Despite what seemed to be a saturation campaign by Coca-Cola, sales of the new diet drink Coke Zero have failed to live up to expectations. The soda, which was supposed to be appealing to a masculine audience by way of the black and white color scheme and lack of the word "diet", accounts for less than one percent of the market to date.
What caught my eye was how succinctly analyst Bill Pecoriello put his finger on the main problem. He states the ads, created by the tremendously successful agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky, don't get the benefits of the product across. That goal, at least in my experience, is one that's pretty important but has never really been a focus of CP&B's campaigns. They're more interested it seems in creating buzz than communicating to the audience why they should buy their clients' products.
1. I agree. I saw the ads and my thought was, "Don't they already HAVE a diet version?" And I proceeded to ignore the product for weeks until I got a free coupon for one. It made sense then, as it taste almost exactly like regular Coke. Why they don't make his more clear is beyond me. Although I won't go near the stuff now, since I hate regular Coke.
Posted at 9:19AM on Aug 12th 2005 by CJ