Coke tests non-diet Lime variant

Coca-Cola is to spend £1.5m launching Coke with Lime in a green bottle later this month.

Coca-Cola is to spend &£1.5m launching Coke with Lime in a green bottle later this month.

The drink is initially planned to be a limited edition, which will be on shelves throughout the summer.

Diet Coke with Lime is a cornerstone of the company’s permanent portfolio and is worth &£4m. But Coke believes the full-fat alternative – aimed mainly at men – will attract new consumers, and has signed off a new television ad which features a scientist in a lab with a bottle of Coke and a lime, trying to work out how to mix the two.

According to TNS Superpanel, Coke’s brand extensions account for 160 million drinks sold every year.

A retail source believes the product will sell very well for a short period of time and says: “As a stockist looking to sell the product we have to get in fast and then get out again. Coke with Lime will do well at first as consumers give it a try, but you can find yourself with stock hanging around after the summer.”

Meanwhile, the Coca-Cola company in Atlanta has promoted overseas chief Muhtar Kent to executive vice president, strengthening his candidacy as a successor to chief executive Neville Isdell.

Kent was promoted in January to oversee all Coke’s operations outside the US, which account for $15bn (&£8.6m) in sales and 80% of its profits.