jones soda

Until now, Jones Soda's unusual flavors were at least based on things you put in your mouth ― turkey and gravy, dinner roll and antacid.

This week, the Seattle company goes from weird to gross with a five-pack inspired by its new affiliation with the Seattle Seahawks.

Maybe football players eat this stuff, but most people won't be able to judge whether Jones is on the mark with its carbonated versions of dirt, sports cream, perspiration, natural field turf and the easier-to-take "sweet victory."

The Seahawks Collector Pack will be available in QFC, Haggen and other Pacific Northwest stores beginning next week.

It retails for $19.99 on Jones' Web site and includes a "Spirit of 12" fan flag.

Because the new flavors come in glass bottles, they won't be sold at Qwest Field, where the Seahawks play and where Jones supplies soft drinks during games and other events.

Jones CEO Peter van Stolk said the company toyed briefly with the idea of pigskin and jockstrap flavors but settled on the final ones with Seahawks officials.

"It pays tribute to football players," van Stolk said. "The amount of sweat they go through, and they're eating dirt and grass and using sports creams ― those were the four flavors that really resonated with them."

You should work your way through the difficult flavors to reach "sweet victory," van Stolk said, a flavor that's hard to describe but "tastes really good."

Potential customers in Seattle wrinkled their noses at news of the latest flavors.

Solomon Hargrove said his 13-year-old son might try them ― "he's weird like that." Hargrove added that most Jones flavors are "good but expensive."

Shauna Freidenberger, a theater student at Cornish College of the Arts, agreed the price is too high, even for fun.



"No one would spend $20 just to test something that tastes putrid," she said.

The collector pack and a new Seahawks-themed 12-pack of cans with regular flavors like cola and lemon-lime will be available only in limited quantities, although van Stolk didn't disclose how many of each pack will be available.

Collector packs aren't big money makers, he said, but they create buzz about Jones and, in the Seahawks' case, about its new relationship with pro football. LOS ANGELES WPP Group's Cole & Weber United has won creative and media duties for Jones Soda, the agency confirmed.

According to Mike Doherty, president of the Seattle agency, the client conducted a review but did not request creative presentations, relying instead upon chemistry and strategy.

Most of the agency staff will work on the account, Doherty said. The first campaign is expected to break before year's end. Todd Grant, ecd, will lead creative at the shop; media director M.J. Keehn will head up media strategy.



Doherty said that the upcoming campaign would be the client's first foray into national advertising. The brand is distributed at stores such as the Kroger chain and at retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart.

"Strategically, two of the key brand differentiators are their use of cane sugar versus corn syrup―a sweetener that has been associated with diabetes and triggering obesity―and that the brand is a people brand," Doherty said. "For instance, consumers can go to myjones.com and customize labels for the bottles, even putting their own faces on it."

Seattle-based Jones Soda spent less than $100,000 advertising in 2006, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Agency clients include Colt 45 malt liquor, Livingston Cellars wine, Tree Top juices and Carlo Rossi