Word: colas
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Coke is taking an iPod-inspired approach to reviving its flagship cola's appeal with an experimental marketing campaign. The new bottle collection--dubbed M5 for Magnificent Five--will roll out over the next year in 50 to 60 select nightclubs around the world. The icons are intended to draw attention from trendsetters, spicing up Coke's image in the minds of cool hunters and fashionable urban consumers. Don't expect to see M5s in grocery stores; they're much too hip for that. Instead, Coke will try to position the new bottles in fashion magazine layouts and even license...
That's a radical departure for a company that buys advertising by the ton, but given the lagging sales line, Coke's executives realized they had better be open to experimenting with their best-selling cola's image. "There was clearly a point where we lagged behind in innovation," says Mathieu. "If we need to be an icon again, we need to understand what it takes to be an icon...
...some industry experts, Coke's innovative project may be missing the point. Diet brands, for instance, are the fastest-growing soda segment. Coke has seven low-calorie versions of its cola, ranging from Caffeine-Free Diet Coke to Diet Coke with Lime; diet drinks make up 29% of the soda market, according to Beverage Digest. Pepsi earlier this year announced that Diet Pepsi would become its flagship brand, a tectonic shift. "Cola is the fastest-declining category, and for Coke to succeed, they need a new blueprint," says Phil Lempert, food-industry analyst and author of The Lempert Report...
Lempert and others argue that it's time for Coke to tamper with its famous and famously secret ingredient mix. Most Coke is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, yet kids in Latin America are drinking sugar-based, fruit-flavored beverages, he says. Lempert says the cola market will continue to dry up without a radical recipe shift. "The savior of cola, and I don't know who's going to do it first, Coke or Pepsi, is the reintroduction of the core product, substituting sugar for the high-fructose corn syrup...
That's unlikely anytime soon, but if recent intros are any indication, innovation under Isdell will stretch beyond trendy bottle designs. Coca-Cola Blak, a single serving carbonated coffee, and Dasani Sensations, a line of flavored sparkling waters, are among the highly regarded new drinks in the pipeline. Tab Energy, expected to launch later this year, is aimed at women and the market for healthier sodas. Like the M5 Coke bottles, Tab Energy's containers will feature a novel design (slender and pink), as will the new Von Dutch energy drink (camouflage cans). "When thirsty people go into a store...