Coke Zero – Living As It Should Be

I’m a great fan of the classic Coca Cola. It’s the only cola I drink when I’m eating out. Even though there are many varieties of coke available these days, I’m pretty oblivious to the rest of it’s product extension line. I don’t want Coke “Cherry” or “Vanilla” and I certainly do not fancy the funny un-coke taste of Diet Coke. But Coke zero caught my attention.

What is Coke Zero? What’s the different between Diet Coke and Coke Zero? A search on the internet resulted these answers:

Diet Coke – Although it came out two years before New Coke, Diet Coke that we’ve enjoyed since the 80s is the sugar free form of new coke. In other words, it’s based on the formula for the New Coke that wasn’t released yet (it debuted in 1985) when Diet Coke hit the market (1983), and is also now no longer available (the New coke). Coca Cola has no plans at this time to discontinue the aspartame based Diet Coke, as it is third in the soda market. (After Coke and Pepsi, respectively.)

Coca Cola Zero – Sweetened with aspartame and acesulfame potassium. The reason this is different from Diet Coke is that Coca Cola Zero is a sugar free version of the Classic Coke formulation. In other words, this is meant to be a sugar free version of the red cans of Coke you know and may or may not love. It has a redder, deeper color close to the color of Classic Coke and tastes far less like a diet soda (by many accounts) than Diet Coke.

So Coke Zero preserve the original Coke’s “real” taste and there’s zero sugar.

“When we created Coca-Cola Zero, we put together the only things that mattered — real Coca-Cola taste and zero calories,” said Katie Bayne, Coca-Cola North America, in a release. “Coca-Cola Zero is for people who want great Coca-Cola taste, zero calories, and a new brand they can call their own.”

As more and more consumers are moving away from soda and toward more healthful premium beverage, Coke Zero is an attractive choice. Especially for those who grew up with Coke and would prefer to grow old with a healthier alternative. Getting a Coke Zero is a neat balance. I thought Coca Cola was really smart to position the new addition as a “calorie free cola” rather than a “diet cola.” The word “diet” implies – especially to the young ones – that the beverage is meant for older folks and they might just conjure up an image of old men and old women with lumpy, fat belly. Certainly, that would not be sexy, and therefore a straight turn-off. You and I know sex in advertising sells.

So in a nutshell, Coca Cola saw the growing health conscious population as an opportunity and recognized that the Diet Coke and other diet cola cannot match the original version in taste. They filled the niche by having the “real” taste, zero sugar. They dominated the zero-calorie cola market with the June 2006 Coke Zero launch. In fact, Coca Cola Chairman and CEO, Neville Isdell acknowledged that the initial success of Coke Zero was Coke’s most successful new product launch in 20 years. Of course, their extensive marketing and advertising launch played a big part in getting the new product noticed. Their print ads, TV commercials and online campaigns are alway very interesting. In fact, they made it so fun that one can forget that it’s all about advertising.

You should really check out the Coke zeros campaign Life As it Should be on the Internet. Even you are a real dummy with your videocam, you can direct your own small movie at the website and forward it to all your friends. Coke has found some vintage black and white film clips that you, as the movie director, can use to script your own lines and say what ever you want. The embedded audio device will have your actor or actress say your lines out loud. On top of sending to your friends, your movie can compete with other movies to be the highest rated in ten categories. This interesting campaign not only promote Coke Zero but manages to involve it’s target audience of 18 -34 years old, and even beyond.

When marketing is fun, the marketing campaign can be made viral without any further investments from the company. The moment the marketers can get it’s shareholders, investors, vendors, clients, consumers, fans and supporters to help market it’s product at their own resource and time, the product will be a hit.

To Coca Cola, it is “living life as it should be. So should we be … living life as it should be

 

[tags]Coke Zero, life as it should be, Coca Cola, Coke, Coke Zero Online Campaign, internet marketing[/tags]