Press Release–Grocery

STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 ON 5TH JULY 2016

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar launches with £10 million campaign to encourage more people to choose no sugar

  • New and improved Coca-Cola Zero Sugar ‘tastes more like Coke and looks more like Coke’
  • Biggest marketing investment in a new product launch from Coca-Cola Great Britain in a decade
  • More than 4 million samples of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar to be given away across the UK this summer
  • New TVC, OOH advertising, experiential and in store promotional activity to support the launch

5 July 2016: Coca-Cola Great Britain has launched its biggest new product campaign in a decade as Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, the new and improved sugar free Coca-Cola, hits shelves across the UK. The new recipe tastes even more like the original Coca-Cola Classic, but without sugar and is supported by a multi-million-pound marketing campaign.

The launch, announced in April, is the latest in a number of actions taken by Coca-Cola Great Britain to help people reduce their sugar consumption. It marks the next step in the Company’s strategy as it moves from offering choice to shaping choice – which means actively encouraging more people, including Coca-Cola Classic drinkers, to choose a no sugar option. It is the latest action to result from the company’s £30 million reformulation and new product development programme.

The new campaign purposefully plays to the familiar elements people love about Coca-Cola to encourage Coca-Cola Classic drinkers and new consumers to try Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. All marketing activity, from advertising to experiential, is focused on making consumers reconsider their view of sugar free soft drinks and try the new product.

Commenting on the launch of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Leendert Den Hollander, General Manager at Coca-ColaEuropean Partnerssaid: “We know that millions of people across the UK love the taste of Coca-Cola Classic so we’re excited to unveil the new Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. We already offer a number of great tasting drinks with no sugar but with Coca-Cola Zero Sugar we’ve spent years developing this new recipe to get even closer to the taste of Coca-Cola Classic without the sugar. That’s important because we know a growing number of people want to reduce their sugar intake but have been reluctant to try a no sugar option because they don’t think they taste as good as the original. As well as ensuring it tastes great we’re putting our biggest marketing investment in a decade behind this launch and throughout the summer we’ll be encouraging people to choose no sugar.”

The creative

The creative for the TVC and OOH is inspired by the feelings enjoying a Coca-Cola evokes; from the sound when you open a bottle or can, the sensation of the bubbles, the unrivalled flavour and the feeling of happiness and fun. On air from 7 July, the TV advert ends with the ‘surprise’ that there is no sugar in the drink, dramatising the great taste of Coca Cola Zero Sugar. New out of home advertising across the UK will feature the new packaging design and use similar emotive images and language to drive home the message that Coca-Cola Zero Sugar “Tastes more like Coke, looks more like Coke”.

New look

In addition to the new recipe and taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar will have a new look in line with the company’s One Brand marketing strategy. The new design incorporates the Coca-Cola red disc which has become a signature element of the brand, synonymous with great taste. The new identity will run across the entire range.

Raising awareness

As part of the launch moment, Coca-Cola is also opening the Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Taste Lounge in Central London for three days this weekend. The pop-up experience will offer fans the opportunity to experience Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in a sensory experience specially designed as the perfect setting to enjoy the new drink. A series of zones designed to ignite the senses; from the stunning halo effect bar, to a refreshing soundscape reflecting the unique sounds of the perfect serve of Coke and a series of spectacular visual displays depicting the bubbles and liquid that combine to create the iconic Coke experience.

The pop-up bar is one element of an intensive communications and media relations campaign across the summer.
Encouraging trial

To encourage consumers to try Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, the business will deliver its biggest ever experiential campaign and give away more than four million drinks over the summer. At the heart of the campaign will be an experience featuring a five metre tall replica of the iconic Coca-Cola Zero Sugar contour bottle which will tour the UK this summer as part of a national sampling programme. In London, people will be able to try the new soft drink at events including Coca-Cola sponsored screenings as part of the Barclaycard Presents British Summer Time in Hyde Park and a pop up ‘Coca-Cola Zero Sugar photo booth’ at Camden Beach Bar. People will be encouraged to join the interactive experiences by creating and sharing personalised moving content at the events, and participate in the #TasteTheFeeling conversation across social channels.

In store, consumers will be encouraged to try Coca-Cola Zero Sugar through promotional and sampling activity.

Reducing Sugar

The launch of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is the latest action from Coca-Cola Great Britain to promote moderation and choice and help people reduce their sugar and calorie intake. As a result of moves by manufacturers to change recipes, introduce smaller packs and invest more in marketing no sugar options, soft drinks is the only food and drink category from which the sugar purchased by British households is decreasing – now by 16 per cent in the last five years. Actions taken by CCGB include:

  • Reformulation – developing new, lower and no sugar recipes like Coca-Cola Life and Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar. This work began more than 30 years ago with the launch of no sugar Diet Coke, since then CCGB has reduced the sugar and calorie content of many of its brands, including Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Oasis, Lilt and Schweppes Lemonade (by at least 30 per cent for each drink). In May, a new recipe for Coca‑Cola Life, with 45 per cent less sugar than regular colas, launched in stores across Great Britain
  • Offering smaller portions – the 250ml can of Coca-Cola is already available in more than 13,000 stores nationwide with distribution increasing.
  • Promoting clear information – all of CCGB’s bottles and cans display the Government’s voluntary colour-coded nutrition labels on the front. CCGB remains one of a handful of major manufacturers to have adopted this new labelling scheme.
  • Marketing – under its new global One Brand strategy launched in January this year, CCGB continues to invest more of its marketing budget in the lower and no sugar variants of Coca-Cola. Currently, 43 per cent of Coca-Cola sold in the UK is lower or no sugar and the new marketing strategy is designed to increase this figure to more than 50 per cent by 2020.

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Jessica Dingley | 0121 314 9458 |

About Coca-Cola European Partners:

Coca-Cola European Partners is the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler. CCEP is the sole licensed bottler for products of The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) in Andorra, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Luxemburg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

In Great Britain (GB) we employ some 4,000 people across England, Scotland and Wales at manufacturing sites, offices and depots. We are committed to minimising the environmental impact of its products and operations, with a particular focus on sustainable packaging, water stewardship, and energy and climate protection.

We make sell and deliver the following products in GB for The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC): Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Coca-Cola Life, Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Schweppes, Schweppes Abbey Well, glacéau, Powerade, Oasis and 5 Alive. In GB we also make, sell or deliver Monster, Relentless, Appletiser and Capri-Sun.

“Coca-Cola” is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company.