Despite the growing consumer demand for healthier beverage options, Coca-Cola is rolling out its new Sprite Cherry and Sprite Cherry Zero flavors in early 2017. The new flavor is meant to reinvigorate the soda category by offering consumers a twist on one of Coca-Cola's most popular brands.
The new Sprite Cherry flavor was chosen by consumers based on its popularity at the Coca-Cola-branded Freestyle soda fountains. These fountains are largely located at restaurants, movie theaters and convenience stores and they allow fans to blend their own custom soda creation from a choice of more than 150 different combinations. The data was collected based on what flavors proved most popular at these machines and the winning flavors resulted in the creation of Sprite Cherry and Sprite Cherry Zero.
The new Sprite flavor demonstrate how brands can use big data to determine what kinds of flavors consumers are looking for.
What's Driving This Trend
- Healthier Soda Alternatives
- The consumer demand for healthier beverage options presents an opportunity for the soda industry to develop and market sugar-free and low-calorie alternatives.
- Customized Soda Experiences
- The success of Coca-Cola's Freestyle soda fountains highlights the potential for the beverage industry to offer customizable drinks to consumers, based on their flavor preferences.
- Data-driven Product Development
- Coca-Cola's use of big data to identify popular flavors can inspire other companies across various industries to leverage customer data for product innovation and development.
Who This Affects Most
- Beverage Industry
- The launch of sugar-free cherry colas indicates an opportunity for the beverage industry to tap into the growing demand for healthier drink options.
- Restaurant Industry
- Restaurants can explore offering customizable soda options to enhance the dining experience and cater to the preferences of their customers.
- Data Analytics Industry
- The use of big data to identify consumer preferences in the soda industry presents an opportunity for the data analytics industry to assist businesses in leveraging customer data for product development.
