Coke to Launch Water Flavoring Drops

NACSonline
September 13 2012
NACS Daily News

Coca-Cola’s Dasani Drops is a new addition to water flavor enhancer products.

MONTEPELIER, FRANCE – Next month, Coca-Cola will launch a new line of water flavor drops under its Dasani brand, allowing customers to customize their H2O, Beverage Daily reports.

Dasani Drops are zero-calorie beverage enhancers housed in a 1.9-ounce bottle (each bottle includes 32 servings) that allows consumers to customize their water in the desired strength. Coke will market the drops as a means of providing a “delicious, sweet way to enjoy drinking water throughout the day” and a “flavorful, fashionable accessory for busy moms and health-conscious people alike”.

“Dasani Drops give people a new way to enjoy drinking water by pumping-up the taste of Dasani with a simple squeeze of the easy-to-carry bottle,” said John Roddey, vice president, water, tea and coffee for Coca-Cola North America.

Coke will not be the lone beverage company in the “drop” space: Wisdom Natural Brands launched SweetLeaf drops last year, and Kraft launched Mio last March, which it followed-up with a Mio Energy line.

“Convenience is certainly one benefit these brands are trying to offer,” said Sarah Theodore, global drinks analyst for Mintel. “They eliminate a lot of the preparation involved in other beverage mixes such as powdered drinks and frozen concentrates.

“But the bigger innovation with liquid concentrates is that they allow for customization in terms of flavor strength, mixing flavors, and what you mix them with. There have not been many options that have allowed that in the past.”

As to whether Dasani Drops pose a threat of cannibalizing soft drinks sales, Theodore said the real threat lies with traditional flavored waters.

“There’s probably more risk of cannibalizing enhanced water sales than carbonated soft drinks, particularly as they add functionality to the drops, as they did with Mio Energy,” she said. “But anything that adds another option in non-alcoholic beverages does encroach on soft drinks. I think the hope is that they will to boost sales of Dasani to compensate for that.”