Coca-Cola is going back to its roots with two new artisanal sodas. Coca-Cola Georgia Peach and Coca-Cola California Raspberry hit grocery stores, restaurants and bars across the country this week.
Although the Atlanta-based brand has been moving away from full sugar beverages with recent rebranding efforts such as Coke Zero Sugar, the specialty sodas mark the company's effort to get a piece of the popular craft soda segment. It is the brand's first flavor innovation since Vanilla Coke hit the market in 2002.
“Specialty sodas are particularly appealing to people who enjoy discovering crafted flavors and who have a desire to try curated food and beverage experiences,” said Lillian Norton, senior brand manager, Coca-Cola Innovation in a statement. "We see an opportunity to make more of a full portfolio play in this space with these new locally inspired flavors."
Coca-Cola executives describe the new sodas as a modern twist on the old days when Coca-Cola was mixed and poured by hand at soda shops. Soda shop servers would experiment by mixing in flavors like popular cherry or vanilla flavors or flavors like peach and maple syrup which appealed to consumers in local or regional markets. Those experiments faded in 1932 when fountain dispensers arrived on the scene and automated the process of mixing the syrup and carbonated water.
In taste tests, more than 9,000 consumers sipped 30 mostly fruit-inspired flavors of Coca-Cola. Georgia Peach and California Raspberry were the top choices.
The flavors were quietly rolled out this week with low-key marketing which included a collaboration with artists in Atlanta and California.
In Atlanta, muralist Greg Mike and Trish Andersen, known for tufting, are creating works inspired by their hometowns and the flavor of a Georgia peach.
Andersen said she was inspired by both the flavors of the new soda and memories of her hometown of Dalton, "the carpet capital of the world."
“I felt a hand tufted yarn piece was the perfect medium to honor where I am from. I hope that the piece will inspire others to go out and capture what inspires them about Georgia,” said Andersen, a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
The piece, which was unveiled at SCAD Atlanta features the iconic shape of the Coca-Cola bottle with an abstraction of a peacock feather motif that commonly found on chenille bedspreads created in North Georgia and sold up and down US 41 or "Peacock Alley” as it is known.
Coca-Cola executives hope the new flavors will grow organically, as did Coca-Cola Mexico which has had solid growth since the company began importing it to the U.S. in 2006, said Norton. “So we’re being purposeful in deciding how to launch these new products, keeping in mind the importance of allowing consumers the opportunity to discover the new products for themselves, and making that discovery process part of their own personal narrative."
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