7UP is a lemon-lime soft-drink brand owned by Pepsico. Originated in 1920s, it’s the oldest soda brand of its taste.
Like any other “no cola” drinks, 7UP marketed itself as a fresh, clean and clear drink without any caffeine, thus it is a good choice to replace cola drinks.
Nowadays, 7UP is facing many competitors with the same lemon-lime taste, one of them is Sprite by Cocacola. But, 7UP is still in the mind of many Vietnamese people, especially when thinking about lemon-lime drinks, first and second choice must be 7UP or Sprite, the two brands have similarity in taste and brand color.
The name 7UP?
How is 7UP called 7UP? This may be a question that many people ask, and get confused cause it has many rumours. The most popular one is that the inventer of this drink – Charles Leiper Grigg – had failed 6 times before he succeed in producing the taste that many people prefer. Once he failed, he stared again, up and up and up, then the 7UP, he suceed.
Grigg first developed an orange soda called Howdy, it was good but could not challenge the market-leader at that time – Orange Crush. So he deciced to produce another soda to broaden his customers and then 7UP was created in 1929. At the beginning, 7UP had a long name ““Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda.” “Bib-Label” is the paper labels Grigg used, while “Lithiated” referred to the lithium in the formula. Lithium was largely presumed to be a healthful chemical at the time, so Grigg chose to emphasize the ingredient in the name. The long name was eventually changed to “7UP Lithiated Lemon Soda,” and then just “7UP” in 1936.
The inventer never explained why he got the name 7UP, but there are many other theories:
- 7UP has 7 ingredients in its formula: sugar, carbonated water, essence of lemon and lime oils, citric acid, sodium citrate, and lithium citrate. The “UP” part of the name referred to the lithium mood lift.
- Or, the drinks were originally sold in 7-ounce bottles.
- Grigg saw cattle branded with a similar mark and drew inspiration from it.
- Grigg thought of it while rooting for sevens during a game of craps.
- 7UP has a pH over 7 (but its pH is only 3.79, the same to other soft drinks)
- 7UP is a coded reference to the lithium it originally contained. (Lithium has an atomic mass of around 7)
7UP brand recognition changes over time, but not the name. And although Charles Grigg never confirms the origin of the name, so 7UP’s story is still a mysterious one. Whether the true story is, it does not affect the success of the drink, and the enjoy of customers drinking this fresh and pleasant beverage.