THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 3, 1995 TAG: 9510030265
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 31 lines
Combine Americans' taste for soft drinks and craze for coffee and what do you get? Coffee cola - brewing as the latest entrant in the soda wars.
A Virginia man is a partner in a company that wants to market the definitive coffee soda. Zyde (pronounced ZIE-duh) Coffee Co. of New Orleans hopes its Zydekola can compete with some of the nation's biggest soft drink makers, who also are experimenting with joe-flavored cold drinks.
``Kids love colas, grown-ups love coffee,'' said Cabell Harris, a Richmond creative consultant whose company is developing the drink's look and ad campaign. ``So there's a real variety in who will go for it.''
The explosion in popularity of gourmet coffee houses across the United States also has created a good market for carbonated coffee drinks, said Tom Pirko, president of Bevmark, a management consultant agency in New York.
Coffee cola isn't new. It dates back to at least the 1920s but apparently dropped out of favor, said Robbie Robertson, a former New Orleans advertising agency executive who invented Zydekola. The drink is a play on the word zydeco, a zesty music native to Louisiana. by CNB