The new Coca-Cola cans unify the appearance of regular Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coke Life.
Fans of Diet Coke - an increasingly shrinking populace - might do a double-take next time they visit the grocery store, because the drink's distinctive silver packaging won't be around for much longer.
Coca-Cola has announced a shift in branding that focuses on redesigning the cans of Diet Coke, Coke Zero and the Stevia-sweetened Coke Life to contain more of the brand's red coloring.
Each of the new cans and bottles maintains a splash of their original colors - silver for Diet Coke, black for Coke Zero and green for Coke Life - but heavily features the "Red Disc," which was introduced in January as part of the "Taste the Feeling" campaign. Essentially, it's a circle that's the same hue of red long associated with original Coke.
It's part of an ongoing battle to combat shrinking soda sales in the U.S.
Last year, The New York Times reported that sales of full-calorie soft drinks, such as the original Coca-Cola, fell by more than 25 percent, calling it the "single largest change in the American diet in the last decade."
In fact, soft drink consumption in general is at a 30-year low, Vox reports.
Low- or no-calorie offerings held up a bit better, actually skyrocketing by more than 30 percent to $8.5 billion in sales in the first decade of the new millennium. But sales slid down by 20 percent from 2010 to 2014, The Washington Post reported. They're projected to continue dropping dramatically, shrinking from a high of $8.5 billion of sales to $5.8 billion in 2019.
That trend is continuing. In fact, in 2015 Diet Coke saw a 6 percent drop in first-quarter volume compared to the same period in 2014, according to Fortune . And Advertising Age recently reported that 2015 was the 10th straight year of declining sales volumes for major no-calorie soda brands.
"Consumers' attitudes towards sweeteners have really changed," Howard Telford, an industry analyst with Euromonitor, told The Post in 2015. "There's a very negative perception about artificial sweeteners. The industry is still trying to get its head around this."
In an odd reversal, though, original Coke sales rose by 1 percent, Mashable reported.
And that's after the company came under scrutiny last year for donating to nutritional science nonprofits which spread the idea that obesity wasn't caused by consuming unhealthy foods or sugary drinks.
"Coca-Cola's sales are slipping, and there's this huge political and public backlash against soda, with every major city trying to do something to curb consumption," Michele Simon, a public health lawyer, told the New York Times in a blog post titled "Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets."
"This is a direct response to the ways that the company is losing.
They're desperate to stop the bleeding," Simon also told the Times.
The week's release from Coca-Cola states the rebranding is aimed at using "one visual identity system," but the new branding also happens to make all Coke cans look more like the traditional, sugar-laden version that seems to be experiencing a small increase in sales.
The new cans and bottles will roll out in Mexico during the first week of May, and similar versions should appear in supermarkets around the world during the rest of 2016 and 2017, according to a press release.
"Packaging is our most visible and valuable asset," Marcos de Quinto, Coca-Cola chief marketing officer, said in the release.
And it's likely true. Altering the drink's packaging has worked in the past. When the company began prominently featuring random person's names (such as "Daniel," Melinda" or "Tyler") in 2015 as part of its "Share a Coke" campaign, sales of its 20-ounce bottles rose by more than 19 percent, AdWeek reported.
Not to mention, Coke is fairly hamstrung when it comes to modifying the product itself. The company famously created a new version of its original soda, which it announced on April 23, 1985. "New Coke," as it was called, was reportedly sweeter than the original, which was invented 99 years prior.
Customers revolted.
The company received more than 40,000 letters asking it to revert to the original recipe. When it finally did three months later, Peter Jennings interrupted an episode of "General Hospital" to tell America the good news, Time reported.
Some even think it may have been an elaborate marketing stunt, as the drink's sales rose 8 percent when the original was reinstated.
There's no telling if the silver cans will return after the change, though, so die-hard fans may want to stock up on what will soon be a relic of American soft drink history.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Coca-Cola has announced a shift in branding that focuses on redesigning the cans of Diet Coke, Coke Zero and the Stevia-sweetened Coke Life to contain more of the brand's red coloring.
Each of the new cans and bottles maintains a splash of their original colors - silver for Diet Coke, black for Coke Zero and green for Coke Life - but heavily features the "Red Disc," which was introduced in January as part of the "Taste the Feeling" campaign. Essentially, it's a circle that's the same hue of red long associated with original Coke.
It's part of an ongoing battle to combat shrinking soda sales in the U.S.
Last year, The New York Times reported that sales of full-calorie soft drinks, such as the original Coca-Cola, fell by more than 25 percent, calling it the "single largest change in the American diet in the last decade."
In fact, soft drink consumption in general is at a 30-year low, Vox reports.
Low- or no-calorie offerings held up a bit better, actually skyrocketing by more than 30 percent to $8.5 billion in sales in the first decade of the new millennium. But sales slid down by 20 percent from 2010 to 2014, The Washington Post reported. They're projected to continue dropping dramatically, shrinking from a high of $8.5 billion of sales to $5.8 billion in 2019.
The new Coca-Cola bottles also feature the “Red Disc,” which was introduced in January as part of the “Taste the Feeling” campaign.
"Consumers' attitudes towards sweeteners have really changed," Howard Telford, an industry analyst with Euromonitor, told The Post in 2015. "There's a very negative perception about artificial sweeteners. The industry is still trying to get its head around this."
In an odd reversal, though, original Coke sales rose by 1 percent, Mashable reported.
And that's after the company came under scrutiny last year for donating to nutritional science nonprofits which spread the idea that obesity wasn't caused by consuming unhealthy foods or sugary drinks.
"Coca-Cola's sales are slipping, and there's this huge political and public backlash against soda, with every major city trying to do something to curb consumption," Michele Simon, a public health lawyer, told the New York Times in a blog post titled "Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets."
"This is a direct response to the ways that the company is losing.
They're desperate to stop the bleeding," Simon also told the Times.
The week's release from Coca-Cola states the rebranding is aimed at using "one visual identity system," but the new branding also happens to make all Coke cans look more like the traditional, sugar-laden version that seems to be experiencing a small increase in sales.
The new cans and bottles will roll out in Mexico during the first week of May, and similar versions should appear in supermarkets around the world during the rest of 2016 and 2017, according to a press release.
"Packaging is our most visible and valuable asset," Marcos de Quinto, Coca-Cola chief marketing officer, said in the release.
And it's likely true. Altering the drink's packaging has worked in the past. When the company began prominently featuring random person's names (such as "Daniel," Melinda" or "Tyler") in 2015 as part of its "Share a Coke" campaign, sales of its 20-ounce bottles rose by more than 19 percent, AdWeek reported.
Not to mention, Coke is fairly hamstrung when it comes to modifying the product itself. The company famously created a new version of its original soda, which it announced on April 23, 1985. "New Coke," as it was called, was reportedly sweeter than the original, which was invented 99 years prior.
Customers revolted.
The company received more than 40,000 letters asking it to revert to the original recipe. When it finally did three months later, Peter Jennings interrupted an episode of "General Hospital" to tell America the good news, Time reported.
Some even think it may have been an elaborate marketing stunt, as the drink's sales rose 8 percent when the original was reinstated.
There's no telling if the silver cans will return after the change, though, so die-hard fans may want to stock up on what will soon be a relic of American soft drink history.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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