Less sugar in Coca Cola. This is the main revolution to come for the world's most famous brand of carbonated drinks, which already produces the sugar-free “Zero” model but who now wants to moderate the sugars even in normal cans, which moreover – as well as the bottles – will have smaller formats in the future. Another novelty: a red stamp on the logo to further mark and identify a brand known all over the world.
On February 9, the world giant in the soft drinks and beverages sector will communicate the balance sheet data to the market and analysts, but the wait for weeks is above all for the plan that it will have to lead over the next three years a group with a turnover of over 41 billion euros. The goal is to make ends meet, improving the margins of a business that has experienced an erosion of earnings and a decline in revenues in recent years. "The project - explains Marcos de Quinto, executive vice president who oversees all marketing activities of the Coca Cola Company - provides for the reorganization of the brands Coca Cola, Coca Cola Life, Coca Cola Zero, Coca Cola light, hitherto structured as business units distinct and autonomous”.
The new plan will transfer everything under the umbrella of the Coca Cola brand, which will then be declined in various variants sweetened with or without sugar. Practically, each bottle or can will have the same design and style, featuring a red stamp. What may appear to be just a new detail will have to translate into efficiencies and savings. In fact, a small bottle of sugar-based Coca Cola will cost over 10% more than the same drink with sweeteners.
Not a negligible difference for a group that buys sugar to sweeten about two billion soft drinks a year. The other leg on which the plan rests concerns the bottling activities in countries such as the United States, China, Japan and some African countries, where Coca Cola still produces directly. The group is switching hands in favor of local operators to definitively focus on brand management, development and marketing. Less sugar and diet on the bottling front should ensure savings of around 1,5 billion euros.
