want to try every new soda introduced. Partly this is because they are magic. But also this is because I grew up in Dayton, Ohio, the test marketer's dream. Dayton is like anywheresville, USA, minus black people--well, I guess they're in the western part of it--, so I got subjected to the kookiest sodas in the world. I don't think I ever got Pepsi Fire or Pepsi Ice, but I certainly tried "The Wild Bunch"--I even have the cans (that my brother happily collected) downstairs in the basement to prove it.

I can't believe Pepsi Tropical Chill is so old!

posted by Bobcat at 12:34 AM

6 Comments:

  • I remember the cans looking cooler... for some reason they just look lame on that site.

    I guess Pepsi Jazz is a return to these oddball flavors. It's pretty good really.

    By Blogger Joe, at 4:18 AM  

  • You might be surprised as just how many black people live in Dayton.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:28 AM  

  • Dayton is -in almost every way- demographically identical to the racial, age,and income level averages in the US.

    I used to have LOTS of numbers on it when I worked for the WB affiliate there...

    By Blogger Mikey Y, at 3:11 PM  

  • The 2000 census states that Dayton is 43% black.

    Are you saying average city, or what?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:58 PM  

  • The stuff about black people in Dayton was meant to be a joke reflecting my experiences growing up in Oakwood (and also something else, which I mention at the end of this comment). I know there are black people in Dayton; I've even met some of them! That said, I was under the impression that Dayton is an average city, except with a much higher degree of segregation than the average. I could be wrong about that, in which case my experience of meeting few black people reflects my experience of Oakwood, or my subterranean, but nonetheless inveterate, racism.

    By Blogger Bobcat, at 6:21 PM  

  • "The 2000 census states that Dayton is 43% black.
    Are you saying average city, or what?"

    Dayton city limits proper, yes. Dayton and it's surrounding suburbs -where the product testing mostly takes place- reflects the national averages very closely.

    It might be more accurate to say "Montgomery County" or "Miami Valley" is the great test market, but Dayton is the largest major city within Montgomery County, and thus gets the claim.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2004/11/01/story6.html

    "Montgomery County ranked eighth in the study, which used U.S. Census data to analyze all 3,141 counties and independent cities across the nation, comparing them to the national averages for 20 statistical indicators, such as race, income and age."

    This study says that Dayton has fallen as a test market;
    http://dayton.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2004/05/31/daily4.html

    It's couched as if it's suprising, or new news.
    Admittedly, I haven't lived in D-town for almost 3 years now, but this was certainly fact for many years.

    Dayton is (was) the 5th largest 90-minute market in the US, which increases it's appeal as a test market even if it's not #1 in demographics.

    Also;
    http://wikitravel.org/en/Dayton

    The "by air" and "by car" sections explain a lot of the appeal as well.

    Does that make more sense?

    Because this isn't opinion, it's fact indeed.

    By Blogger Mikey Y, at 3:06 AM  

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