Coca-Cola Cherry Zero: Branding Strategy and Market Analysis Report

This report investigates the branding strategy of Coca-Cola's new product, Coca-Cola Cherry Zero. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the report's aim to analyze the product's branding, marketing strategies, and its reception in the market. The report provides a detailed analysis of the different components of Coca-Cola, including its history and evolution. It then focuses on the launch of Coca-Cola Cherry Zero, describing its features and the target audience. The core of the report examines the branding strategy employed for the new product, including the shift towards a 'zero sugar' positioning and its implications for the brand's image. It assesses how Coca-Cola aims to maintain and manage the brand in a health-conscious market, considering the marketing campaigns, packaging changes, and consumer behavior. The report concludes that the company is likely to succeed by introducing a no-sugar version of the popular drink at a time when health concerns are paramount, with proper branding and marketing. The analysis includes figures illustrating the product, its tagline, and design elements to support the analysis. The report uses references to support the arguments and findings about the product and its branding strategies.

Running head: BRAND ESSENTIALS
BRAND ESSENTIALS
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
The aim of this report was to investigate the new branding strategy of the newly launched
product of the Coca-Cola Company named Coca Cola Cherry Zero. For this purpose a thorough
survey was conducted analysing the differences between the new product and the existing ones.
The results indicate that the company has taken the right step by introducing the no sugar coke at
a time when the society is growing health conscious. The report concludes that with proper
branding and marketing strategy the new launch of the company will be a success in the market.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Analysis:..........................................................................................................................................3
Description and identification of the different components of Coca-Cola:.................................3
A new product launched by the brand of Coca-Cola:..................................................................5
An explanation and justification of the proposed branding strategy for the new product:..........7
An assessment of how the organization can maintain and manage the brand:............................9
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................11
Reference:......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction:
Among the many persisting soda and soft drinks companies, Coca-Cola is one of the
oldest of the lot. This report is going to focus on how the brand has constantly kept sharp eyes on
the changing marketing needs and introduced products accordingly. From the classic and basic
Coca-Cola the company has brought forward a lot of new innovative drinks, which even if not
entirely different from the basic product differ from it in this way or that. The report has focused
on the launch of the Coca Cola Cherry Zero by the brand which though same in taste as the
original coke does not contain any sugary ingredient and so is likely to be a success in the market
as the consumers’ are now health conscious and well aware the risks that sugar poses. The brand
has concentrated on this fact very carefully brought out the no sugar the drink. The report will
show the marketing and branding strategies that have been applied by Coca-Cola for the
promotion and success of its newly launched Coca Cola Cherry Zero.
Analysis:
Description and identification of the different components of Coca-Cola:
Coca-Cola happens to be the most famous and biggest selling brand of cold drinks all
across the globe. It is also one of the most well recognized brands around the world. The brand
was set up by Dr. John S. Pemberton in the year of 1886. The brand had its birth in Georgia,
Atlanta. After Pemberton’s death in 1888 Asa Candler, in the year of 1891 bought the formula of
Pemberton and established the company called Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola 2017). After he took hold
of the company, he had maintained a tight privacy check on the formulation of the drink, unlike
Pemberton who had shared the formula of the drink with at least a number of four people before

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his death. The formula is also known to be changed by a number of components by Candler,
which has reportedly enhanced the taste of the drink. However, in the year 1919 a group of
depositors led by Ernest Woodruff purchased the company from Candler. The new owner of the
company too kept the formula in secret but in the year of 2011 and on the month of December
the vault containing the formula was placed on the grounds of the World of Coca-Cola situated
in Atlanta where it has been left since then in the open view of the public (Coca-Cola 2017).
In the late nineteenth century, Coca-Cola was considered to be one of the many famous
cola based drinks, which supposedly had medical qualities. It was believed that coca-cola helped
to cure headaches and also worked as a tonic good for nerves and brain (Walker, Dumke and
Goran 2014). The use of coca leaves and the little amount of cocaine that the leaves contained
gave the drink its quality of a tonic. However, in the year 1903 the cocaine portion being
removed, all the medically helpful claims associated with the product were lost (Iwamuro et al.
2014). However, according to some reports the extracts of coca leaves are still a part of the
formulation of the drink, though the cocaine portions are removed chemically (De Chematony
2010). The company however has neither accepted nor denied the claims of coca leaves being
present in the drink thus maintaining the ambiguity of the formula. In the year 1911, the
company was sued by the US Government on the accusation that it had violated the Pure Food
and Drugs Act as the high amount of caffeine that the drink contained was extremely harmful for
health. The case went in the favor of Coca-Cola but there was a need for a settlement and as a
part of that, the company decided to decrease the amount of caffeine in the drink (Keller,
Parameswaran and Jacob 2011).
The transporting of the components of the drink is strictly kept under wraps in order to
keep the secrecy of the formulation intact. The components are marked as numbers from one to

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nine. Number one is known to be sugar not in its original form but in the form of sucrose. Item
number two is known to be coloring of caramel, number three happens to be caffeine. Materials
marked from number nine to five are kept in strict secret and the merchandise of those boxes is
of a pretty much debatable issue. The material that is marked as 7X is supposedly legendary, as
the X has never been revealed. However, it is thought that the X consists of a mixture of oils of
lime, orange and lemon (Coca-Cola 2017).
A new product launched by the brand of Coca-Cola:
Coca-Cola being one of the oldest soft drinks brands is constantly experimenting with
new flavors and bringing out new products with changes in the basic components. One such
product is the Coca-Cola Cherry. It has been launched in the month of June of this year in
Australia. It is the brand new launch by the company and the product is designed for the
children. This product had been under development for almost five years in the brand
headquarters in the US. This new product, Coca-Cola Cherry Zero has been crafted in a way to
make it taste like even more the original drink but \it has comparatively less sugary portion (De
Chematony 2010).
The launch of this new product has been backed by the biggest investment by the brand
since the year of 2006. An integrated marketing strategy has been applied in the promotion of the
new product. The company authorities have stated that the new product is the result of a long
term experiment on the components of the drink. They are also hopeful that the Australian
customer base will enjoy this new Coca-Cola as the customers are now not only concerned about
the taste but also the amount of sugar they are in taking (Johansson and Carlson 2014).

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The new product will be given out free of cost in the purpose of trialing it. Almost two
millions of free samples of the new product will be given out free on a period of almost two
months. Following its triumphant debut in Mexico, this new product has been launched in the
Australian market, which happens to be one among the first ever markets to launch Coca-Cola
Cherry (Coca-Cola 2017).
Figure 1: The new Coca Cola Cherry
(Source: Coca-Cola 2017).
The brand of Coca-Cola has come up with new tag lines for the promotion of its newly launched
product and the lines have become the inseparable part of the product itself.

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Figure 2: An illustration of an image that is inclusive of the new product
(Source: Coca-Cola 2017).
An explanation and justification of the proposed branding strategy for the new product:
The company of Coca-Cola has with the launch of its new product Coca-Cola Cherry,
adapted a number of strategies to make the newly launched product a success. The company is
going to take Coca Cola Cherry off the racks in order to make space for Coca Cola Cherry Zero
(Keller, Parameswaran and Jacob 2011) The difference between the two products is quite
difficult to determine because apparently to seems to be only a hype and an overhaul of
branding.
The list of ingredients for both of the cokes has remained more or less the same.
Aspartame had been used as the sweetener for Coca Cola Cherry. When asked about the
differentiation in the formula a spokesman on the part of the company had stated that the

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blending of the flavors had been altered so that the new cola tastes more good for the children
(Falbe et al. 2015). She also pointed out that the natural composition of the flavor has also been
changed. The change in the packaging inevitably offers a change in the taste (Walkowicz,
Lammert and Curran 2012).
However, no matter what the officials claim about the changes it is more about the
marketing than it is about the drink. The company has consciously put ‘Cherry Zero in the name
of the newly launched product in spite of just keeping it to ‘zero’ so that the non-containing of
sugar of the product can be highlighted (Kapferer 2012). This has its roots in the fact that in
recent years a lot have been exposed pointing out the relation between and sugar and obesity
(Peters 2015).This news has been proven to be quite threatening to the soft drink industry and
Coca-Cola being quite an old company has taken the right measures. This shift in the branding
will also save the company from the blow of taxes that government befalls on the sugary drinks.
According to Duane Stanford, the new Coca Cola Cherry has the same ingredients as the
Coca Cola Cherry Zero. However, he agreed on the point that the change in the natural flavor
could bring about a change in the way the ingredients intermingle with each other; but that does
not imply that there is a completely new range of changes in the original product. Stanford
opined that rather than the change in the taste factor, the more important aspect to look at is that
the way the brand has stressed the non-existence of sugar in the new product as they know that
the parents of today’s generation are extremely conscious about their children and the amount of
sugar they intake (Pitta and Pitta 2012).
The new product that has hit the stores in the month of August has been marketed with a
number of significant strategies. Before the product hit the stores, a series of campaigns

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including virtual ones had been conducted from the month of September to the month of
December. The tour of giving out free samples of the new drink was also conducted during that
time.
The evolution of the cola drink came at a point of time when the previous launch of the
Coca-Cola brand, Coca Cola Cherry was running a successful run (Strom 2012).The company
decided that it was the right time to give the brand another boost and thus they came up with this
new product (Johansson and Carlson 2014). The introduction of Coca Cola Cherry Zero came
after it has already spread its business in twenty-five markets across the globe.
There are certain differences in designs of Coca Cola Cherry and Coca Cola Cherry Zero.
While the design of the former was more based on red, the design of the later is more inclined on
the color red. The new design looks more alike the basic design of the classic Coke (Elmore
2014). This is part of the strategic technique named ‘one brand’ that was introduced by Coca-
Cola in the month of January of the year 2016 (Schemhammer et al. 2012). The aim of this
designing strategy is to give the feeling of a single brand no matter by what name the consumers
buy the drink; it is to give the consumers a feelings that it is the different amount of sugar they
are in taking but the refreshment that the drinks offer come from the same brand (Keller,
Parameswaran and Jacob 2011).
An assessment of how the organization can maintain and manage the brand:
The main strategy that Coca-Cola is going to use so that its new launch Coca cola Cherry
Zero in the market is its harmful effect of sugar which affects the appetite of the children . With
growing time, people are becoming more and more health conscious (Kaiser et al. 2013). With
the growing awareness around what arms can be caused by sugar every conscious parents wants

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a good diet for their children (Johansson and Carlson 2014). At a stage like this, the introduction
of the Coca Cola Cherry Sugar is bound to work out as it successfully brings the consumers what
they want. Moreover, on the marketing front, the company has given the product such a name
that is hard enough to miss the point that it will not affect the children (Tothova et al. 2013). The
main aim of the launch being drawing public attention on its sugar content and tastes which the
company of Coca-Cola has made a successful move with the name of the new product.
They have also launched a campaign called ‘one brand’ which is a brand strategy that is
global and aims at bounding its entire worldwide market with its base color red that is going to
act as the trademark color (Hemman et al. 2012). The red colored disc is now going to appear on
each product launched by the brand, giving the consumers the feeling that it is simply the amount
of sugar that is different but otherwise, the mother brand happens to be the same. This strategy
will simultaneously boost the brand Coca-Cola as well as its new launch (Urde and Greyser
2016).
Another strategy that has been adapted by the company is the changing of its tag line.
The tag line that used to be ‘Open Happiness’ has now been changed to ‘Taste the Feeling’
(Monllos and Monllos 2017)This change is also made to not only boost the growth of only
Coke Zero Sugar but also the other products of the brand, as the tag line gives a feeling of
cohesion amid the main brand. ‘Open Happiness’ being too philosophical has now been replaced
by ‘Taste the Feeling’ as it is more relatable to a drink. It emphasizes on the taste of the product,
giving a distinct feeling of the taste that is supposed to feel like happiness (Andini and
Simatupang 2014).

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However, the key strategy for making the new product survive in the market is obviously
the lesser health hazards that the product offers because of its cutting sugar completely off from
its ingredients (Ladas et al. 2013). The main brand has carefully devised promoting tactics that
has focused on the no sugar content of the new launched product. The ads and the virtual
campaigns have proved to be a vital step in the marketing strategy for Coca Cola Cherry Zero, as
the ads have reportedly induced a rise in the sale of the product.
Conclusion:
It can be said in the conclusion that Coca-Cola being an age-old brand has rightly applied
the strategies that help to make one product successful in the market. From stressing on the main
positive quality of the launch of the Coca Cola Cherry Zero ‘One Brand’ strategy, the company
seems to be doing everything right in order to make its launches successful. Focusing on the
changing wishes of the customers the brand has successfully kept up its name and invented new
products accordingly.