The New Coke Zero

Coca-Cola announced last week that it would be discontinuing Coke Zero, and replacing it with Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.  This might not sound like a big deal, but it could be, depending on what this new version actually tastes like. 

Last year I was diagnosed with diabetes, so this guy who basically lived on Coca-Cola had to make some changes.  I cut down considerably, quit completely for several months, then looked for alternatives.  I have always hated diet soda and still do, so I had turned to Coke Zero.  I couldn't stand that either, as it was even more bitter to my tastebuds than the diet variations.

There were tricks I learned however.  Let the ice melt a bit so the water diluted it.  Putting a piece of red licorice in the bottle would sweeten and fight the bitter.  For the most part however I watched my sugar, leaned toward cleaner sodas, and kept real Coca-Cola as an occasional treat. 

But that's me.  The concern in the corporate level seems to be that folks were never actually sure what Coke Zero was.  One could assume, as I did, with the black packaging and the bitter taste, it might even be some carbonated coffee variation on Coke.  It wasn't.  But it also wasn't clicking well in US markets in the last decade or so.

The replacement, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, which has been very successful in markets elsewhere in the world, is said to be closer in taste to original formula Coca-Cola, and as the name implies, with zero sugar.  Clarity in the product name was also on the company's agenda, so that's a plus. 

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, packaged in black but with considerably more red, will be coming to the States in August, so we'll see how much it tastes as hyped then.  In the meantime, if you are a fan of Coke Zero, you'd better stock up, because the plug has been pulled.  Drink up. 

The Big Contour

The change has been gradual over a couple months but now it's fairly complete and I defy you to find the old-style two-liter bottles of Coca-Cola anywhere. In my opinion, this is a bad thing.

The 'contour bottle' (tm) has long been a trademark of the Coca-Cola, for over ninety years as a matter of fact. Whether they ever trademarked it or not, the instantly recognizable package can not be mistaken for anything but Coke. They currently use it for all sizes of their plastic bottled containers - most recently as its two-liter size.

Coca-Cola claims it "offers a significant advantage for consumers beyond its classic good looks -- it is also easier to hold and easier to pour." I must disagree. Among the problems of this new bottle is the much smaller lip under the cap that makes it harder to grip than previously. The contour bottle is only easy to hold when one can grasp it with one hand, in my opinion, and that's just not possible with the two-liter version.

My main gripe with the new two-liter contour is that it is almost one to two inches taller than the old standard bottle used for soft drinks. This makes it impossible to store vertically in my fridge, and I imagine, most refrigerators. It's also too tall to fit in the fridge door.

It's my hope that Coke will go back to the standard bottle, or at least give consumers a choice. After all, they have corrected mistakes before. Remember New Coke? Bottom line, I love Coke, and I prefer Coke, but I don't mind Pepsi... and Pepsi will fit in my refrigerator door...


.

SyFy

Soon, very soon, the SciFi Channel will become SyFy. Not only the logo, the taglines and paychecks, but the URL for the website as well. They mean business.

The folks at the network want to make more money, and apparently you can't copyright or trademark the generic word 'scifi,' a term coincidentally originally coined by the late great Forrest J. Ackerman. So they have gone with the sound-a-like SyFy, and now they can make full and sole profits on SyFy t-shirts, thermoses and anything else they can think of. Here's the official press release.

Thanks be to marketing. If only Forrey had thought of that one all those years ago. Hmmm, maybe the new slogan should be "Imagine Greater... Profit..."