One Code Red winner--Pepsi

The supersweet, cherry-flavored brand extension of Mountain Dew, which hit shelves in May, became the fifth-most-popular soft drink sold at convenience stores and gas stations in July. That's a feat, considering Code Red is only available in single-serve sizes and has yet to be advertised on television.

Ryan Permeh, a programmer at eEye Digital Security, Aliso Viejo, Calif., says he and his colleague were "inches away" from calling the new virus they discovered the "tequila worm." But Code Red, which he had bought "like six bottles of" to keep awake through the night, seemed appropriate given what the virus did: wipe out Web pages and replace them with the message "Hacked by Chinese." PepsiCo later sent Permeh and the other programmer five cases of Code Red in appreciation.

Pepsi's own "guerrilla" marketing campaign for Code Red was well under way by the time the Code Red worm began infecting about 750,000 computers. The brand has boosted the Mountain Dew name in what has traditionally been its toughest market, the urban and minority set. While "green Dew," the traditional brand, has long been a hit with computer geeks and other largely white audiences, Code Red is more popular among black consumers, according to Pepsi.

Pepsi officials attribute some of the drink's success in minority markets to the fact that--according to their customer data--blacks and Hispanics generally prefer cherry-flavored beverages. But the Code Red name also helped. PepsiCo considered calling the drink Wild Cherry Mountain Dew, until urban and ethnic focus groups said they preferred Code Red.

Even prior to the virus, the Code Red name also gave Pepsi's advertising agency for the soda, UniWorld Group, a gimmick. UniWorld, a minority advertising agency based in New York, recorded a rap radio jingle called "Crack the Code" featuring rappers Fatman Scoop and Busta Rhymes. The agency also put the slogan on graffiti-cartoon magazine ads it ran in hip-hop magazines such as Vibe and the Source.

UniWorld pumped up the word-of-mouth buzz by sending out compilation CDs and free cases of Code Red to hip-hop celebrities such as producer Jermaine Dupri and radio deejay Funkmaster Flex. Spearheading the effort was Pepsi's director of urban and ethnic marketing, Charlee Taylor-Hines, who has also been responsible for luring hip-hop stars Mary J. Blige and Wyclef Jean to shill for Pepsi. "With the urban youth audience, you really have to gain street credibility first, and you can't do that with a typical mass-marketing campaign," Taylor-Hines says.

Code Red's success illustrates that splashy, expensive launches aren't the only way to introduce a new soft drink. An element of mystery can make a brand more desirable, says Dawn Hudson, Pepsi's senior vice president for strategy and marketing. "It creates a niche feeling," she says.

But part of the lure of an urban audience and image is that the general public follows the trend. Pepsi's plan is to broaden its target audience. Bottles of Code Red showed up in the decidedly suburban summer movie "American Pie 2," which recently premiered. Pepsi also plans to introduce Code Red in multipacks in grocery stores beginning in October, and is working on a TV commercial with New York-based Omnicom Group's BBDO Worldwide, which has traditionally handled Mountain Dew, to begin airing at roughly the same time.