Coke testing new mid-calorie cola - report

Reuters, 01.23.04, 4:10 PM ET

By Paul Simao

http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/n...rtr1225042.html

ATLANTA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co. (nyse: KO - news - people), struggling to boost soft drink sales among an increasingly health-conscious North American market, is testing a new mid-calorie version of its flagship cola brand, a leading beverage industry newsletter reported on Friday.

The world's largest soft drink maker has been testing the product, which would have about half of the calories of its Coke Classic product, said John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest. An 8-ounce serving of Coke Classic has 100 calories.

Coca-Cola would not confirm or deny the report, but the Atlanta-based company noted that it was continuing to develop a number of new products in various markets.

"Innovation is at the heart of everything we're doing at Coke and we're always looking for ways to strengthen and expand the franchise and we're developing a broad range of products," Coca-Cola spokeswoman Sonya Soutus said.

The possible launch of the mid-calorie cola would come at a time when Coca-Cola is working feverishly to revitalize sluggish soft drink sales in North America, the company's largest and most important market.

In 2002, the company introduced a vanilla-flavored cola drink, which proved to be a success with consumers and helped boost sales in key markets. A diet version of Vanilla Coke followed soon after.

In addition to its new Vanilla Coke brands, Coca-Cola has unveiled lime and lemon-flavored versions of its Diet Coke brand, the third most popular soft drink in the United States.

Although the introduction of a mid-calorie cola appears to make sense in a market where low-carbohydrate diets have become the rage, Coca-Cola must ensure that this potential new product does not cut into sales of Coke Classic and Diet Coke.

"Possible cannibalization of either the regular or the diet brand is a risk, but one that can be overcome with careful positioning," said Sicher. He added that Coca-Cola's rival PepsiCo. Inc. (nyse: PEP - news - people) might be considering a mid-calorie cola of its own.

Shares of Coca-Cola rose 71 cents, or 1.44 percent, to close at $50.04, and PepsiCo edged up 1 cent to $46.55, both on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Although the introduction of a mid-calorie cola appears to make sense in a market where low-carbohydrate diets have become the rage, Coca-Cola must ensure that this potential new product does not cut into sales of Coke Classic and Diet Coke.
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Hmm .. so what is it they want? All new people who buy neither Coke nor diet Coke now?

Personally i don't care for Coke much. It smells like pine to me and tastes sort of flat and too sweet. i LOVE Pepsi though and that was the last truly high carb addiction i kicked when i found that i enjoyed diet A&W.

Diet A&W rocks. But if you are not a low carber, having a mid calorie coke is not a bad option. Pepsi max sure tastes better then diet pepsi. It had a third the calories.

I don't expect everyone to go low carb, but any reduction of sugar is progress.

Brobin

What in the world does "mid-calorie" actually mean? What will cause this product to have calories (or to have fewer calories)? If Diet Coke has less than one calorie, what's all the fuss? What else are they cutting? Will it still have the same number of carbs? When will they be sweetening with Splenda? I could go on forever, of course... I'm really interested to see the nutrition facts and ingredients list on this little venture of theirs.

I must admit, I'm not a huge cola fan (Coke or any other), so this may be a little biased. Give me a Diet Hansen's any day!

>>"What in the world does "mid-calorie" actually mean?"

It means there's some sugar, some artificial sweetener. It's a compromise for people who want to cut back on the sugar, but don't like the diet stuff.

Back in the mid-90s, Diet Coke and Pepsi here in Canada changed sweeteners from aspartame to a mixture of aspartame and acesulfame-K. It was a great moment in diet pop. It tastes *much* better (IMHO) than the American stuff. But before that, when the diet stuff was pretty nasty, I drank Pepsi Max. I guess it never took off in the US, but they still have it here. It was really good.

I wonder if they're planning to use Tagatose. I've heard some claims that certain Soft Drink manufacturers [Pepsi - they alreayd have a Diet Pepsi Slurpee with Tagatose and Splenda] were considering a reduced Calorie canned drink made with it and artificial sweeteners. Perhaps Coke beat them to it. If it is truly half the Calories, it would likely be pure Tagatose...as Tagatose has just under half the Calories of regular sugar. If they started offering something like that [a Diet Cola made with Tagatose] in restaurants I'd get it once in a while. Tagatose doesn't seem to cause me any trouble weight-loss wise, and because it is 0 GI, I don't count it as a net carb.