Orange vanilla coke is the newest flavor to be added to Coca-Cola’s line up and it’s the first time the beverage giant has added a new flavor in over a decade.
The new tasted was debuted in February and both Orange Vanilla Coke and Orange Vanilla Coke Zero were added to the Coca-Cola trademark.
The two beverages will hit stores across the nation on February 25th in a range of packaging options. Orange Vanilla Coke will be sold in both 12-ounce cans and 20-ounce bottles but the cans will only be available through May.
Kate Carpenter, brand director, Coca-Cola, remarked, “What we realized is that we had a diamond in the rough when we looked at our flavors portfolio. The growth of Cherry Coke and Vanilla Coke – and their zero-calorie variants – has been really strong in recent years even with very limited marketing support.”
It’s been over a decade since the Atlanta-based company launched a new taste so this is pretty exciting. A long with the new tastes, the company is also launching new packaging for other flavors such as Vanilla and Cherry.
Carpenter told Business Insider, “We had not touched our flavors from an innovation standpoint point — or really a messaging or marketing standpoint — for a really long time. But, despite that, our flavor portfolio was growing.”
Carpenter had said that retail sales of flavored Coca-Cola beverages grew 2% through the third quarter.
According to Business Insider taste testers, Coca-Cola’s new flavor was better than expected and is described as a sweet, Creamsicle-esque cola that has notes of Fanta.
“We wanted to bring back positive memories of carefree summer days,” Carpenter explained. “That’s why we leaned into the orange-vanilla flavor combination – which is reminiscent of the creamy orange popsicles we grew up loving, but in a classically Coke way.”
There will be a full marketing campaign launching in the coming weeks that will support the launch across TV, social, digital, outdoor, mobile, radio and experiential.
The two beverages will also be seen on the ground around NCAA March Madness next month. “Our brief for the campaign was to have fun with flavors,” Carpenter said. “We think this work brings to life the Coca-Cola personality in a playful, unexpected way.”
