Coca-Cola's Diet Coke Launches New Packaging

[China Packaging Network News] On January 10, Coca-Cola announced four new tastes and new packaging for Diet Coke.

In addition to retaining the original Diet Coke, the new flavors are cherry, mango, ginger lemon, and blood orange. Currently, they are only sold in the North American market. They are fully listed in North America in mid-May and listed on the Canadian market in February. The listing dates in other global markets are unknown. .

This is the first time that Diet Coke has released new flavors for 35 years. The new tastes have been tested by more than 10,000 people. The focus is on finding out what the millennials eat and drink, and selecting them after two years.

The bigger and more noticeable change is the internal “High Line” package. There is an eye-catching color bar in the center of the silver-gray can body.

This design does not come from a large international design agency. It is from Kenyon Weston, a small British design agency, and is run by Matthew Kenyon and Chris Weston. According to reports, Elyse Larouere, the 26-year-old design director of Coca-Cola, dominated the design project. James Sommerville, vice president of design for Coca-Cola, commented that the new packaging provided a new perspective.

Diet Coke was launched in 1982. The initial target group was the emerging yuppie, a young professional in the urban working class who needed aerobic exercise. After the release of the Coke brand, it appealed to the American slimming beverage market within one year. Nearly 20% of the shares were the best-selling soft drinks in the ranking, but due to Diet Coke’s silver packaging and the “diet” in the name, some male consumers felt that this was a beverage designed for women, and Coca-Cola was In 2005, it launched the black packaging of Cola Zero.

However, the current Diet Cola is facing a more embarrassing situation than that year. On the one hand, young consumers’ preferences are tilting from carbonated beverages to energy drinks, flavored water, and other markets. On the other hand, in August 2017, Coke decided to remove the zero-degree Coke on the line and change to the new “Coke-free Cola” (Coke). Zero Sugar), sugar-free Coke's market position is clearly more consistent with Diet Coke. According to Coca-Cola’s latest financial report for the third quarter of 2017, Diet Coke’s sales still fell at a single-digit rate.

It is worth mentioning that the new version of Diet Coke will use Acesulfame as a sweetener. It is 200 times sweeter than sucrose, so only a very small amount is needed to achieve the same sweetness.