Coke to Test Curvy Can in South , Midwest
By Nikhil Deogun
02/06/1997
The Wall Street Journal
Page B1
(Copyright (c) 1997, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
Does the world really want a can that's shaped like a bottle?
Coca-Cola Co. thinks so. The Atlanta-based beverage giant, in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of its
signature contoured bottle, is finally about to begin test marketing a contoured can in a handful of cities in the South
and Midwest. In March 1996 it disclosed that it planned a curvy can. The new packaging is expected to be unveiled
within the next several days.
If testing is successful, the contoured aluminum can would be a significant packaging innovation. Consumer
companies are increasingly relying on proprietary packaging to make their products stand out. "To say the industry
is closely watching the development of the first shaped can is an understatement," says Paul Cobbledick, director of
sales and marketing for Reynolds Metals Co.'s can division.
But the contoured cans face myriad hurdles. For one thing, if consumers are underwhelmed, the notion may die in
test markets. Even if it proves popular, mass-producing an irregularly shaped can poses technical problems, as do
shipping and stacking. Such problems explain why, despite many design changes on the surfaces of soft-drink cans,
the shapes have pretty much stayed the same even as bottles have evolved.
Still, industry executives say that if Coke can pull this off, other soft-drink makers are likely to start experimenting
with the sizes and shapes of their cans.
Unlike the 1980s, when the onslaught of cheap store-brand drinks with bland labels made price the key factor for
soft-drink sales, today packaging is paramount, industry executives say. Marketing mavens "have woken up to
realize that people don't consume products, they wear them -- and companies like Nike and Coke are examples of
that," says Gary Stibel, a principal of New England Consulting Group.
As a result, the 1990s have been marked by innovations in soft-drink packaging, with beverage makers trying to
outdo each other with intricate artwork (AriZona iced tea) and unusually shaped bottles. Some are even toying with
holograms on cans and bottles. In the U.K., Richard Branson's Virgin Cola has come out with a glass bottle shaped
like a woman and named "Pammy" after Pamela Anderson Lee, a TV star whose picture is on the label.
The original Coca-Cola bottle, first made in 1915, was developed to distinguish Coke from knock-off colas. The
first ones, which bulged out more than the current bottles, prompted some to call them Mae West bottles. Since then,
Coke's contoured shape has become a cultural icon. Indeed, Coke's introduction in 1993 of a plastic 20-ounce
contoured bottle proved wildly successful, giving Coke sales a big lift.
With about 60% of the Coke sold in the U.S. packaged in cans, the impact of a change in the can's shape could be
even greater. "The objective has been to develop a unique can that sets [Coke] apart from its competitors and says
something special to the consumer about the product inside," said Joe Kornick, a principal of Kornick Lindsay, a
Chicago package development and design firm, which designed both the new contoured can and Coke's earlier
plastic contoured bottle.
John D. Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest, an industry publication, says he expects production to start this week
at a Cleveland, Tenn., bottling plant and believes the product will hit retail shelves in some markets in two to three
weeks.
Some of the interest in packaging innovations "is the legacy of New Age drinks," says Michael Bellas, president of
Beverage Marketing Corp., a consulting firm, referring to the juices and teas that have been introduced in recent
years. Small companies with tiny advertising budgets grabbed onto funky packaging as a way to distinguish their
products.
Big companies have realized that the scrappy beverage companies that make innovative products are on to
something. PepsiCo has successfully marketed one-liter wide-mouth bottles. And Coca-Cola in 1995 started selling
its Sprite brand in green, plastic bottles with dimples, which are reminiscent of glass Sprite bottles from the 1960s.
Coke officials say one reason for the recent stellar performance of Sprite -- it was the fastest-growing drink in 1996 - is its dimpled plastic bottle.
But some are skeptical that the new Coke can will have much impact. "I find it hard to argue that this can is going to
knock anybody's socks off," says Emanuel Goldman, a beverage analyst at PaineWebber, who has seen a steel
version of the contoured can, which was tested in Germany.
Coca-Cola bottlers also wonder whether the aluminum cans will keep their shape when stacked one on top of the
other. The cans were supposed to be test marketed in 1996, but the introduction was pushed back as Coca-Cola
worked out production kinks, bottlers say.
The biggest issue is cost. Currently, bottlers say, they can easily switch from filling cans with Coke to filling them
with Diet Coke or Sprite. Bottlers worry that a differently shaped can could mean stopping production lines,
adjusting machines and then restarting them, adding to production costs. Meanwhile, bottlers might not be able to
recover the higher costs any time soon because Coke may want the retail price of the contoured cans to match the
price of regular cans.
Says Mr. Goldman, "If they don't price it right, consumers will buy the regular can -- because you don't drink the
can."