Coke moots Malvern drive exploiting Schweppes link

Coca-Cola is planning to forge a closer association between bottled water brand Malvern and the Schweppes portfolio as part of its marketing plans for 2009.

Coca-Cola marketing director for Great Britain Cathryn Sleight says there is still an “unexploited opportunity” for Coke to push Malvern’s links with the Schweppes brand.

She would not reveal further details about the company’s forthcoming plans,but she adds that Malvern still has “a lot more room for growth”.

Sleight says/ “As we get a stronger marketing plan and proposals behind the overall Schweppes port-folio, I think there will be opportunities for us to work on Malvern with Schweppes.”

Coke has so far failed to make any major in-roads in the bottled water market. Its last serious foray into the market was with Dasani in 2004, but the launch ended in disaster after the new product was discovered to be treated tap water containing potentially dangerous chemicals.

Coke invested £7m on its launch, which at the time was the second most popular bottled water brand in the US. There were high hopes for its roll-out across parts of Europe, but the wave of negative publicity it received in the UK meant any such plans had to be scrapped.

Since then there has been speculation that Coke would acquire an existing bottled water brand but it has yet to make such a move.