Tokyo, May 23: A new, low-calorie version of Coca Cola, called Coca Cola C2, was unveiled for the first time in Tokyo on Tuesday. The soft drink is due to hit store shelves across Japan on June 7th ahead of a worldwide debut later in the month. Coca-Cola C2 has half the calories of Coke and tastes like the traditional brew, unlike the no-calorie Diet Coke. "Because of the customers' new trends and new needs which are more calorie-concerned, we are now coming up with a combination of the heritage of the Coke brand and what consumers are now looking for," said Masahiko Uotani, President of Coca-Cola (Japan) Limited. The Tuesday launch, is weeks ahead of the US debut and in the coming weeks up to five million samples of C2 will be handed out nationwide. The launch of C2 comes at a time when consumption of carbonated soft drinks has been steadily declining in Japan in the face of consumer preference for green tea and other health-oriented drinks.
But executives were confident it would be a hit.
"Japan is probably the most diverse, innovating market in the world. Japanese consumers embrace innovation, they are always after the new things, so definitely, in terms of acceptance, it would be the best market. The second reason being that Japan leads the trends, especially in Asia. All the news that comes out of Japan is actually copied and followed by other markets, the Asian market in particular. So this was the best starting point for this product," said Etsuko Katsube, director and executive vice president of Coca Cola (Japan) Limited.
Bureau Report