Arguably the world’s most successful soda brand, Coca-Cola is adding a new permanent flavor to its lineup. It’s called ‘Spiced‘ and it blends Coke’s traditional taste with Raspberry and spiced flavors. It will be available in full-sugar and zero-sugar varieties and is expected to hit U.S & Canada shelves on February 19th.
Facing a ‘Spicy’ Challenge
Today’s consumer has given the soda industry a tough time. As noted in the Citrus County Chronicle, soda consumption has fallen 60% over the last 15 years. This generation is concerned about the nutritional value of high soda consumption. They reach for other options like water, juices, and other natural drinks. In 2022, there was a 3% growth in sparkling water and juice brand sales in North America, compared to Coke’s 1%.
Coke lost out to water, tea, coffee, and sports drinks in other regions.
There’s also more competition in the soda-verse. Other brands have introduced new flavors to attract today’s consumer. “Growth in sales of flavored sodas has generally outpaced cola for years, which is helped by a growing multicultural population,” said Duane Stanford of Beverage Digest.
“Spiced” is Not Random
It’s quite fascinating how Coke landed on its first permanent flavor in years. They discovered that raspberry was selected more than 5 million times on their Freestyle drink machines in 2022. Research also found an “increase in consumer willingness to try a spiced beverage”.
Sue Lynne Cha, Coke’s vice president of marketing for North America, told CNN, “[it’s] all about being on category trend and responsive to our consumer preferences. Consumers are looking for more bold flavors and more complex flavor profiles. That’s a trend we started to see in food, but also in beverage and we though that was a unique space for us to play in.”
Is Coco-Cola ‘Spiced’ the brand’s next big moment?