As Coca-Cola consumption gradually declines, the company is pulling out all the stops to bring in new customers. On Wednesday, the company announced its first new permanent permanent product in years: a “raspberry spiced Coke.”
Coca-Cola says this “unique alchemy of our iconic cola, raspberry and spiced flavors” will hit stores Monday, Feb. 19.
“It’s Coca-Cola, only spiced,” Coke explained in a statement to USA Today. “Coca-Cola Spiced transforms the familiar into the extraordinary ... blending the iconic taste of Coca-Cola with a burst of refreshing notes from raspberry and spiced flavors.”
Sue Lynne Cha, vice president of marketing for Coke, North America, explained to CNN how the flavor was selected. She noted that, in 2022, consumers chose raspberry as a personalized flavor at Freestyle machines over 5 million times.
The company moved forward with the spiced flavor since it’s “all about being on category trend and responsive to our consumer preferences,” she said.
The trend of bolder flavors and “more complex flavor profiles” first popped up in the food industry, Cha explained to CNN. When it moved to the beverage industry, her team thought it could be “a unique space for us to play in.” She added that many customers want to try something new.
In 2022, Coke launched “Coca-Cola Creations,” a line of new limited-edition flavors. The products had unique names including Dreamworld and Byte, and several were released in partnership with celebrity sponsors, including American DJ Marshmello and Spanish singer and songwriter Rosalía.
Shakir Moin, Coke’s chief of marketing in North America, said at a media event on Tuesday that the new flavor was developed in a much quicker time frame than previous flavors, which took a year or more, USA Today. This flavor was developed in seven weeks.
He told The Associated Press, “Consumers are moving faster. The market is moving forward faster. We’ve got to be faster than the speed of the market.”