Moxie
Moxie is one of the first ever carbonated drinks to have been produced on a mass scale in the United States. Till date, it is one of the most famous and most favourite drinks of people out there. It’s funny, but during the initial years after the launch of the drink, Moxie was associated with a patent medicine called “Moxie Nerve Food”. It was said to be invented by a person called Dr. Thompson who said that the drink contained extracts of a rare unnamed South American plant. Thompson even mentioned that the plant was a discovery of his fictional friend Lieutenant Moxie, and that the drink helped in dealing with insomnia and paralysis of the brain.
Some years later, soda water was added as an ingredient to the drink, and the name of the beverage changed to “Beverage Moxie Nerve Food”. By the year 1884, Moxie was available in the market in bottles, as well as soda fountain syrup.
Advertising for the drink was very creative and the slogan that the company used – “Make mine Moxie!” became very popular. Advertising jingles with lines like “Just make it Moxie for Mine” or “Moxie Man” logo started coming up, and the drink started gaining more and more popularity. Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams was hired to endorse the beverage and President Calvin Coolidge was said to have favoured the drink.
It was somewhere in the 1930’s that the brand started to face a downfall. There was a decline in the popularity, and many thought that it was probably the result of the company wanting to spend more on their sugar reserves, simultaneously cutting down on their popular advertisements and promotional campaigns. Lesser money on the advertisements meant lesser visibility for the brand, which seemed to have directly affected their brand image, reputation and popularity in a negative manner.
Besides, Coca Cola came up as a strong competition. However, Moxie had managed to build a huge chunk of loyal customers and had made a special name and position for itself that till date, there is a huge demand for it in New England. Moxie has a unique flavour, much different from Coca Cola, which is probably because of the presence of Gentian Root Extractives as one of its main ingredient.
In the year 1962, sugar free Diet Moxie was introduced. The brand is currently owned by Cornucopia Beverages Inc. of Bedford, New Hampshire, which is owned by the Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Northern New England Incorporated. It is a subsidiary of Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd., based in Tokyo. Many fans of the drink have sent requests to Cornucopia for increasing the supplies of the beverage and improve and increase distribution of it in the country. In the year 2007, Florida witnessed the launch of pilot sales and also organised a sampling event at Mohegan Sun, a casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Many times, people have associated the drink to the birthplace of its inventor, which is Maine. On May 10, 2005, Maine declared Moxie as the official state soft drink. People in Maine love the drink and every summer, the city celebrates the Moxie Festival held in Lisbon Falls, Maine. There is also a Moxie Museum in Union, Maine, which has a 30 feet tall Moxie bottle, which was once used as a soda stand.
The kind of advertising that has been done for the drink over the years have made it to come across as drink of the strong, courageous, daring, energetic and visionary people. Thus, the slogan of “This Guy’s got Moxie!” was originated and became very famous.
- Ronit Baugh
Tags: beverages, drinks, moxie, moxie ads, united states
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