Coke Zero move is a masterstroke

Coke Zero is being dressed to look like ‘The Real Thing’. But what about shopper confusion with Coke Classic? This doesn't necessarily matter, suggests Andrew Wardlaw, MMR’s Brand & insight Director.

Anyone who thought Coca-Cola was going to roll over and die in this age of media obsession with sugar and government intervention has been proved wrong.

The company has been driving reach of its no calorie alternatives and rebalancing its portfolio, innovating in healthier spaces with brands like ADEZ – a range of plant based and dairy free fruit smoothies. Oh, and it bought the Costa coffee chain for over $5bn. 

It’s also decided to bring the look of Coke Zero very much into line with Coke Classic. Gone is the masculine black livery except for a narrow band at the top of the can. But isn’t this madness – causing confusion for time pressed people simply wanting to locate their usual choice?

Mad or not, I see a lot of sense in Coke’s move and suggest that they’re now ahead of the curve in packaging design.

Here are three reasons why.

EASIER TO BUY

Brands must accept the reality that most shopping decisions are free of ‘cognitive intervention’. They are fast and intuitive. It follows that packaging for innovation and range extensions must chase this style of ‘mindless’ behaviour (Type 1 mental processing) in order to succeed.

I believe that Coke Zero’s new design will convert more and more occasional users into routine purchasers by minimising the disruptive influences that would otherwise cause them to stop and think. Coke Zero is now very much part of the brand’s wall of red.

The shopper response is set to move away from the slower Type 2 scenario: ‘which one do I want?’ to the faster Type 1 ‘any will do’. It will be Coke’s responsibility to face up ‘Zero Sugar’ to ensure that more and more decisions are healthier ones.

The fact is, red is the colour that most people around the world associate with Coke, yet until recently only one SKU in the range really carried this off. This move changes this. In the framework of Ehrenberg Bass, Coke’s distinctive presence has just received a big boost.

NORMALISING HEALTHY CHOICES

There is a tendency in food and beverage categories for healthier choices to be packaged in lighter colours. Larger manufacturers are often the worst offenders. 

However, Coke Zero’s new design must prompt other brands to rethink – and about time too - with massive gains towards nudging people towards healthier choices.

Various surveys suggest that people really want to make healthier choices, but what people claim and what they do are often poles apart. See global obesity forecasts if you need evidence. If we are to believe the psychologists, we’re wired for pleasure and reward in our purchasing, and so Coke’s packaging initiative is about reducing loss aversion. 

Put simply, the new Coke Zero design is much closer to The Real Thing and so people won’t feel like they’re losing out or making a compromise to the same extent as before.

CREATING BETTER EXPERIENCES

Sensory cues such as colour have an enormous impact on how we evaluate the consumption experience – whether it’s the colour of the actual food or drink, or the colour of the packaging that proceeds it. 

Coke Zero recently improved its recipe so that it tasted closer to The Real Thing. However, until now, that improvement has been undermined by being presented in a black can. Such sensory dissonance vs. Classic Coke’s red can will have impacted people’s perceived reality of the Coke Zero taste. In short, it could never emulate the original because it was primed differently.   

The new design will improve the sensory power of the new recipe because it is borrowing so much more of the Classic product’s associations. We know that in Western culture at least, the colour red signals pleasurable taste (which is why so many quick service restaurants use colour red in their branding.)

So in one design manoeuvre, Coke is driving up its iconic presence, nudging healthier choices and improving the perceived experience of the product.  What will Coca Cola do next I wonder?