Coke unveils Fanta Apple variant

Coca-Cola Great Britain is adding a new flavour to its Fanta brand called Fanta Apple Splash.

The fizzy apple, kiwi and lime flavour drink will launch in the spring, making Fanta a five-flavour range.

Although Fanta is successful, insiders are concerned it is over-extending the brand. The same criticisms were levelled at arch-rival Tango, owned by Britvic Soft Drinks, and earlier this year the company pruned the number of Tango variants.

The Fanta line-up comprises Orange, Icy Lemon, Fruit Twist and Zesty Berry, which was introduced in February this year (MW December 12, 2002).

Coca-Cola spent &£4.2m advertising the brand in the year to June (Nielsen Media Research). The campaigns are created by Soul. Recent advertising has featured a number of animated characters including Tongue Man and has carried the strapline: “Why can’t everything be… Fanta?”.

Fanta has experienced a meteoric growth – it grew by 50 per cent in value and 47 per cent in volume in 2002. According to Nielsen, it was the sixth-largest take-home soft drink brand in 2002, worth &£149m.

Coca-Cola is also planning a packaging redesign for Diet Coke in 2004, which will introduce a more modern look and remove the beads of moisture from the packaging design.