Faithful Diet Coke drinkers are in for a treat. Coca-Cola is launching four new flavors of the zero calorie soft drink, promised to satisfy both your taste buds and your waistlines.
The company just announced that the beloved diet drink will now come in Ginger Lime, Feisty Cherry, Zesty Blood Orange and Twisted Mango. The entire Diet Coke line is also getting a sleek new packaging makeover in the form of skinny 12-ounce cans with colored labels corresponding to the flavor.
The change comes as the behemoth soft drink company plans to target the more health-conscious millennial. “Millennials are now thirstier than ever for adventures and new experiences, and we want to be right by their side,” Rafael Acevedo, Coca-Cola North America’s group director for Diet Coke, said in a statement. “We’re contemporizing the Diet Coke brand and portfolio with sleek packaging and new flavors that are appealing to new audiences.”
The rebranding of Diet Coke comes at a convenient time, since overall sales of soft drinks have been dropping consecutively for the past 11 years. However, there have been some exceptions thanks to the power of marketing. Sprite generated massive press with a large-scale hip hop-inspired campaign where famous rap lyrics were featured on their cans. The (non-diet) Coke-backed campaign “Share a Coke,” which offers customizable names on bottles, boosted sales in 2014, according to Beverage Digest. Other campaigns, like Kendall Jenner's Pepsi commercial PR nightmare, have been unsuccessful in reeling in millennial customers.
Still, the reality remains that consumers have become more aware of the health risks of persistent soda drinking and aren't really interested in racking up the sugar and calories that come with them. Evidently, Coca-Cola believes they can strategically use this trend to their benefit.
The new Diet Coke flavors are slated to hit stores shelves nationally later this month.
