CCEP low sugar innovation

Coca-Cola European Partners is embarking on another major low-sugar push, with new Zero Sugar variants, a multimillion-pound Diet Coke campaign and smaller cans for Schweppes and Appletiser.

The soft drinks giant will launch a new vanilla variant of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar next month, and will reformulate Coke Zero Cherry to join the Zero Sugar range by the end of the summer, it announced today.

The new Zero Sugar flavours were an “exciting next step” for the brand, which had enjoyed “fantastic success” since it launched last summer, said CCEP operational marketing director Simon Harrison.

With a taste much closer to the 130-year-old original Coke than the Coca-Cola Zero range it replaced, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar was already the fastest-growing top five cola brand in Great Britain [AC Nielsen Total Market: MAT w/e 24 December 2016], CCEP claimed.

It is also investing in a multimillion push for Diet Coke, with a new Get The Gang Back Together campaign supported by brand ambassador Holly Willoughby kicking off this month across outdoor, print, in-store and digital PoS.

Giving shoppers the chance to win penthouse trips to European cities and Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 cameras, the new campaign will coincide with the return of Diet Coke’s ‘Economy Class’ advert to TV and cinema screens this month.

Smaller cans

CCEP is also launching new 250ml cans of Schweppes Sparkling Juice Drinks (rsp: 75p) and Appletiser (79p), which will replace the existing 330ml cans for both brands this month.

Featuring “sophisticated” new pack designs and fewer calories, the smaller cans would tap into the “growing trend for premium adult soft drinks”, it said.

This latest raft of low-sugar innovation and marketing follows CCEP’s announcement last month it would rebrand Oasis Lights to Oasis Zero in April 2017 to “better communicate the zero-calorie and low-sugar formula to increasingly health-conscious young adult consumers.”

It is also expanding its No Added Sugar Capri-Sun range with a new Orange-Lemon flavour, available from April in a 330ml pouch (rsp: 89p).

“We believe we have a strong pipeline of innovation across our portfolio this year, with a raft of new products, recipe changes and pack formats that will ensure we are well-placed to offer the right choice of great-tasting brand & products as part of a consumer-centric portfolio,” said CCEP VP and general manager Leendert den Hollander.

“All this planned innovation supports our ongoing sugar reduction strategy - as does the marketing campaigns we will run on key brands such as Diet Coke.”