Coca-Cola has unveiled a radical marketing shake-up that will bring its four sub-brands – Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Life – under a single umbrella brand.
Until now, the four ranges have been treated individually but will now be marketed as variants of a single Coca-Cola brand and will have the same pack design. Coca-Cola GB said the new strategy would raise the profile of Diet, Zero and Life as it looks to make Great Britain the first country where 50% of Coca-Cola sales are lower or no-calorie.
Under the new strategy, lower and no sugar and calorie variants will be shown in the final frames of all Coca-Cola TV ads, and 2015 media investment for the lower and no sugar and calorie variants doubled. Advertising will comprise a mix of brand-wide activity and ads for specific products.
The activity has been announced following a slump in sales of Coca-Cola – Britain’s biggest fmcg brand. Overall value sales fell 2.5% year on year - or £30m – in 2014, with only Coca-Cola Zero and the newly launch Coca-Cola Life in growth over the period. The strategy will not be unique to the UK, however, and is also being introduced elsewhere in Europe.
Coca-Cola said a key reason for the change in strategy was to help consumers better understand the roles of the products in the range, adding that research had shown half of consumers did not realise Coca-Cola Zero contained no sugar or calories.
“Our no and lower sugar variants will benefit from this closer association with Coca-Cola and that featuring all variants in advertising will make clear to more consumers the full choice we offer them,” said Great Britain & Ireland general manager Jon Woods.
But the company insisted that, despite the focus on lower-sugar variants, it would continue to grow sales of the core ‘red’ Coca-Cola, which currently accounts for 53% of total brand sales.
“While the smaller brands have the most to gain, all the variants will have their time in the sun,” added marketing director Bobby Brittain.”Our commitment to red Coke is 100% solid.”
He added that the new look could also allow the Coca-Cola brand to be expanded with further variants using the same branding and marketing strategy.
The new-look packs begin rolling out to retailers from next week, and Coca-Cola expects to have them in full distribution by May when it will launch a new marketing campaign.
The new packaging will also bring the introduction of the government’s front-of-pack labelling scheme. Coca-Cola last year announced it would be adopting the scheme, which combines nutrient amounts and percentage Reference Intakes with colour-coding.
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