Coca-Cola experiments with new label design

Coca-Cola has worked hard, and invested significant resources, in having its customers link the beverage to the color red. Red advertising collateral, red bottle caps and red labels are the company’s signature packaging. However, with the release of its new product, Coca-Cola Life, the organization has strayed from this time-tested color strategy.

Instead of the well-recognized red color scheme, Coca-Cola Life will feature a green label, USA Today reports. Coca-Cola Life is marketed as a “mid-calorie cola,” and is currently only available domestically in limited areas in the southern U.S. However, the color-scheme-defying product has met some success in Argentina, Chile, Great Britain, Sweden and Mexico.

Marketing experts have weighed in on the decision, suggesting that the new color is part of an effort to appeal to the “green” trend as well as health-conscious consumers that are wary of artificial sweeteners. 

“It may seem odd because we’re so used to seeing Coca-Cola in red,” Kate Smith, president of Sensational Color, a corporate color consulting firm, told USA Today. “But green is the color we associate with natural and fresh. They’re just trying to reinforce that Stevia is a natural sweetener.”

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, also told the source that the color green is associated with being “healthful, invigorating and even life-sustaining.” With Coca-Cola declining to comment on the strategy, we may just have to wait and see if the new color can find success.

Organizations can also experiment with their own labeling strategy by investing in color label printers. This capability can help identify ways of reaching new markets, or breathe new life into your brand.