Coca-Cola Comes Out with Lime!

The Coca-Cola Company is adding a dash of citrus flavor to the world's favorite diet soft drink to create a taste that blends contemporary sophistication with familiar refreshment. Diet Coke with Lime begins appearing in stores across the country this week, as consumers look for new, great-tasting low-calorie options to help them keep those New Year's resolutions and enjoy a balanced lifestyle. "Consumer research indicated a preference for lime as the next Diet Coke flavor, as it's a flavor combination many people already are enjoying," said Ed Klein, vice president, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola North America. "The natural citrus taste of Diet Coke with Lime received extremely positive feedback in consumer testing." Advertising support for the launch of Diet Coke with Lime includes national radio, print, out-of-home and Internet components. Packaging for the new soft drink - while maintaining the familiar equities of Diet Coke - is stylish and noticeably "lime." Diet Coke with Lime will be offered initially in 20-ounce and 2-liter bottles, multi-pack cans, as well as 8-ounce bottles, where available. This week, sampling teams will be hitting the streets in New York City, Miami and Park City, where the Sundance Film Festival runs January 15-25. Samplers will look distinctively "Diet Coke," blending a black-tie formality with the fun of tropical prints. Consumers can enjoy being served new Diet Coke with Lime while seated on a lime green chaise lounge, and, if out in the elements, warmed by lime-colored heat lamps. On Tuesday, January 13, a symbolic "first shipment" of Diet Coke with Lime was delivered to New York City from Florida via Song, Delta Air Lines' new low-fare air service. Passengers flying the Ft. Lauderdale-New York route on Song were given the exclusive opportunity to be among the first to taste Diet Coke with Lime. The Delta Crown Room Clubs at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport gave its members the chance to sample Diet Coke with Lime from January 5-9, before the nationwide roll-out began. Because of the positive response to the light, natural citrus flavor of Diet Coke with Lime, the same flavor approach is being applied to a reformulation of Diet Coke with Lemon, which will have a lemon taste that is lighter than the original version. New packaging graphics for Diet Coke with Lemon also will harmonize with Diet Coke with Lime. The Diet Coke portfolio in the U.S. will now include Diet Coke, introduced in 1982; Diet Cherry Coke (1985); Diet Coke with Lemon (2001); Diet Vanilla Coke (2002); and now Diet Coke with Lime. Diet Coke is the number one diet soft drink in the country and the world, and the third best-selling carbonated soft drink overall in the U.S. and the world (where in some countries it is called Coca-Cola Light).