Are you ready for another innovation in the world of soft drinks? Let's see whether the latest offering from the world-famous marketer of carbonated syrup excites you.
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) is extending its Full Throttle brand by producing a sugar-free version. Full Throttle, an energy drink released in the latter part of 2004, seems to be hitting the ground running. The high-octane beverage has captured 7.8% of its category's market thus far, and it still has some room for growth -- it can be found in 78% of convenience retail stores.
That poor carbohydrate molecule is one despised dude these days. Even with the seeming death of the Atkins fad, people still gravitate toward sugar-free soda formulations. Over the past year, Coca-Cola has introduced Coca-Cola Zero and Diet Coke with Splenda, each attempting to reach out to the crowd of dieters who are eschewing the core Coca-Cola brand and its devious sugary liquid.
I have to admit, I didn't know a lot about the energy drink category (aside from that Red Bull commercial) before writing this article. So I decided to head on over to the Full Throttle website to dig up some information. I saw lots of flashy graphics tied to a sort of tough-guy theme. Included were the following: a sweepstakes relating to poker, a page where you can send "e-sults" (which are emails meant to insult, apparently), and, dominating the middle of the site, a black Full Throttle can with a fiery logo in the middle, reminiscent of big hair metal band imagery from the '80s.
Now I have something else to admit: Even after studying the Full Throttle website, I still don't know a lot about the energy drink category. But I do know this: I love that my company Coca-Cola (I own shares, after all) is getting down and dirty (in a benevolent sense, of course) and really promoting a great image for this product.
Coca-Cola has been struggling the last several years, as this chart demonstrates, and many observers -- including myself -- believe that the company has to get its marketing act together to increase the all-important case-volume metric (see Tom Taulli's commentary on Coca-Cola's latest earnings).
OK, maybe I found out a little something about Full Throttle. Apparently, you not only get your daily dose of caffeine with it, but you also receive helpings of B-vitamins and ginseng extract, among other cool stuff. I find it somewhat ironic that drink that are supposed to give you energy want to go sugar-free, but I think this is a marketing experiment that Full Throttle needs to undergo. Brand extensions are important to the long-term success of Coca-Cola and its ongoing rivalry with PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP). We'll see how this new beverage works out when it's released later in the month.
For now, even though the capital appreciation has been decidedly pressured, Coca-Cola shareholders can at least count on the blue chip to raise its dividend consistently. As long as its dividend record holds, Coke might still be it.
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Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns shares of Coca-Cola. The Fool has an ironclad disclosure policy.
