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Coca-Cola has an ambitious plan to double its number of customers in the next few years

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By Jeff Beer

Global chief marketing officer Manuel Arroyo outlines the OpenX partnership with advertising holding company WPP, and how it will drive new brand growth.

Just today alone, 1.9 billion Coca-Cola products will be sold around the world. Now, chief marketing officer Manuel “Manolo” Arroyo is aiming to double its number of consumers very quickly.

“We’re in the process of deploying QR codes in every package available for all of our brands in the next three years,” Arroyo tells Fast Company. “QR codes are arguably the most unexploited and under-leveraged media vehicle that exists out there. Even if you only get a 3% redemption, imagine the return on 1.9 billion per day, what we can do in terms of first-, second-, and third-party data moving forward. One [strategy] at a global scale, and it’s going to take us to very different places.”

The key phrase there is one strategy. Coca-Cola operates in more than 200 countries around the world, and has traditionally—like many global corporations—operated with a complex network of marketing and advertising partners throughout its worldwide business. But last November, Arroyo partnered with advertising-holding company WPP to create a unique partnership that includes a bespoke internal team dedicated to Coca-Cola globally called OpenX. The CMO sees this as a key tool in achieving his overall goals for the flagship Coke brand, and the company in general.

“First, it’s to make that brand an incredible icon and brand, young and relevant again,” says Arroyo. “But also tap into a tremendous growth potential. We should be able to double this brand [consumer base] very soon if we do things right, and if we do it very differently than how we’ve done it in the past 20 years. I think we have a very clear idea of what it takes to get there.”

A significant part of that idea is for OpenX to help his company be more consistent and efficient in its marketing and advertising, on a global scale. Coke spent more than $4 billion on global advertising in 2019. It saw its spending drop by 35% in 2020 but has since gone back to pre-pandemic levels.

“Even though we have reshaped our portfolio into something more focused, we still have more than 200 brands across the world, and we come from an incredibly fragmented way of marketing,” says Arroyo. “Instead of having one-off campaigns that change every quarter, [we want to have] ongoing, continuous platforms. We know we’re doing Christmas for the next five years, so we don’t need five different briefs for Christmas. We just need one platform, and then update it and shape it based on the [consumer] data.”

In February, the company launched its “Coca-Cola Creations” campaign for Coke, which included a “space-flavoured” cola, that’s all part of an overall global marketing platform the company calls “Real Magic.” And in May, it rolled out a new global campaign for Sprite (the first created wholly by OpenX) called “Heat Happens.”

The idea of a bespoke ad-holding company team for a massive client isn’t new. Omnicom Group created the We Are Unlimited team in 2016, at the time to service McDonald’s (folded in 2019), as well as Team X last year for Mercedes-Benz. WPP itself has tried these models before, in 2006 with Team One for Ford, and Team Energy for BP.

The basic idea is that a global advertising-holding company, with its many agencies and specialties, combines its capabilities into a single, custom-made entity for a major client. It’s an idea that hit trend status a few years ago, only to have some brands swing back to a more traditional multiple-agency model. (In the U.S., for example, both Ford and McDonald’s have picked indie agency Wieden + Kennedy for major ad work.) Prior to OpenX, Coca-Cola worked with about 4,000 different agency partners around the world. Arroyo and Laurent Ezekiel, OpenX CEO and WPP chief marketing and growth officer, insist things will be different this time.

The key is a single contact point, as well as a single P&L, giving Coke a simple partnership format, and preventing WPP’s various stakeholders from competing internally for parts of the business—two things that have often muddled these types of partnerships in the past.

Last year, Domino’s chief marketing officer Art D’Elia lauded the simplicity of an independent agency partner over the complexity of a holding company, telling AdAge, “I really feel that the independent agency model gives us more flexibility and less distractions.”

Another significant development in the OpenX model is that it not only allows, but insists, that if an outside competing agency can help, Open X is obligated to collaborate. It’s all in the name of finding the best possible work for Coke, and removing as many barriers for finding it.

“In a partnership like this with WPP, they’re putting skin in the game on our metric—growing our consumer base—and that will define success for The Coca-Cola Company in terms of marketing,” says Arroyo. “And they’re ready to be compensated or penalized, based on mutual achievement there. So Laurent’s achievement will be the same as what I report to my CEO.”

Ezekiel says this partnership has the potential to influence work beyond a single brand and agency. “I tell my team that we’re in the position to architect the future here,” says Ezekiel. “Genuinely writing a new page in marketing history.”

By Jeff Beer

Jeff Beer is a staff editor at Fast Company, covering advertising, marketing, and brand creativity. More

Sourced from Fast Company

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Coca-Cola’s new packaging design is a total mess

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How many colours is too many colours?

It’s one of the most ubiquitous and recognisable brands on the planet, and there can’t be many people who’d struggle to identify a can of Coke in a line-up of soft drinks. But The Coca-Cola Company’s new packaging design almost seems designed to get lost in the crowd.

The company has revealed brand new packaging across the entire range of Coca-Cola drinks, along with a brand new flavour, Mocha (which we’ll be giving a hard pass). Coke says the redesign is designed to make the flavours easier to differentiate – but judging by the reaction online, it’s only making things more complicated.

Coca-Cola packaging design

How many colours is too many colours? (Image credit: Coca-Cola/Future owns)

Designed to “modernise and simplify” the brand’s packaging, Coca-Cola’s new cans and bottles feature full colours to “designate single flavours” and stacked colours to communicate “dual flavours” such as cherry vanilla (again, hard pass). But as if throwing a bunch of colours into the mix (at the expense of that instantly recognisable red) wasn’t enough, the company has also seen fit to mess with its iconic logo.

“We wanted to modernise and simplify the look of our packaging to help consumers find the flavour they’re looking for on the shelf through a colourful but clean packaging design,” said Natalia Suarez, senior brand manager of Coke Choice Portfolio, Coca‑Cola’s North America Operating Unit.

Coca-Cola packaging design

Good luck reading these from a distance (Image credit: Coca-Cola )

To denote either full-sugar or zero-sugar, the logo is rendered in either white or black script. That’s all well and good, and indeed a pretty smart way of communicating the two variations. But as plenty of internet users have already pointed out, this blanket approach has led to some legibility issues.

Cherry Coke, for example, features a black logo on a dark purple background. And vanilla Coke is white-on-gold. It’s enough to make you long for the halcyon days of simple white-on-red.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Coca-Cola update its packaging design in recent months. Just last April, it unveiled a bold and minimal new look for its core two flavours. But while this week’s new designs are consistent in terms of the placement of the logo, the choice of colours is anything but minimal. Indeed, what’s the use of one of the best logos of all time if you can hardly read it?

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Coca-Cola tweaks brand with magical new logo – and it’s genius

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Can you spot the invisible bottle?

It isn’t every day that we see a company as big as Coca-Cola tweak its brand, but the soft drink giant has just revealed its magical new logo. Featuring a fresh wrap-around logo called the ‘Hug’ and a new tagline, this design is genius.

Coca-Cola has been running the fizzy drink game for decades now, and its logo has become an icon of modern culture. But the famous logo that we all know and love has just had an ingenious makeover – and we love it. If you are hoping to design your own clever logo, make sure you check out our 15 golden rules on logo design.

A Coca-Cola print ad for the 'Real Magic' campaign

The ingenious design looks as though the logo is wrapped around a Coke bottle (Image credit: Coca-Cola)

The new logo features the traditional Coca-Cola logo but is slightly wrapped around what we can only presume is an invisible Coke bottle. It’s amazing that the brand is so well recognised, that we can decipher the shape of the Coke bottle, despite it not even being there. The new logo is apparently inspired by togetherness, and the actual action of a hug, hence the wrapped around logo imitating that of arms mid-hug.

The new logo is accompanied by a new campaign and the tagline “Real Magic.” In the ad (below) for the branding update, viewers watch as a bottle of Coke sparks peace between players on an online game. And despite this ad feeling oddly similar to the advert when Kendall Jenner controversially solved world peace with a can of Pepsi, we think the new logo and the values behind the “Real Magic” are actually rather endearing.

Chief marketing officer Manolo Arroyo at Coca-Cola has said the “Real Magic” is “not just a tagline” and that it is “a philosophy.” According to an article on the Coca-Cola company website, the intentions behind the new campaign are to “increase the Coca-Cola consumer base through an ecosystem of experiences anchored in consumption occasions, such as meals and breaks, and merged with consumer passion points like music and gaming.”

The campaign features work from a number of artists and photographers that celebrates togetherness and inclusivity. With vibrancy, happiness and diversity all included in the new campaign, a number of new print ads will feature a range of colourful mediums.

Image 1 of 4

Coca-cola print ad.

The Real Magic campaign features a number of artists and mediums to promote inclusivity and happiness (Image credit: Coca-cola)

Coca-cola print ad.

This print ad takes the ‘hug’ quite literally! (Image credit: Coca-cola)

Coca-cola print ad.

We love the colour palette in this one (Image credit: Coca-cola)

Coca-cola print ad.

This design is utterly adorable (Image credit: Coca-cola)

The new logo has been praised online by Twitter users with users dubbing  the campaign as “happiness to look at,” and another calling the campaign “magic.” It’s apparent the internet likes the rebrand as much as we do.

We love this new friendly rebrand and love the fact that Coca-Cola have chosen to feature a number of different creative mediums. If you want to try your hand at logo design, then why not have a look at our roundup of the best free logo designer.

Feature Image Credit: Coca-Cola

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Coca-Cola’s Ronaldo fiasco highlights risk to brands in social media age

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Sourced from The Guardian

Stars like the Portugal captain, with 550m followers, are beyond the control of sport sponsors

Cristiano Ronaldo’s decision to remove two Coca-Cola bottles from view at a press conference, and dent the value of the fizzy drink maker’s sponsorship of the European Championship, has highlighted the risks brands face associating with sports stars made powerful by the social media era.

The Portugal captain, a renowned health fanatic who eschews carbonated drinks and alcohol, underlined his point by holding a bottle of water while saying “agua”, Portuguese and Spanish for water. The water brand in question happened to be owned by Coca-Cola too, but the damage – by a major sports star with 550 million social media followers – was done.

“It’s obviously a big moment for any brand when the world’s most followed footballer on social media does something like that,” says Tim Crow, a sports marketing consultant who advised Coca-Cola on football sponsorship for two decades. “Coke pays tens of millions to be a Uefa sponsor and as part of that there are contractual obligations for federations and teams, including taking part in press conferences with logos and products. But there are always risks.”

Major brands have never been able to control the actions of their star signings. Nike decided, stoically, to stand by Tiger Woods as the golfing prodigy lost sponsors including Gillette and Gatorade after a 2009 sex scandal. However, Ronaldo’s public snub signifies a different kind of threat to the once cosy commercial balance of power between stars and brands, one born of the social media era.

“Ronaldo is right at the top of social media earners,” says PR expert Mark Borkowski. “It is about the rise of the personal brand, the personal channel, it gives so much bloody power. That’s what has allowed Ronaldo to make a point [about a healthy lifestyle].”

Now 36, the world’s most famous footballer has built an empire that has seen him make more than $1bn (£720m) in football salaries, bonuses and commercial activities such as sponsorships. What is crucial is the global platform social media has given him – half a billion followers on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook – which has freed him from following the commercial rules of clubs, tournaments and their sponsors. He is the highest earner on Instagram, commanding $1m per paid post, and with more than $40m in income from the social media platform annually he makes more than his salary at Juventus.

“People are saying this is about athlete activism and there is some truth to that,” says Crow. “Athletes are taking a more activist view, we are seeing that, most recently in press conferences. And we will see it again.”

On Tuesday, the France midfielder Paul Pogba, a practising Muslim, removed a bottle of Euro 2020 sponsor Heineken’s non-alcoholic 0.0 brand from the press conference table when he sat down to speak to the media after his team’s 1-0 win over Germany. Three years ago, he was one of a group of Manchester United stars who boycotted a contractual event for sponsors to protest at the club’s poor travel arrangements that had affected Champions League games.

Crow says the most important example of athlete activism came last month when Naomi Osaka, the No 2-ranked female tennis player, pulled out of the French Open after being fined $15,000 and threatened with expulsion by organisers for saying she would skip contractual media obligations because of the effect on her mental health.

Osaka, who has more than 4 million social media followers, used Twitter to explain her “huge waves of anxiety” and the “outdated rules” governing players and media conferences, and announce she was pulling out of Roland Garros.

“Activism is now on every sponsor’s radar,” says Crow, who believes Ronaldo’s move could mark the beginning of the end of product placement-laden press conferences.

“My view is that for a long time now having sponsors’ products on the table in front of athletes in press conferences looks outdated and inauthentic and it’s time to retire it,” he says. “This incident highlights that fact. Many of my sponsor clients have mentioned this in the past, particularly those targeting younger consumers. It’s not as if sponsors don’t have enough branding throughout tournaments and events anyway.”

Sourced from The Guardian

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Coca-Cola eyes streaming, real-time content production in marketing restart

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Dive Brief:

  • Coca-Cola will restart its marketing efforts soon after pressing pause during coronavirus lockdowns, according to a WARC report.
  • The brand plans for a new focus on agility and flexibility as it — and consumers — emerges from the pandemic. Real-time content production and streaming will also get a bigger focus in the beverage giant’s marketing plans in the months ahead, when Coca-Cola expects to adjust spending based on the current moment, per WARC.
  • The company had kept up its social engagement during lockdown but had pulled other forms of advertising during the pause. “The decision to be dark is not sustainable in the longer term and especially now that our customers are going back to being active,” Barbara Sala, Coke’s CEE strategic connection and media director, said at the IAB Europe Interact conference this week.

Dive Insight:

As restaurants and bars closed up shop and concerts and sporting events were canceled during the early stages of the pandemic, Coca-Cola downshifted its advertising. The brand turned its focus from out-of-home, billboards and TV to smaller digital and streaming options to connect with people looking for entertainment at home.

Now that world is slowly beginning to reopen, Coca-Cola is forging a new way forward that includes digital efforts similar to those the brand explored and employed during the pandemic.

Sala said during the conference that lockdowns showed how “digital has been very much able to, immediately and in real time, reach our consumers in many different forms … and some of them really astonished me.”

During the early days of stay-at-home orders, Coca-Cola signed on as the exclusive launch partner to BeApp, a new music streaming platform that integrates gamified and social media elements into the virtual concert-viewing experience. Coke Studio Sessions has featured a number of high-profile artists such as Katy Perry, Miguel, Steve Aoki and the cast of the musical “Hamilton.” This experimental push could signal some of the campaigns that could come as the beverage giant pushes forward.

But Coca-Cola won’t be the only company rethinking digital strategy post-coronavirus. Chief rival PepsiCo also cut back on nonessential ad spend during lockdowns in favor of consumer activations that tapped into what was becoming popular during the pandemic. This included integrations with actor John Krasinki’s feel-good “Some Good News,” a YouTube hit that recently sold to ViacomCBS and a Tostitos Facebook livestream where Bill Murray and Guy Fieri competed to make the best nachos.

Feature Image Credit: Marc Fulgar / Unsplash

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Coca-Cola slams brakes on ad spend: ‘There is limited effectiveness to brand marketing’

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By Katie Deighton

The Coca-Cola Company is looking to cushion the Covid-19-led decline of its bars and restaurants business by reducing marketing costs globally, and, in some markets, coming “off-air” entirely in Q2 2020.

The company reported global volumes were down by 25% in the first quarter of 2020. This was driven primarily by a substantial decline in its away-from-home business, which comprises trade orders from bars, restaurants, movie theaters, sports stadiums and on-the-go retail such as convenience stores.

James Quincey, Coca-Cola’s chairman and chief executive, noted this was partially offset in the US by a rise in drive-thru and carryout orders, as well as e-commerce and grocery stockpiling in some developed markets.

However, with lockdown halting out-of-home events and minimizing grocery trips for the foreseeable future, the company now predicts its second quarter to be “the most severely impacted” of the financial year.

Coca-Cola has thus cut brand marketing – partially to reduce costs and partially because it is skeptical of return on marketing investment at this time.

“We’re being … mindful about the right level of brand marketing and new product launches given the consumer mindset across market,” Quincey told investors yesterday (21 April). “We’ve developed and determined that in this initial phase there is limited effectiveness to broad-based brand marketing.

“With this in mind, we’ve reduced our direct consumer communication we’ll pause sizable marketing campaigns through the early stages of the crisis and reengage when the timing is right. These plans will vary from market to market with our earliest reengagement focusing on the recovery in China.”

He added: “Staying close to our consumers in a relevant way is a key guiding principle, and staying disciplined to demand an appropriate ROI is a close second.”

John Murphy, the company’s chief financial officer, confirmed that in its quest to “really stay close to the consumer in a relevant way”, Coca-Cola had made the decision come “off-air” in “many markets”.

He explained the brand is implementing this Q2 shutdown in order to give its various markets more flexibility with marketing strategies and budgets later in the year, dependent on when and how each country reopens for business and events.

“We have had a number of communications announcing that we will take a pause for now while we focus our efforts on our communities and on other priorities and that we’ll be back later in the year,” he said, alluding to the “millions of dollars of planned marketing spend” that Coca-Cola says it has donated to pay for the personal protective equipment (PPE) and beverages for healthcare workers.

Despite the company’s skepticism over brand marketing during coronavirus, it is making a concerted effort to enhance its presence on the shelf. The company has “redeployed” its ground sales reps and trained them in merchandising.

Coca-Cola hopes this will result in “increased share of displays of stock on the floor”, aided by a “ruthless” prioritization of core products and key brands to “help customers simplify their supply chains.

“We’re also taking this opportunity to reshape our innovation pipeline to eliminate a longer tail of smaller projects and allocate resources to fewer, larger, more scalable and more relevant solutions for this environment,” added Quincey.

The company’s decision to halt brand marketing is in stark contrast to the strategy of Procter & Gamble, one of the world’s largest advertisers. The CPG business is planning to increase spending on advertising during the coronavirus lockdown period in order to “maintain mental … availability to the greatest extent possible”.

Feature Image Credit: Coke’s Super Bowl 2020 spot was a celebrity-heavy affair

By Katie Deighton

Sourced from The Drum

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Coca-Cola is breaking the agency model to experiment with crowd-sourced creative briefs

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By Katie Deighton

Coca-Cola’s latest experiment in opening short design briefs to the entire world illustrates its plans to no longer be seen as “a traditional advertiser” by appointing consumers – not agencies – as its co-creators.

The drinks giant’s head of digital, David Godsman, admitted at the Adobe Summit opening keynote that the digitally connected world is “somewhat unknown” to the brand. Nevertheless, 12 months ago it embarked on a five-year digital transformation programme, underscored by four key areas: operations, business, culture and experiences.

Surprisingly, Coca-Cola has filed its marketing and advertising operations into the latter category. Not only is Godsman asking his “traditional brand marketers to become experience makers”, but he’s earmarked the fans of Coca-Cola as vital to its content creation strategy.

David Godsman, chief digital officer, Coca-Cola

“Digital allows us to create unifying experiences which – regardless of language or place in the world – helps to bring them together,” he said. “Digital enables them to participate actively with us and co-create the experiences we bring to market

“We don’t see a world where we will continue as a traditional advertiser in that sense.”

James Sommerville, Coca-Cola’s vice president of global design, introduced one of the first forays into this strategy of consumers-as-creators. Coke x Adobe x You, which quietly launched last October on social media, comprised a succinct brief open to the entire internet, which read: ‘Create a work of art celebrating Coca-Cola, sport, movement, strength, and unity using Adobe Creative Cloud tools’.

“We thought: ‘What would happen if you just gave the world’s designers three or four simple tools and a short brief – so short that you could tweet it?’,” explained Sommerville.

The brief for Coke x Adobe x You

So far, the project has thrown up around 1,500 submissions, from trippy, fun animations to meticulous hand-drawn illustrations. All the designers were commissioned to feature the red Coca-Cola circle, while Adobe and Coca-Cola kept the Tokyo Olympics 2020 under wraps.

“If you scan these pages you’ll see the enthusiasm to work on our products and our brand,” said Sommerville, adding that the project “really is the start of our journey”.

The brand is arguably in need of a revived creative strategy. Diet Coke’s latest offerings have failed to capture the mass imagination that 1995’s ‘Diet Coke Break’ managed to, for instance, while ‘Because I Can’ was pretty much panned creatively.

It’s unlikely that Coca-Cola will eschew working with creative agencies for consumer creations altogether. Sommerville stressed that “we love our agencies partners, we need our agency partners”, but he also loves to “discover the hidden gems”. By that he means freelance artists such as Noma Bar, the graphic designers going viral, or “some guy working in Starbucks right now on a laptop”.

Noma Bar for Coca-Cola

But when conglomerate does come looking for agencies in the future, it may start knocking on other doors. Sommerville’s design lab is currently experimenting with prototypes such as a fountain that dispenses mobile data in lieu of soft drinks – the kind of project that will certainly require the expertise of creative technologists, but perhaps not those of traditional creatives.

“I really want to invite the creative community to reimagine the whole experience,” said the Atlanta-based, Huddersfield-born designer. “Everyone in this room, everyone on this planet, has the right to work with Coca-Cola.”

How does he plan on keeping those divergent, global ideas tied to a common brand idea? By looking back on the vast history of Coca-Cola.

“We have a little phrase called Kiss the Past Hello,” he explained. “A lot of people talk about failing fast – for us this is the Coca-Cola way of saying a very similar thing. Our past is so important to us. It educates us. The good, the bad, what worked, what didn’t.

“Those stories are the same, but the context has changed. We are about technology, we are about transformation and we are about talent. But ultimately for us the experience starts at the product – it’s the texture, it’s the touch of the glass, it’s the temperature.”

By Katie Deighton

Sourced from THEDRUM

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Diet Coke hopes a sleek rebrand and some new flavours can reignite sluggish sales

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By John McCarthy

The Coca-Cola Company is looking to solidify the future of Diet Coke in North America with a new colourful rebrand that brings with it a handful of premium fruity flavors.

Over the last few years, sales of Diet Coke in the region have plummeted, partly cannibalized by Coke Zero and even Coke Life. 2017, conversely, saw the rebranding of Zero to Zero Sugar in the US and the end of Life in the UK – where sales of the drink have also been fizzling out.

In 2016, Coca-Cola rolled out a global one brand strategy to promote all of its products at the same time, rather than instinctively separating them into different marketing campaigns. In spite of this, in the same year the drinks maker still decided to champion Diet Coke in North America, pushing ad spend behind the variant with a bottle refresh campaign.

Now, in the US at least, the brand appears to have flipped its strategy and decided that answer to attracting new drinkers to the 35-year-old diet brand is a sleek and bold redesign that features tall cans.

Along with this, variant flavors, Ginger Lime, Feisty Cherry, Zesty Blood Orange and Twisted Mango have come to the fore, inspired by millennials’ love for strong tastes like “hoppy craft beers to spicy sauces”. These flavors were chosen after the company spoke to 10,000 Americans and developed around 30 final combinations – down to four.

Rafael Acevedo, Coca-Cola North America’s group director for Diet Coke, said: “Diet Coke is one of the most iconic brands loved by millions of fans in North America, throughout this relaunch journey, we wanted to be bold, think differently and be innovative in our approach. And most importantly, we wanted to stay true to the essence of Diet Coke while recasting the brand for a new generation.”

Acevedo said the work would make the brand “more relatable and more authentic”.

James Sommerville, vice president, Coca-Cola global design, said the work “elevates the brand to a more contemporary space, while still using at its foundation the recognizable core brand visual assets”.

To support the relaunch, an integrated marketing campaign will be activated later in January to introduce the new look and tastes to consumers.

By John McCarthy

Sourced from THE DRUM

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How Coca-Cola got Americans to drink diet soda again

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By Abha Bhattarai

After a summer makeover, sales of Coke Zero — now called Coke Zero Sugar — are on the rise again.

Coca-Cola revamped the popular diet soda in August with sleeker packaging, a new name and an “improved” recipe. And although the ingredient list, which includes aspartame and caramel color, has remained the same, Americans are now buying much more of the diet soda than they did earlier this year. (The company says it “only tweaked the blend of natural flavors” to make the drink taste more like Coca-Cola.)

“The headline is: As Coke Zero Sugar comes into marketplaces, we’re seeing continued acceleration of [the drink] lifting the whole franchise,” James Quincey, president and chief executive of Coca-Cola, said in a Wednesday call with analysts. “We’re pleased with how it’s playing out.”

Overall, U.S. sales of the drink are growing twice as fast as they were earlier this year, according to the company. That increase marked a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy earnings report: Coca-Cola on Wednesday reported a 33 percent drop in third-quarter profits, which fell to $4 billion, or 92 cents per share, from a year earlier. Quarterly revenue decreased 15 percent to $9.1 billion in the same period.

The new Coke Zero Sugar is just one of more than 500 products the Atlanta-based beverage giant plans to reformulate this year as it scrambles to keep up with changing tastes.

[Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Coke’s hot new soda, isn’t actually that new at all]

“We recognize that too much sugar isn’t good for anyone, and we are continually evolving our business to reflect this fact,” Quincey said in a Q&A published on Coca-Cola’s website. “While there’s no silver bullet that will end obesity, we believe our combined product, package and marketing efforts can be more effective at reducing the sugar people drink over the long term.”

American soda consumption fell to a 30-year low in 2015, with the steepest declines in sales of Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke, according to data from the trade publication Beverage Digest. Overall, consumption of diet soda fell 31 percent between 2005 and 2016.

As Americans shun sodas in favor of bottled water, juices and teas, Coca-Cola is also making changes to keep up. It bought Bethesda, Md.-based Honest Tea in 2014 and this month took over Topo Chico, a brand of sparkling water from Monterrey, Mexico. In addition to sodas such as Sprite, Fanta and Coke, the company now owns a number of juice, sports-drink and water brands, including Minute Maid, Powerade, Glacéau Vitaminwater and Odwalla.

The company’s rebranding of Coke Zero Sugar is also part of that broader effort. Coca-Cola says it changed the drink’s name “to be as clear and descriptive as possible” after internal research showed that many consumers didn’t realize that Coke Zero didn’t have sugar or calories. It also changed the drink’s packaging “to make it look more like Coca-Cola.” Out: mostly black labels. In: more red, and the words “zero sugar” and “zero calorie” printed prominently on the front.

“We’re confident that loyal Coke Zero fans will love the new-and-improved recipe, and that fans of original Coca-Cola looking to reduce their sugar intake will want to try it, too,” the company said in a July blog post.

Consumers, however, were not immediately convinced: “Coke Zero Is Gone Because We Live in a Grim Dystopia in Which Nothing Good Can Exist,” a GQ headline proclaimed in July. People also took to Twitter to complain.

[R.I.P., Coke Zero: The five stages of ice-cold grief]

Coke Zero Sugar, first introduced in the United Kingdom last year, is now sold in more than 25 countries. The company says the revamped drink will be available worldwide by early 2018.

 

By Abha Bhattarai

Sourced from The Washington Post

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