Coke will attempt to win media attention in the Big Apple tonight by sampling the product at street intersections where the so-called Manhattanhenge sunset can be viewed.
Trade magazine Beverage Digest reported this morning that Coke is sending media kits to influencers that “plays with the notion of ‘Old Coca-Cola Zero Sugar’ versus ‘New Coca-Cola Zero Sugar,’ perhaps harkening back to the New Coke saga of 1985.”
The “The Best Coke Ever?” line also seems aimed at trying to stir conversation on social media, while representing a change in tactic in how the no-sugar, zero-calorie variety is compared with full-calorie regular Coke.
“While Coke Zero Sugar marketing has long focused on the brand’s quest to taste just like regular Coke Classic, the new campaign appears to amusingly pit the two brands against each other,” Beverage Digest observed.
Coke Zero Sugar grew sales volume by 5% last year (while regular Coke dropped 4%), according to Beverage Digest. Coke Zero remains much larger than Pepsi Zero Sugar, but Pepsi’s variety is making gains, with sales up nearly 24% last year, according to Beverage Digest.
Coke’s branding update comes four years after it renamed Coke Zero to Coke Zero Sugar in an attempt to more clearly communicate that the variety does not have sugar. That move was also accompanied by a design and formula tweaks.