Who: Coca-Cola European Partners
What: Diet Coke Exotic Mango
Where: Carbonated soft drinks
How much: £1/1.25l
Why: January saw Diet Coke’s biggest shakeup in 35 years, as shoppers in the US were served a “bold” redesign and new flavours. It came amid a Stateside sales decline for the brand and for light and zero-calorie sodas in general. Just one month later, two new Diet Coke variants, Exotic Mango and Feisty Cherry, began to appear on UK supermarket shelves, with a fresh look and a £10m media investment. It was the first time since 2003 the brand had introduced new flavours.
Consumer verdict: A new Diet Coke flavour was intriguing to our shoppers - many of whom were excited to try it. Upon sampling, some were less enthusiastic but the drink nevertheless scored above the norm on all key measures except for aftertaste. Our consumers praised the “lovely fresh flavour”, the “nice hint of mango” and “nice” smell. However, some disliked the “strange” soda, saying it was a “wrong combination” of flavours and thought it contained “too much sweetener”.
Pre-trial purchase: 54%
Post-trial purchase: 56%
Better than what’s out there: 54%
New and different: 87%
Overall score: 41/50
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