Type Lemon-lime soft drink Color Clear Manufacturer PepsiCo | Discontinued 2016 (as Sierra Mist) Flavor Lemon-Lime Country of origin United States of America | |
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Introduced 1999 (as Sierra Mist)
2016 (as Mist Twst) Variants Mist Twst
Mist Twst Cherry
Mist Twst Cranberry
Diet Mist Twst
Diet Mist Twst Cranberry | ||
Mist Twst (pronounced "Mist Twist") is a lemon-lime flavored soft drink. Introduced in 2016, it follows Sierra Mist, a similar lemon-lime soda PepsiCo introduced in 1999 and eventually made available in all United States markets by 2003. Mist Twst and its predecessor Sierra Mist have competed with The Coca-Cola Company's Sprite brand and Dr Pepper Snapple Group's 7 Up.
Contents
History
PepsiCo began test-marketing potential lemon-lime sodas in 1998, introducing a formulation known as Storm that never made it past the test-marketing stage. The company introduced Sierra Mist in 1999. Prior to this, PepsiCo's only lemon-lime soda was in its Slice line of fruit-flavored sodas. The selection of the name "Sierra Mist" was based on favorable market research involving 2,000 people. "Sierra Mist" was selected from over 1,000 possible names. It is worth noting that "Sierra" had previously been a proposed name for what became the original (10% juice-formula, lemon-lime) Slice in 1984. Diet Sierra Mist was also introduced in 2000, and sales of both diet and original Sierra Mist totaled $100 million in its first year of production.
At the time of its launch in 1999, Sierra Mist was named after the Sierra Mountains due to high mists in the mountains, which also happens in the soda we know today, due to bottling and distribution agreements between Pepsi Bottling Group and 7 Up parent company Cadbury Schweppes. The PepsiCo bottlers continued to bottle 7 Up until existing agreements with Cadbury Schweppes expired in January 2003, at which point its distribution was expanded nationwide in the U.S. In 2004 the beverage had surpassed 7 Up on the basis of annual retail sales, placing it as the 2nd most-purchased lemon-lime soft drink in the U.S. (Sprite being the 1st).
In 2005, Diet Sierra Mist was renamed Sierra Mist Free, intended as a descriptor of the beverage being "free of" sugar, calories, carbohydrates and caffeine. This name change was reverted to the original name, Diet Sierra Mist, in November 2008. In late 2006, PepsiCo introduced Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. It was available only during the Winter holiday season. Cranberry Splash returned in the fall and winter of 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 along with Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. In May 2007, Sierra Mist Lemon Squeeze was introduced. This limited edition featured a higher concentration of lemon flavor and was only available through September 2007.
Sierra Mist can and bottle labels were redesigned as a part of PepsiCo's broader redesign of its core carbonated soft drink brands in 2008, with Sierra Mist Free reverting to the Diet Sierra Mist name in the process. The Sierra Mist logo was later redesigned again in March 2010 with a typeface similar to that of the current Pepsi design. Sierra Mist underwent a more significant rebranding in August 2010, in response to shifting consumer preferences towards products made with "natural" ingredients - according to beverage industry and general news media reporting at the time. On August 29, 2010, Sierra Mist was replaced with Sierra Mist Natural, although the original Sierra Mist still remained stocked in markets until late 2010. Updated logos, bottle labeling and can designs were also implemented at the same time. At this time, the Sierra Mist drink was reformulated, which is sweetened with sucrose, instead of high-fructose corn syrup. In 2013, Sierra Mist Natural became Sierra Mist (with real sugar). As of Fall 2014, Stevia was added as an adjunctive sweetener.
On December 18, 2015 Pepsi announced that the name of Sierra Mist would be changing to Mist Twst at an unknown point in spring 2016, in line with Pepsico's sponsorship agreement with the NBA, which replaced Coca-Cola's previous sponsorship and its broad campaign with the league for Sprite. The name change was officially made in late March 2016.
Original formula
From 2000 until 2010 Sierra Mist was sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, and its other ingredients were listed as carbonated water, citric acid, natural flavors, potassium benzoate, potassium citrate, ascorbic acid and calcium disodium EDTA. Diet Sierra Mist is sweetened with aspartame and acesulfame potassium.
Sierra Mist Natural replacement
In August 2010 PepsiCo replaced the original Sierra Mist namesake product with Sierra Mist Natural, which is sweetened with sucrose (table sugar) instead of high-fructose corn syrup. The new formulation contains four other ingredients: carbonated water, citric acid, natural flavor, potassium citrate, and a preservative.
As of 2013, Sierra Mist Natural is now known as simply Sierra Mist, although was still sweetened with real sugar prior to becoming "Mist Twst". Stevia was also used prior to the change.
Mist Twst
In December 2015, PepsiCo announced that they were changing the name of Sierra Mist to "Mist Twst" in Spring 2016. The change occurred in some areas in March 2016. The new Mist Twist has added high-fructose corn syrup back to the formula.
Promotion and sponsorship
In 2005, a series of improv-based Sierra Mist commercials titled "Mist Takes" began airing. The commercials featured comedians Nicole Sullivan, Debra Wilson, Aries Spears, Jim Gaffigan and Michael Ian Black. In 2006, Kathy Griffin, Tracy Morgan and Guillermo Diaz joined the cast. Diaz and other members of the cast of Otro Rollo starred in the Spanish-language versions of the commercials. In 2007, Nicole Randall Johnson and Eliza Coupe joined the cast, replacing Debra Wilson and Kathy Griffin.
In December 2007, PepsiCo trademarked the names Sierra Mist: Undercover Orange and Sierra Mist Free: Undercover Orange. The two sodas launched under a limited-time release in the summer of 2008 (with the faces of Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway on their labels), serving as a marketing tie-in with the release of the Warner Bros. film Get Smart on June 20, 2008. Sierra Mist: Undercover Orange and Sierra Mist Free: Undercover Orange were both clear sodas, like regular and Diet Sierra Mist, but had a mandarin orange flavor.
Sierra Mist was an official partner and sponsor of Major League Soccer and two franchises within the league, the New England Revolution and D.C. United. The league deal ended in 2015 when Coca-Cola announced a partnership with MLS and the US Soccer Federation.