The Coca Cola Company, a world leader in beverage manufacturing, retail sales, distribution, and marketing, is ever expanding, their product line growing in markets that include soft drinks, bottled water, and juices, among other products.
For 100 years, the company has remained progressive, introducing new products that have become leaders in the beverage market. That trend continues in 2015, as the Coca Cola Company (“Coke”) moves forward on 2 more beverages that will soon become popular sellers worldwide, product names that should become familiar to consumers across the globe once these products reach store shelves in full force.
The Coca Cola Company Board of Directors member Bobby Kotick, along with the other 14 Board members, are moving forward with business plans for 2 beverages this year, much to the delight of consumers who have enjoyed early product previews.
Coca Cola Life is the company’s newest foray into the reduced calorie soft drink market. This latest Coke offering, sweetened with cane sugar and stevia leaf extract, is 60 calories per 8 ounce glass bottle, which is 35% less than other leading colas, which range from 90-100 calories. Other Coke products with the stevia leaf extract include Glaceau Vitaminwater Zero, Odwalla, and Honest Tea.
With its green label and distinctive Coke identification, Coca Cola Life debuted in an initial summer rollout across the U.S. southeast, and is now available nationwide. Life has already made its move into the international marketplace, being available in Great Britain, Argentina, Chile and Mexico.
The Coca Cola Company is making a major move in the organic juice brands market, making a minority investment in Suja.
Suja, a San Diego-based, organic cold-pressed juice brand company, is a company with great potential in the market, and now Coke will be a major player in their continued growth.
Having went from a small juice company with home delivery to being one of the nation’s leading organic juice brands in just 3 years, Suja was named Forbes #2 most promising company in 2015.
Suja has truly taken the market by storm, having sold over 40 million bottles of its organic juices thus far. Much of this success may be attributed to the High Pressure Processing system they utilize, groundbreaking technology that helps to preserve taste and maximum nutrition.
Suja currently features 3 handcrafted lines of organic juices: Suja Classic; Suja Elements; and Suja Essentials. Selling in 13,000 outlets nationwide, the company growth, with the Coca Cola investment, should explode exponentially as Suja will now be able to access new channels, nationally and internationally, that Coke will be able to provide.
In addition to the considerable boost Suja will now realize in marketing and distribution, they will also reap benefits in manufacturing. Suja can now leverage Coke’s procurement network and supply chain to source their materials (bottle caps, bottles, labels, etc.) at a lower cost. All these factors put together should help Suja break into and make a huge impact in the premium juice category, a still emerging industry that is seeing 15% growth on an annual basis.
In addition to the 2 major product moves, Coke is really stepping up their marketing campaign this year. The year 2015 marks the 100th Anniversary of the patent of the iconic Coca-Cola bottle, and the company is celebrating. Their year-long campaign includes a new music anthem, new advertising, and art exhibits in a series that include Norman Rockwell, Peter Blake, and Andy Warhol, with participation in over 130 countries.
The campaign, which got kicked off on Feb. 28, and running through Oct. 4 at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, features the exhibit “The Coca-Cola Bottle: An American Icon at 100”. A traveling art exhibit “The Coca-Cola Bottle Art Tour: Inspiring Pop Culture for 100 Years”, will travel over 62,000 miles through more than 15 countries around the world in 2015.
