New fizz in the old bottle

Barely three months have gone in 2007 and we’ve seen a flurry of new launches in the carbonated soft drinks category from the cola giants labelling Bolder, Smoother, Light and Gold.

Coca-Cola recently launched a new version of Fanta in the market that has a stronger flavour. So Fanta now becomes Bolder Fanta. Trisha, brand ambassador of Fanta who earlier sang and dance after drinking Fanta, now accused Fanta for changing her style and making her bolder to the extent of kissing her friend’s hubby in the wedding. The new ad for sure captivated the viewers attention and created the buzz for this new product.

To counter this new bolder Fanta, Mirinda, its competitor in the orange drink category from Pepsi, takes the smoother approach. Pepsi introduces Mirinda Sorbet, that has a combination of orange taste with a smooth feel. Other than the TVC featuring Zayed Khan, Mirinda also have a web campaign thru its site Mirinda Sorbet, where you can share your recipes, play the Sorbet game or download the cool Sorbet Wallpapers and Screen savers.

The word Sorbet reminds me of the cool drink Sharbat, which is the most popular soft drink during my childhood years. It tastes better than these carbonated soft drinks. So when I first heard Mirinda Sorbet, I wondered whether Pepsi has jumped into the Sharbat business. But to my dismay, I realized that Mirinda Sorbet is only a orange flavoured soft drink.

Bolder or smoother, sweetened carbonated drinks are a strict NO to the increasing health conscious generation. So 7Up takes the lighter route to catch these customers. Seven up recently launched its diet version of soft drink, 7Up Light with the tag line – Low on Calories, High on refreshment. A note of caution to those who like to grab the 7Up tin attracted by the flashing label – “Less than one calorie”. There is a dreaded symbol * in that, so don’t miss out to read the details if you are a calorie freak.

Pepsi’s love for Indian cricket is legendary. Last world cup they came up with Pepsi Blue, to support the men in blue. This world cup, they dressed Gold to inspire the team to bring back the Gold cup by launching the Pepsi – Gold soft drink. Unfortunately Team India put up their worst performance in the world cup history and are now waiting for a miraculous win by Bermuda over Bangladesh to enter into the super 8’s.

Which one tastes better? I would give my thumbs up to Pepsi Gold. Mirinda Sorbet is the biggest disappointment. May be I expected too much from their ice cream like smooth orange drink campaign and so felt not happy after tasting that.

So what next? We may soon see fizz drinks with proteins, vitamins and minerals to woo the health conscious. Hey, I’m not joking. Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola will soon sell their vitamin-enhanced versions of cola drinks in the US. Wait for a little more time to see the action in India.