Coca-Cola is launching brand new flavour for first time in three years
Global drinks giant Coca-Cola has decided to offer a new permanent flavour in a bid to attract younger customers away from smaller brands that offer punchier and largely fruit-inspired drinks, as well as jump on the spice bandwagon that has been blazing a trail across shop shelves in both snack and drink form.
The makers of the 137-year-old soda have been feeling the heat from competitors for years. These are brands that have been quicker to recognise that the demographics, ethnicity and tastes of those Coke would normally expect to be buying their brand have changed drastically.
So the Atlanta-based soda maker has now introduced Coca-Cola Spiced, the first new permanent offering to its US and UK customers in three years. It comes as products such as Flamin’ Hot Doritos and Sweet Heat Starburst have become both established and popular with a younger generation.
Coca-Cola Spiced and Coca-Cola Spiced Zero Sugar will go on sale in the US and Canada on February 19 and comes on the back of the manufacturer's 2022 launch of Coca-Cola Creations, a series of eight limited-edition Coke flavours in colourful cans and bottles.
Coke experimented with adding hints of coconut, strawberry, watermelon and other flavours to the drinks, with the latest of these being Coca-Cola Happy Tears, which has salt and minerals as its mainstays. That particular marketing gimmick will be sold only through TikTok on February 17 in the US and UK.
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The company said that the new flavour blends traditional Coke with raspberry and spiced flavours. Talking to Associated Press, Coca-Cola’s North American marketing chief, Shakir Moin, said: "If you go to the aisles, you’ll see the amount of spiciness has gone up because consumers’ taste palettes have evolved. We realised that could be an opportunity for us. Can we dial up something which is already part of our formula and bring in a taste profile that is interesting, unique, and brings in the next generation of consumers?"
Moin said customer research for Coca-Cola Creations helped the company to develop Coca-Cola Spiced. It usually takes the firm at least a year to develop a new drink but Coca-Cola Spiced took just seven weeks. And he added that he thinks this is the speed they will now have to operate at to bring future new products to customers, adding: "Consumers are moving faster. The market is moving forward faster. We’ve got to be faster than the speed of the market."
The company saw a tiny one percent growth in sales for Coke, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Diet Coke in North America in 2022 and that is compared to a three percent growth in sparkling water and juice brands. In other regions, traditional Coke sales growth was outmatched by water, tea, sports drinks and coffee.
And that is one of the factors that has influenced this decision, as Coke doesn’t often add new permanent flavours to its line-up – with Spiced joining flagships, cherry and vanilla. Sue Lynne Cha, Coke’s vice-president of marketing for North America, told CNN that Spiced was selected because it’s "all about being on category trend and responsive to our consumer preferences".
The company's research found an "increase in consumer willingness to try a spiced beverage" and that raspberry was selected more than five million times on its Freestyle drink machines in 2022, which the company "often uses for inspiration" for new flavours.
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