Coca-Cola May Offer Vanilla Variation
Coca-Cola may introduce a vanilla-flavored version of Coca-Cola Classic, the world’s best-selling soft drink, reports the New York Times.
Coke has prepared samples of packaging for the new drink and is about 90 percent
certain of proceeding with the product introduction, according to Beverage
Digest, a trade publication that has been tracking speculation about the
drink for several months.
The new drink would be an extension of the basic Coca-Cola line, similar to the introduction of Cherry Coke and, more recently, lemon-flavored Diet Coke. Such line extensions have been the main source of growth for carbonated soft drink vendors in recent years, says John D. Sicher, the editor and publisher of Beverage Digest. Among the six established soft drink leaders, only Diet Coke managed even a slight increase in domestic volume last year, according to figures published by Beverage Digest.
Moderator Comment: Will a vanilla-flavored Coca-Cola
be successful?
Any product with the Coca-Cola brand name will get consumer
trial. Having the promotional power and distribution system of Coke behind it
doesn’t hurt either. If it tastes good, its got a shot. We do wonder where the
shelf and refrigerated case space is going to come from though. [George Anderson – Moderator]