I saw the news in the Wall Street Journal and here at TheStreet.com about Diet Vanilla Coke being discontinued by the Coca Cola company in favor of Black Cherry Vanilla Coke. Dr. Pepper has a similar marketing play, but in fact their Cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper product tastes like cough syrup. This is too bad, since plain diet Dr. Pepper tastes good in both caffeinated and caffeine free versions.
"Diet Cherry Coke and Cherry Coke won't be affected, but Vanilla Coke and Diet Vanilla Coke will go on hiatus at year's end. "With well over 250 million cases sold, Vanilla Coke and Diet Vanilla Coke have been significant contributors for three years," said Katie Bayne, senior vice president. "We are exploring ways to bring them back at another time, but right now Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke and Black Cherry Vanilla Coke are what consumers are telling us they want."
I have been purchasing a case of Diet Coke every week for personal consumption since the "Coke in the morning" campaign. Lately, I have strongly preferred Vanilla, with Lime second and original third. I do not care for cherry Diet Coke. The lemon Diet Coke reminds me of Mr. Clean. And one can really taste the Splenda in the new Diet Coke with Splenda. I will miss Diet Vanilla Coke. I will try the Black Cherry. But, I will eagerly await the return of Vanilla.
I gather that all versions of Diet Coke outsell many other carbonated drinks just by the shelf space devoted to them in grocery stores. Too bad you cannot retain the vanilla… Ms. Bayne, it might not be a bad idea to consider that.
Here is a
link to the Group29 Lime in De Coke ya Nut article.