Fanta, interesting reading here
Coca-Cola trying to gain new foothold for old product
By SCOTT LEITH
Cox News Service
ATLANTA - Remember Fanta?
It takes a good memory to recall this old soda brand, which fizzled in the U.S. market about the same time as disco.
But after 20 years on the sidelines, Fanta is back. Coca-Cola is trying to gain a new foothold for its old product.
In America, Fanta withered in the face of tough competition and the rise of Coke's own rival brand, Minute Maid.
But Fanta has remained a critical global product for Coke. Outside North America, Fanta is Coke's second-biggest brand, behind only Coca-Cola itself, said Charles Guilbeau, who oversees the Fanta brand around the world.
Fanta -- chiefly sold as an orange-flavored soda -- has had great success with Hispanic consumers outside of the United States. Now Coke thinks the brand can be a hit with the burgeoning Hispanic population in America.
"One of the advantages we have is this great, global asset," said Cal Collier, director of flavored carbonated soft drink brands for Coke's North American division.
The disadvantage is the Herculean effort it takes to introduce a new product in an already crowded market.
The window of opportunity is open, however. The recently released market share numbers for 2001 show that changes are afoot in the U.S. soda sector. Buyers have been moving away from the big cola brands -- Coke Classic and Pepsi -- in favor of new offerings.
Cherry-flavored Mountain Dew Code Red, for example, was a big success in 2001.
Worldwide, Fanta is a chameleonlike brand that comes in 70 different flavors. Orange is the most popular by far.
Until last year, Fanta's U.S. presence was minuscule. The product was sold in some fountain accounts but hadn't been sold on most store shelves since the 1980s.
Fanta first resurfaced in 2001 in Hispanic-heavy test markets in Texas, Arizona and Southern California.
Sales jumped from 24.4 million cases in 2000 to 42.2 million last year, according to Beverage Digest. The jump was due to the rollout in test markets.
Today, Fanta is available in all but a few parts of the nation.
The reintroduction has gone on with virtually no advertising.
Fanta will face its toughest competition from inexpensive store brands, plus national brands like Sunkist, Welch's and Crush.
But even a modestly successful relaunch of Fanta could have one important effect: It will free Coke to do more with Minute Maid.
Coke wants to revamp Minute Maid sodas with added juice so the products will seem more similar to Minute Maid juices.
"For Coke, the Minute Maid subsidiary will become more and more a source of juices and health and wellness products," said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest. "Adding juice to the Minute Maid carbonated line creates a positioning closer to the Minute Maid Co.'s offerings."
The trick is making sure Fanta doesn't rob sales from Minute Maid instead.
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