News ReleaseHAPPY
25TH ANNIVERSARY, DIET COKE®!
World’s #1 Diet Sparkling
Beverage Celebrates a Quarter-Century of Refreshing the World with Great Taste ATLANTA,
July 9, 2007 - Twenty-five
years ago, Diet Coke burst onto the scene and forever changed the beverage landscape.
Today, the global brand is the #1 diet sparkling beverage in the world, and its
launch is viewed as one of the most successful in beverage history. “When
Diet Coke debuted in 1982, the brand struck a chord by inviting people to drink
it ‘Just for the Taste of It.’ Offering the authenticity of the Coca-Cola
name with no calories, Diet Coke was exactly what people wanted,” said Katie
Bayne, chief marketing officer, Coca-Cola North America. “A quarter-century
later, Diet Coke remains the world’s favorite no-calorie sparkling beverage
and continues to refresh people every day with the one-of-a-kind taste they love.” A
Style All Its Own
From the beginning, Diet Coke has had a confident, sophisticated
voice that epitomizes adult style and a life well lived. A host of celebrities
-- including chart-topping singers, athletes, actors and actresses and fashion
models -- have embraced Diet Coke as their own. Many appeared in print, television
and radio ads for Diet Coke marketing campaigns over time. Diet Coke has
been a sponsor of the Academy Awards®, the biggest entertainment program on
television, and the brand’s current marketing campaign premiered with three
new commercials during this year’s Oscars® telecast. The campaign, which
carries the tagline, “Yours, Diet Coke,” shows how people feel about
Diet Coke when they drink it, and as importantly, how they feel when it’s
not there. The ads depict scenarios that reinforce how Diet Coke is there for
people who love the brand. “Since its launch, Diet Coke has been synonymous
with stylish sophistication,” said Bayne. “Through the years, Diet Coke
marketing and advertising has reflected and embraced pop culture, and the brand
has become a global icon that embodies great cola taste with an undeniable sense
of style.” A Breakthrough Product and Positioning
Diet Coke
helped define the low-calorie segment of the beverage industry at a time when
sales of “diet” beverages were a fraction of what they are today. “For
almost 100 years, until the introduction of Diet Coke, the flagship Coca-Cola
name had never been extended to another brand,” said Philip Mooney, director,
Archives, The Coca-Cola Company. “The launch of Diet Coke pioneered groundbreaking
product innovations in the beverage industry and helped to accelerate the success
of a Company that now offers more than 400 different beverage brands around the
world.” Diet Coke has been an innovation leader for the past 25 years.
Since the launch of Caffeine-free Diet Coke®, the first extension of the Diet
Coke brand, in 1983, Diet Coke has kept pace with its fans’ changing desires
for variety with new product offerings. This tradition continues today with the
introduction of Diet Coke Plus®, which provides a great, refreshing taste
and a good source of essential vitamins and minerals. An Unconditional
Loyalty for Their Brand
Much of Diet Coke’s success can be attributed
to the millions of Diet Coke drinkers who profess unconditional loyalty and love
for their favorite beverage. Many people, like Samantha Dumond, of Roswell, Ga.,
jump-start their day with a Diet Coke and consider the brand a trusted ally and
an inextricable part of their lives. “I’ve been drinking Diet
Coke since I was a senior in high school, and every morning I have one with breakfast,”
said Dumond, 34, a mother of two. “There is nothing more refreshing than
a cold Diet Coke to get my day started. I love my Diet Coke -- just as much as
I love my husband... almost.” Diet Coke fans also voice their dedication
to the brand by joining fan groups, such as “I Love Diet Coke” and “All
Girls Love Diet Coke” on popular social networking Web sites. Recently Diet
Coke became part of a global phenomenon when countless videos that showed people
creating enormous “geysers” by combining Diet Coke and popular candy,
Mentos, were posted all over the Internet. Today, thousands of videos of the Diet
Coke and Mentos experiment are posted on YouTube alone. A Global Phenomenon
Over
the past 25 years, Diet Coke has become an international household name, refreshing
people around the world.
- 1982: Diet Coke is introduced on
July 29 in a gala celebration from the stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
By 1983, Diet Coke becomes the #1 diet sparkling beverage in the United
States. Just six months after the U.S. launch, Diet Coke -- called Coca-Cola Light
in some markets -- debuts in Australia, Costa Rica, Great Britain, Norway, South
Africa and many other countries.
- 1984: Diet Coke becomes the #3
sparkling beverage in the United States, a title it has held for more than 23
years. By 1986, Diet Coke becomes the #1 low-calorie sparkling beverage
in the world.
- Today the brand, including both Diet Coke and Coca-Cola
Light, is available in 173 countries and has a 40 percent share of the global
diet sparkling beverage segment.
A Celebration for Everyone
To
celebrate the brand's quarter-century, limited edition vintage Diet Coke T-shirts,
25th anniversary contour bottles and other commemorative items will be available
through My Coke Rewards™. Diet Coke fans can also enter to win several 25th
anniversary sweepstakes and contests in popular magazines, such as Condé
Nast Traveler, In Style and People. Special 25th anniversary
Diet Coke silver sleek cans will be available exclusively in the Atlanta area,
Diet Coke’s birthplace. Also, Diet Coke rolled out the red carpet to celebrate
its silver anniversary as part of the city’s 4th of July celebration at the
new World of Coca-Cola and Centennial Olympic Park, which featured live jazz music
and entertaining dance performances.
“This 25th anniversary celebrates
the long love affair between Diet Coke and the loyal fans who have made it a global
icon,” said Bayne. “Millions of people around the world have made Diet
Coke part of their well-balanced lifestyle, and for decades to come, we’ll
continue to refresh them with the great cola taste and style that they know and
love.” The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company.
Along with Coca-Cola®, recognized as the world's most valuable
brand, the Company markets four of the world's top five nonalcoholic sparkling
beverage brands, including Diet Coke®, Fanta® and Sprite®, and a wide
range of other beverages, including diet and light beverages, waters, juices and
juice drinks, teas, coffees, energy and sports drinks. Through the world's largest
beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's
beverages at a rate exceeding 1.4 billion servings each day. For more information
about The Coca-Cola Company, please visit our website at www.thecoca-colacompany.com. | 
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