THE COCA-COLA COMPANY
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Summary
Following an unprecedented year for soft drinks in 2018, momentum behind
Continued support for our core range, combined with investment in brand diversification and high profile marketing campaigns and partnerships including our
2019 Diversification
Last year we took
Helping to drive value growth over volume, we have seen some shoppers switch to a wider variety of packs including smaller formats like our Coke Icon glass bottle multipacks - currently up by 22.4%[7] in retail - our Mini cans and also our 'pick and mix' cans, which generally have a higher pence per litre, which is of course beneficial to our customers.
Secondly, we entered the energy sector for the first time with the launch of Coca-Cola Energy, appealing to consumers who love the great taste of Coca-Cola but who are not traditional energy drinkers. Coca-Cola Energy includes caffeine from naturally-derived sources, guarana extracts and B vitamins, and the two 250ml variants - with and without sugar - are already worth £4million in GB[8].
New News! (Embargoed until 27th March)
For 2020 we have added a brand new cherry-flavoured variant to the Coca-Cola Energy portfolio plus the regular variants now have an extra Coca-Cola taste.The new cherry variant will combine the biggest cola flavour in GB[9], with a naturally derived caffeine, B vitamins to support energy and the great taste of Coca-Cola.
Finally, we expanded Coca-Cola(TM) into the world of premium mixers with the introduction of our Coca-Cola Signature Mixers range, which have been designed to perfectly pair with premium spirits, in particular dark spirits. Available in the original Coca-Cola 200ml Hutchinson glass bottle, they were developed by five globally-renowned mixologists and are ideal for instant mixing, helping to add a sense of occasion to nights in.
Trade and consumer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with the range now worth £1.2million in retail[10] in a matter of just a few months. We're pleased with the initial phased launch across licensed and grocery with distribution continuing to grow
2019 Marketing Campaigns
In 2019, we invested in wide range of far-reaching marketing campaigns to support Coca-Cola(TM). These included:
We kicked off 2019 by announcing a three-and-a-half-year, portfolio-wide partnership with the
You Do You
In
Diet Coke flavours
To celebrate the launch of Diet Coke Twisted Strawberry, we invested in a multi-million-pound integrated marketing campaign, fronted by TV star
Holidays Are Coming
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the return of our iconic Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour and 'Holidays Are Coming' advert. In 2019, as well as running on primetime TV, we took over digital screens in public spaces such as train stations, for the first time ever. The Christmas Truck took to the roads for its ninth annual tour, and this year featured a new partnership with national homeless charity Crisis, whereby 10p was donated in exchange for each can placed in a recycling bins at each stop.
Round in Circles
In September we also launched a major new advertising campaign called 'Round in Circles' to remind people that all of our bottles (across the CCEP portfolio) are 100% recyclable. The campaign included print and OOH, with a focus on transport hubs, and aimed to encourage more consumers to recycle, which is essential to help create a circular economy for plastic bottles and packaging more generally.
How has the enduring effect of the sugar tax played out this year?
The overall soft drinks category has been one of the standout performers of the last two years within FMCG, and value sales continue to grow[11]. This has been driven, in part, by the acceleration of low and no sugar soft drinks, but also by increased innovation as the industry continues to offer more choice to consumers across a wide variety of segments, to suit different drinking occasions.
However, shoppers are remaining loyal to classic favourites like Monster original and Coca-Cola original taste. We have always remained firm in the belief that shoppers want to make their own choices, and don't want retailers to edit what's available to them. We know that consumers love the taste of traditional favourites like Coca-Cola original taste - which remains the no.1 soft drink in GB[12].
Monster
Summary
The energy sector is now worth more than £1.2billion in GB[13] and continues to grow in both value and volume. Within this, Monster has been a driving force; the energy sector has grown by £139million over the last two years, half of which has been delivered by the Monster portfolio[14], thanks to our focus on flavour innovation and range expansion including zero calorie options, and our investment in impactful marketing campaigns to support the core Monster range.
In 2019 we built on the success of our core range by entering into new segments such as RTD coffee and performance energy, whilst also expanding our best-selling Juiced and Ultra ranges to bring new, exciting flavours to consumers. Premium NPD like Espresso Monster and Reign are helping to drive value over volume growth as they command a higher pence per litre.
Flavours & Low Calorie
Three years in, Monster Ultra is now the GB's number one low calorie Energy range[15], worth more than £60m in GB and still growing by 23%[16]. The range offers six fruity flavours with zero sugar, including a brand new flavour for this year - Monster Ultra Paradise. Our Juiced range has also gone from strength to strength since launching in 2018, delivering against demand for new, exotic flavours in the category. Mango Loco and Pipeline Punch are now worth a combined £58million[17], and to build on this momentum, we launched Monster Pacific Punch in January, which combines exotic tropical flavours with the renowned Monster caffeine kick.
New Segments
Last year also saw us identify and combine two enormous opportunities: energy drinks and RTD cold coffee. The energy sector is one of the biggest segments in GB and continues to grow [18]whilst the RTD coffee category, although relatively small in GB is growing by 32%[19]. With this in mind, we launched a brand new 'hybrid' product - Espresso Monster. Already worth almost £6million[20], Espresso Monster is a delicious combination of real brewed coffee and our famous Monster energy blend, and is designed to appeal to coffee lovers and energy drink fans alike.
Whilst not under the Monster brand, at the end of 2019, we entered the performance energy drinks sector for the first time with the launch of Reign Total Body Fuel - a new drinks range designed to fuel performance during workouts and strength training thanks to the inclusion of ingredients such as BCAAs, L-Arginine and natural caffeine.
The new launch is enabling retailers to tap into the performance drinks opportunity in GB. The segment is worth more than
Whilst it's still early days to share any robust performance data, we can say the range is tapping into a new drinking occasion in comparison to traditional energy drinks and is already worth ten times more than nearest like for like competitor here in GB.[22]
Fanta
Summary
Worth £218.1m[23] and having grown 10% in value in the last year[24], Fanta accounts for more than a quarter of the sector's value share[25] and is GB's number one flavoured carbonated soft drinks brand[26]. Consumers are responding well to the popular, on-trend zero sugar flavours we're bringing to market, and to the fun, exciting way we communicate about them - which includes taking ownership of key seasonal occasions like
Innovation
Last February we launched
In 2019, we once again activated our annual
Schweppes
"We're really pleased with the performance of the Schweppes brand as a whole. Our value share of the mixer segment is up by 5.3%[30] and we're also up in volume (6.5%)[31] and value growth (7%)[32]. In fact, Schweppes added more value to the mixer segment than any other brand in 2019[33].
"Our Schweppes PET bottle is growing ahead of the market at 12.4%[34], and this follows our investment in redesigning our Schweppes 1L Skittle bottle back in 2017, which now exudes a premium feel to match the liquid inside. With 40% of shoppers rating a range of healthy products as important[35], our Schweppes Slimline Tonic 1L is capitalising upon the demand for low and zero sugar options and is the biggest single variant in retail, growing by 19% year on year[36].
"We've remained committed to fuelling the growth of both classic and premium mixers in order to offer consumers drinks for all occasions. In 2019 we focused on Schweppes Classic's renowned bubbles in consumer marketing communications and Schweppes 1783 became Schweppes Signature Collection to further elevate the range's premium proposition and align to our new range of Coca-Cola Signature Mixers. Our vast consumer events programme including Taste of London, Goodwood Festival of Speed, London Cocktail Week and Junipalooza also helped engage with consumers and drive trial of the Signature Collection which includes Crisp Tonic Water, Light Tonic Water, and
New News!
Coming up we'll renaming our Russchian variant to Russchian Pink Soda supported by a new summer 'Pink Spritz' serve. To support the entire Schweppes masterbrand in 2020 and beyond, we'll also be unveiling a new multi-million pound campaign to celebrate our long British heritage and fabulous fizz whilst bringing more fun and colour to the mixer scene. In short, we'll be raising the nation's spirits. Watch this space!
Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper remains popular with its loyal fans who love its distinctive flavour. The brand is worth more than £108m and continues to grow[37]. This is partly thanks to its no-sugar variant, Dr Pepper Zero, which offers more choice for calorie-conscious shoppers and continues to attract new consumers to the brand.
The brand benefitted from further visibility after being included in our popular
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[35] HIM Convenience Tracking Programme 2018
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