Nov 26, 2008 : Promo Crashes Dr. Pepper Website

📅 November 26, 2008 - A new Guns N' Roses album, famous for taking more than a decade to be finished, was finally released on the weekend, however, Dr. Pepper's promise to give free away free soda in response to this unlikely event fell flat as the record's release crashed its servers due to demand.


According to the soft drink manufacturer's announcement earlier this week, a deluge of consumers looking for a free Dr Pepper downed its servers, making the website and the offer inaccessible. The phenomena was also reported by the LA Times.

In response, Dr Pepper extended its offer, which originally only lasted for the day, until Monday afternoon.

"People are passionate about Dr Pepper," said Tony Jacobs, vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper. "The response has been greater than anticipated and we want to do everything we can to ensure Dr Pepper fans get their free coupon. As a result, we've extended the offer, increased our server capacity and added a toll-free number, 1-888-DRPEPPER, for consumers to call to request their Dr Pepper."

According to a search of UK Internet services company Netcraft's (netcraft.com) information database, Dr. Pepper's netblock belongs to web hosting provider Rackspace (rackspace.com 👉 Total Reviews: 16
🙌 Average Rating: 3.3 / 10
👍 Good Reviews: 4
👎 Bad Reviews: 12
👈 Official Responses: 0).

While this event has spurred more publicity for Dr. Pepper, the ranks of disappointed soda seekers are a testament to the importance of preparing technical infrastructure for a predictable spike in demand, which Dr. Pepper has been aware of since the spring.

Unbeknownst to the band, the Dr. Pepper promotion was a pleasant surprise according to Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose wrote in a March 26 statement.

"We are surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr Pepper with our album "Chinese Democracy," as for us, this came totally out of the blue," Rose wrote. "If there is any involvement with this promotion by our record company or others, we are unaware of such at this time. And as some of Buckethead's performances are on our album, I'll share my Dr Pepper with him."