Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has launched two sour, low-sugar flavours of its Oasis soft drinks brand.
Launching this month in 500ml formats, the new Oasis kiwi-apple sour and apple-cherry sour will aim to tap into continuing demand for sour flavours within the food and beverage industry. But CCEP said that the drinks, low in both sugar and calories, would be a first for the UK’s juice drink category.
Both flavours will be available in a £1 price-marked pack to drive trial among consumers, and will be supported by a multi-million pound marketing campaign.
Simon Harrison, operational marketing director GB for Coca-Cola European Partners, said: “This new investment in Oasis is another example of how we are energising our portfolio of leading brands to ensure they remain relevant to consumers. The new variants will help retailers meet the growing trend for interesting flavours and on-the-go refreshment, providing consumers with a seven-strong range to choose from, with the added benefit of being low in calories and sugar.
“We will continue to link Oasis to the lunchtime occasion whilst our disruptive, tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign will appeal to the target audience of young adults, helping to drive retailers’ juice drinks sales in 2017.”
Oasis Sour will be supported by an ad campaign to include digital and static out-of-home advertising, as well as radio, social media, shopper activation, PR and experiential sampling activity in city centres, student venues, events, festivals and other ‘disruptive locations’.
As part of the campaign, a series of adverts will continue the brand’s playful messaging. Taglines for the new products include ‘it’s new, it’s sour, it’s not going to buy itself’ and ‘the best lunchtime drink since you last drank Oasis’.
It comes after Oasis debuted its first tongue-in-cheek slogans, including ‘it’s summer, you’re thirsty, we’ve got sales targets’ in July 2015.
The activity follows the rebrand of Oasis Light to Oasis Zero to better communicate the zero-calorie and low-sugar formula to consumers. The Zero range remains free of artificial colours and includes only natural flavourings, and also now includes a new citrus punch zero variant to provide more choice and tap into consumer trends.
The core Oasis range contains 4.1g of sugar per 100ml, with Oasis Sour flavours containing 0.6g and Oasis Zero 0.5g.
Coca-Cola changed the name of its core sugar-free cola, and made it more similar to the regular Coca-Cola, in April 2016.
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