Everyone has a story. What's yours?
 Linda Thomas
twitter: @TheNewsChick
About Linda
Linda is the morning news anchor and features reporter for KIRO Radio. This is her local news blog, with an emphasis on social media, technology, Northwest companies, education, parenting, and anything else that grabs her attention.

If you have a news tip or story idea, I'd love to hear from you...

To leave a voice message for Linda about any of her stories call toll free 1-855-251-2363

Follow Me on Pinterest


What caused Jones Soda to go flat?

September 20, 2012 @ 2:04 am (Updated: 11:23 am - 9/20/12 )

Listen to What caused Jones Soda to go flat?

In Hollywood, a celebrity doesn't want to end up on the "has been" d-list. On Wall Street, a company doesn't want to be d-listed.

With its stock price closing for the last time at $0.29 a share, Seattle-based Jones Soda will be delisted from the NASDAQ Stock Market today. The company's stock has traded below $1 a share for a year.

Delisting will mean less trading as the stock moves to the over the counter, OTC Markets.

JonesSodaFive years ago, Jones Soda was bubbling along with its stock around $30 a share and almost $40 million in revenue.

It had overtaken Coca-Cola as the Seahawks' soft-drink sponsor.

It knew how to create marketing buzz too, with its unusual soft drink flavors in glass bottles with unique labels.

When the Jones "Turkey and Gravy" flavors were introduced in honor of Thanksgiving, they sold out within two hours.

To commemorate Barack Obama's inauguration, Jones released a new 'Orange You Glad For Change' orange cola flavor.

Candy corn, jelly donut, and 22 other flavors were added to the Jones Soda collection.

Then, Jones Soda went flat.

"We lost our edge," says Jennifer Cue, CEO of Jones Soda. "We got too corporate along the way. There were numerous leadership changes which were a little bit too corporate for the company. We launched a lot of different products along the way and we lost our focus on Jones Soda."

Jones started to fizzle in 2007. Analysts say Jones grew too fast and tried to expand into markets without having enough distributors lined up. They launched several new products, including a canned drink, but didn't have the expertise or support to get the soda into consumer's hands.

By the end of 2007, former Jones CEO Peter van Stolk stepped down from the company he started in Canada in the late 80s. The Seahawks and Alaska Airlines dropped Jones as a sponsor. The company refused a cash buyout from a competitor, even though it was in serious financial trouble by the end of 2009.

In the years that followed, the company changed leaders faster than you can twist a cap off a Jones Soda bottle. They went through five CEOs in five years.

Cue, who wrote the company's original business plan and served as CFO and COO during their more successful years, returned to Jones in 2012.

"I'm still in love with the brand," she says. "There's something so wonderfully intangible about Jones Soda."

She thinks Jones has introduced too many products that don't relate to their core soda brand, such as candy and novelty items. She plans to streamline what they offer and return the company's culture to its "grassroots" and "scrappy" beginnings.

That strategy has worked for another Seattle beverage company. When Howard Schultz returned to Starbucks as CEO in early 2008, after a hiatus of nearly eight years, he concluded the company needed a transformation in its culture and operating approach, and a single focus on its core product - coffee.

Though Jones Soda is much smaller than Starbucks, Cue admits she is taking the same approach with her company.

"My goal is to build the company in the right way and get back to the NASDAQ," she says. "We just need to focus on the business and basically get Jones Soda into more peoples' hands."

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (32)


  • Add A Comment

  • R L M 456 wrote...
    Jones Soda is missing a very important marketing tool
    September 20, 2012 4:30 am
    First-- They would need to produce a product that does not taste like 20+ flavors of SWILL.

    I have given their product several tries, Never finished one

    seems like most consumers feel the same way.

    go back to a few flavors of SODA

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Country_Dog wrote...
    Typical elitist snob product
    September 20, 2012 5:24 am
    The folks at Jones Soda think they know better than everybody else and instead of giving people what they like, tell people what they SHOULD like (according to the company's progressive values).

    I know lots of elitist swine who champion the soda for being "local," yet will never buy it because, as mentioned correctly above, it tastes horrible.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Country_Dog
    September 20, 2012 10:37 am
    Budweiser has sold swill for years through heavy advertising.Perhaps Jones needs a team of French Bull Dogs and a bunch of scantily clad cheerleader type women to tout their product. Of course American Flags MUST be involved and a few pick up trucks certainly won't hurt
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • honus w wrote...
    Jones Soda
    September 20, 2012 5:53 am
    It sounds like it's time to bring in Mitt and Bain for a little restructuring.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Moondoggie wrote...
    Or bring in Obama
    September 20, 2012 6:50 am
    and force evreybody to buy Jones Soda
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • anotherfencewalker wrote...
    It's a soft drink...
    September 20, 2012 7:12 am
    Jones biggest and final mistake was that they got way to full of themselves. As soon as the Turkey and gravy type stuff was tried out on the consumers, you knew the bubble was ready to pop. They had some sort of marketing people on board at the time that seriously thought people would buy any flavor as long as it was hip, trendy and had the Jones label on the bottle. This quote is priceless "We lost our edge," says Jennifer Cue, CEO of Jones Soda. "We got too corporate along the way" Gee...ya think??
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Roark wrote...
    I'll give you a clue guys....
    September 20, 2012 7:20 am
    Your "Orange you glad for a change" Obama supporting flavor drove away HALF your customers, because that's about the number of them who think Obama is the worst president we've ever had. You deserve to go down because you're stupid.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Roark
    September 20, 2012 7:34 am
    Your Dumber then I thought.That flavor was released for Obamas inauguration.If you were a supporter or a GOPer no one knew what the future would bring and he had just won the election EASILY (10,000,000+ more votes)If I had a product I'd gladly market to the majority +10,000,000 side and let the chip fall as they may.But the stuff still needs to taste good.Now you should go down because you also are STUPID
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • JW1984 wrote...
    messiah101
    September 20, 2012 7:49 am
    Blatant corporate endorsement of a politician is a dumb idea, even if the majority of your customers agree with you. Why would you deliberately run off even 10% of your customers unless you think by doing so, you can replace them with significantly more NEW customers?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sambra27 wrote...
    JW
    September 20, 2012 8:55 am
    Gotta say I agree. When a company is trying to appeal to ALL customers, it makes no sense to lose republican customers who did not want Obama in office by releasing, even temporarily, a soft drink flavor which suggests the company is pro-obama. What would their flavor have been if McCain was elected? Club Soda?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    JW1984
    September 20, 2012 10:48 am
    Tampons sell to only half the market and they have been successful for years.Obviously the special bottle of Jones soda were meant for collection not for drinking it also brought attention to their product line
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mch-pevo@comcast.net wrote...
    I Think....
    September 20, 2012 7:33 am
    ...that I can afford 29 cents worth of stock...hm.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kato1967 wrote...
    Good Riddance
    September 20, 2012 7:35 am
    Not only does your Soda taste terrible, you antagonize half of your potential customers with your slavish devotion to Obama. Good bye, good riddance! You deserve to fail.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SeattleNerd wrote...
    This isn't about politics. It's about product. Jones tastes horrible.
    September 20, 2012 7:39 am
    If you ask anyone on the street about Jones Soda they'll tell you that the drinks are horrible. Everyone at Seahawks games commented about it when they changed to Jones a couple years back. The Brand is strong, the style is there, the special edition flavor idea is fine. All of this was okay, but the PRODUCT itself is HORRIBLE when compared to cheaper brands that taste BETTER. The pure cane sugar aspect sounds fine if you're a dirty hippy or a modern seattlite trying to change the world, but neither of these archtypes buy soda drinks. And if they did, they would want to enjoy it. People aren't going to buy a subpar product just to make a statement. Say all you want about a Prius, they clearly make a statement about your social leanings, but they are also functional, fun great cars. They don't come in hidious flavors made from all natural free-ranged sugar cane. FFS, if you're in the business of sugar water at least make it taste good! A child running a lemonade stand could tell you that rule! gosh darn it, Jones Soda is a thickskulled nobuddy. I bet you walk into their offices and you'll see Coke on their desks. That says something, doesn't it?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Just rename it republican kool aid . . . .
    September 20, 2012 7:46 am
    watch the stock soar.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }