Spicing up Coca-Cola: Beverage giant targets young Americans with new alchemy

09 Feb 2024 --- Coca-Cola has unveiled Coca-Cola Spiced, which it says is a “unique alchemy of our iconic cola, raspberry and spiced flavors.” The drink targets younger American consumers with dynamic taste demands in regular and zero-sugar variants.

“Coca-Cola Spiced transforms the familiar into the extraordinary, blending the iconic taste of Coca-Cola with a burst of refreshing notes from raspberry and spiced flavors,” says the company, but it has not revealed what spices have been included in the drink.

The raspberry flavor dominates in the regular variant, with the spices going unnoticed in the first few sips. The Coke Zero Sugar flavor is more prominent in the zero sugar variant, with the raspberry notes in the background and the spices barely felt.

The new flavor was developed in seven weeks, compared to previous flavors that took about a year to be ready, Shakir Moin, Coca-Cola’s North American marketing chief, said at a media event in New York, US, earlier this week. 

He added that this speed-to-market was important, considering the speed of the market’s evolution. The company hopes to replicate the speed with future new products.

This is the brand’s first new permanent flavor in North America in the last three years and will enter the US and Canada markets on February 19 in canned and bottled packaging.

Coca-Cola regularly explores new ways to offer more choices to customers.Grooving with consumers
The move forms part of Coke’s focus on innovation in their brand strategy as the company constantly looks at industry trends and explores new ways to offer more choices to customers, Sue Lynne Cha, VP of Marketing at Coca-Cola, told USA TODAY.

Coca-Cola’s research found an “increase in consumer willingness to try a spiced beverage,” and raspberry was selected more than 5 million times on its Freestyle drink machines in 2022, which the company “often uses for inspiration” for new flavors, Cha told CNN.

The company has been innovating to pique the interest of consumers, with a string of flavors launched over the years.

Besides Coca-Cola Spiced, Coca-Cola also unveiled a limited edition flavor on TikTok called “Coca-Cola Happy Tears Zero Sugar” to “celebrate acts of kindness,” which can only be purchased on the social media platform. 

In 2022, the company launched “Coca-Cola Creations,” comprising various limited edition flavors. Dreamworld and Byte were released with celebrity sponsors, such as Marshmello and Spanish singer and songwriter Rosalía.

It also appealed to music lovers by creating Coca‑Cola Move in collaboration with various artists that mixed the familiar Coca‑Cola taste with bold and delicate flavors.

Coca‑Cola Y3000 was another product co-created with AI to help bring the “flavor of tomorrow” to consumers, where humanity and technology are more connected than ever.

Last year, the company co-created Coca‑Cola Y3000 with AI to give consumers the “flavor of tomorrow" (Image credit: The Coca-Cola Company).Catering to gamers, it also launched Coca‑Cola Ultimate, made in co-creation with Riot Games, that combined the recognizable Coca‑Cola taste with the “electrifying taste of +XP.”

Revenue updates
As per Coca-Cola’s third-quarter 2023 results, net revenues grew 8% to US$12.0 billion and organic revenues (non-GAAP) grew 11%.

Earnings per share (EPS) were up 9% to US$0.71 and comparable EPS (non-GAAP) grew 7% to US$0.74.

The unit case volume rose by 2% for the quarter. Developed markets saw a 2% growth driven by growth in Mexico and Japan. Developing and emerging markets increased by 2%, driven by growth in India and the Philippines.

In the EMEA, unit case volume declined 1%, as growth in water, sports, coffee and tea was more than offset by declines in other beverage categories. Suspension of business in Russia and a decline in Pakistan were cited as the reason behind the decline.

Meanwhile, the company has been scaling packaging innovations to move toward a circular economy with the launch of 100% recycled plastic bottles across its soft drinks’ portfolio in Ireland and Northern Ireland last year. Last week, it announced stripping all labels from Sprite bottles in the UK as part of a trial to simplify recycling processes and reduce packaging materials.

By Insha Naureen