The boost is the biggest investment Coca-Cola has made in the brand over the last five years: with Sprite well-positioned for strong market growth in light flavored carbonates and a portfolio that will completely escape the UK’s sugar tax.
Sprite is using a new bottle and brand re-design across the portfolio, retaining the green color it has used since 1961 while ‘up-weighting refreshment cues’ with lemon and lime imagery on all bottles and cans.
The new branding is now on shelves and is backed by a £3.3m marketing campaign across digital and print channels to target millennials.
“The campaign will communicate the brand’s natural flavor, no sugar message and over 400,000 consumers will have the opportunity to taste the new variant through in-store sampling.”
The UK’s soft drinks industry levy will kick in for brands with more than 5g sugar / 100ml. Sprite will completely escape the tax with 3.3g sugar / 100ml for the classic variant and 0g for No Sugar and Lemon Lime & Cucumber No Sugar.
Coca-Cola HBC – which primarily covers Eastern Europe - has also identified light, adult varieties as a trend: with recent introductions focusing on refreshment such as Coca-Cola Lime, Coca-Cola Zero Lemon, Sprite Cucumber and Schweppes Pomegranate.