It’s been about 35 years since Coca-cola’s Diet Coke hit the market. Coca-Cola is announcing a “full brand restage”. Starting next month consumers will looking at some new cans on the shelves. Diet Coke will dress the product in a skinny silver can sporting a bold center stripe whose colors correspond to four new flavors. According to a company statement, the new look and taste are aimed at “re-energizing and modernizing Diet Coke for a new generation of drinkers.”
The most noticeable part of the rebranding will be the package design, which Coke developed with a creative assist from U.K.-based shop Kenyon Weston. Though the new cans contain 12 fluid ounces just like their older counterparts, they sport a slender profile that’s more evocative of Red Bull or Starbucks Refreshers than mom’s standby diet soft drink. (Diet Coke’s original packaging will not be discontinued; the new cans will instead be offered as an option in the existing lineup.)
Cola-Cola’s North America group director for Diet Coke Rafael Acevedo told Adweek that his team chose the new cans for another reason. “It makes the brand feel more contemporary,” he said. “It modernizes the brand and makes it feel very premium.”
Cola-Cola devoted no fewer than two years in this effort, an obvious measure of the project’s importance. “We tried to behave very entrepreneurially and move as fast as we could,” Acevedo said. “But when you’re recasting the second largest brand in the company you want to make sure you get it right.”
The company interviewed with 10,000 consumers who were asked for their opinions on both packaging styles and flavors. After testing 30 new varieties, the company chose these four: Ginger Lime, Twisted Mango, Feisty Cherry and Zesty Blood Orange.
Ya, Soda consumption overall has been slipping for over a decade now, and an in-house study released by Beverage Digest in April of last year noted that while sales of Diet Pepsi have suffered the most (slipping 9.2 percent), Diet Coke’s volume had fallen by 4.3 percent.
Acevedo denied that Coke undertook the strategy as a direct response to those market pressures, saying instead that it “was more driven by the consumer versus the competition. Younger consumers are longing for new experiences and bolder flavors and innovation. In order for us to be relevant for the younger audience, we need to evolve with them.”
