When Crystal Pepsi was released, Coca-Cola released a competitor called Tab Clear, however Tab Clear was intentionally marketed poorly in order to hurt Crystal Pepsi’s image by product association. The “born to die” strategy was successful and both campaigns were dead 6 months later.
According to Coca-Cola’s chief marketing officer, Sergio Zyman, Tab Clear was an intentionally “suicidal kamikaze” effort to create an unpopular beverage that was positioned as an analogue of Crystal Pepsi in order to “kill both in the process”. The “born to die” strategy included using the poor-performing Tab brand rather than Coke, labeling the product as a “sugar free” diet drink to confuse consumers into thinking Crystal Pepsi had no sugar, and marketing the product as if it were “medicinal”. Zyman said “Pepsi spent an enormous amount of money on the brand and, regardless, we killed it. Both of them were dead within six months.”(CavemanCircus.com)
