WI: RC Cola as #1 Soda

[Polyphemus]

Sometimes it's a nice change to think about a lower stakes situation.

In the US, Royal Crown Cola (Keurig- Dr. Pepper's cola offering) is a distant third in sales behind Pepsi and Coca-Cola. What circumstances can lead to Pepsi and Coke both losing the Cola Wars to allow for a dark horse victory and cold RC in every fridge?

 

[Japhy]

Make it taste better?

Have Coca-Cola's original plans to sue Pepsi in the 1910s actually work (They didn't since Pepsi actually did use Cola) and the small struggling company goes the way of most of Coke's competition. At that point it's a world of Moxie vs Coke well into the 1950s. Since Moxie is godawful their fall from grace is more then doable and at any point they can be sent packing to be a gross regional thing from Maine.

By the 1960s RC is on the rise because it's the only other Cola Game in town. Just have Coke screw something up, like changing the recipe and theoretically with the right investment RC comes out on top.

 

[Polyphemus]

Maybe they fully commit to New Coke and don't pivot back around in time to repair their reputation.