Beverage innovation used to be relatively simple: A company like Coca-Cola or PepsiCo would have someone on their research-and-development team suggest a flavor and then they would make it.
"Hey, wouldn't cherry taste great mixed with Coke" may not have been the actual invention process, but we're only a few years removed from those simpler days.
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Now, Coca-Cola has turned to celebrity DJs and artificial intelligence to deliver soda flavors that serve no actual audience.
Flavors like "Marshmello's Limited Edition" — from the famed electronic dance music artist who wears a marshmallow mask on his head — and Coca-Cola Y3000 seem a lot more like publicity stunts than a true chance at success. That's especially when you read the company's description of one of them.
"Coca‑Cola Y3000 Zero Sugar was co-created with human and artificial intelligence by understanding how fans envision the future through emotions, aspirations, colors, flavors, and more," Coca-Cola (KO) -) posted on its website.
"Fans’ perspectives from around the world, combined with insights gathered from artificial intelligence, helped inspire Coca‑Cola to create the unique taste of Y3000."
That seems like an answer to a question nobody asked, and it's a long way from "people put limes in Diet Coke; what if we added them for them?" Again, that may not be the exact way Diet Coke with Lime got created, but it's probably in the ballpark.
Now, Coke actually has a new product that people might like. And it plays off a PepsiCo (PEP) -) favorite that was discontinued this year.
Pepsi killed off a holiday favorite soda
PepsiCo has long struggled to find an answer to Sprite, Coca-Cola's popular lemon-lime (the company would say "lymon") soda. It tried and failed with the Slice brand and replaced that with Sierra Mist.
Earlier this year Sierra Mist was discontinued and replaced by Starry, a new lemon-lime soda that sounds as if it had been created as much by marketing as anything.
"At PepsiCo, we are hyperfocused on consumer-centric innovation, and we know there's a strong demand for lemon-lime flavored soda with the category continuing to accelerate," PepsiCo Chief Marketing Officer Greg Lyons said in a statement.
"With one product dominating the category, consumers deserve another option … one that hits different. Starry is bright, optimistic, and rooted in culture and fun."
That's an awful lot to put on a can of soda, and it's hard to see what "rooted in culture and fun" means. But PepsiCo insists that it's "easy to drink, optimally sweet, and delivers both an exceptional taste and flavor experience."
Starry might "hit different," but its birth meant the death of not just Sierra Mist but the holiday favorite Sierra Mist Cranberry.
"It's a lemon-lime soda with a festive, naturally flavored cranberry splash and zero calories per serving. Just for the holidays," the company said of Sierra Mist Cranberry.
Coke has a new berry flavor
While it's not lemon-lime-based, Coca-Cola has a new flavor coming out in February that's evokes the beloved and lost Pepsi product.
"New Coca-Cola Spiced is coming February 2024!" the social-media influencer Marcus Smith posted on Instagram.
"Raspberry spiced flavored Coke, which will also be available in Zero Sugar! Coca-Cola revealed this at the NACS Show a couple days ago. Interesting of them to release this AFTER the holidays, when this would’ve been a big hit during the winter season."
Raspberry, of course, isn't cranberry, and Coke isn't Sprite, but the new flavor does seem like a nod to simpler times before AI got a voice in deciding what soda should taste like.
Coca-Cola did not make samples available at the NACS show, which is a convention for convenience store owners, so the actual flavor remains a mystery. The company has also not said whether it plans other spiced flavors going forward.
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