Green Coke "Life" Not as Crazy a Move As You Might Think

Photo credit: Coca-Cola

Here’s an image that might give you pause. It’s Coca-Cola “Life,” a stevia-sweetened version of the soft drink that’s being tested in Argentina, Chile, and—this fall—the United Kingdom. The soda will eventually launch stateside.

It’s a major shift in the iconography of a brand more affiliated with Americana than any other that comes to mind except, perhaps, McDonald’s, so it makes sense that Coke is rolling out the lower-sugar, lower-calorie soda cautiously. And it’s a bit shocking to the eye: Green is opposite red on the color wheel.

We initially thought it a risky move by a company with such a strong color association, but at least one branding expert disagrees with us.

Jasmine Tanasy, Director of Verbal Branding at Landor Associates, has worked on food and beverage campaigns from “coffee with Keurig to vodka with Smirnoff.” And she thinks it’ll be pretty easy being green.

"Coke and all its competitors are in a difficult place, selling stuff that’s not healthy," she said, and are "under pressure of declining sales." Tanasy also noted that this is likely a response to Coke-loving customers saying, "I want what you have. Why can’t you make it better for me? Why can’t you give me a version that I want for my life?" This is, she says, "a brand answer to a very, very big issue" of health-related concerns.

And why green? Three reasons. First, “while green isn’t that familiar to those of us today,” said Tanasy, green glass has long been associated with Coke, as old versions of Coca-Cola bottles were made from it. Secondly, “green is the cue for stevia (a popular natural sugar substitute) across the industry in exactly the same way that when you go to a diner and you pick up a packet you know it’s aspartame.” It’s the “category cue,” said Tanasy, and it was “very, very wise of them to pick up on that cue, sending a very clear signal to the consumer that that’s the one with stevia.” And finally, “they really needed to create a new cue.” Coke can’t make the claim that “it’s good for you [or] that it’s natural. There are a lot of things they can’t say, but what they can do is create a visual and verbal cue that says ‘different!’ and ‘better!’”

In short, says Tanasy, Coke is aiming squarely at “all those people who dropped regular Coke in favor of Diet Coke,” and are now saying, “Oh, I really shouldn’t have a Coke today.” For those people, she asserts, the green color and new casting “mentally will make people feel a bit better about something they truly enjoy.”