Coke's Strange New Tea Concoction Signals That It's Finally Serious About Innovation
If you were to embark on a hunt for a
new product destined to make lifelong Coca-Cola (KO) executives feel nervous and out of their element, you be hard-pressed to do better than something called Sokenbicha. This unpronounceable drink is an unsweetened Japanese blended tea and Coke is launching it this month in Whole Foods (WFMI) stores nationwide, offering proof that the soda giant is actually getting serious about selling products that aren't simply sugar water.
Sokenbicha ("SO-can-BEE-cha") represents Coke's attempt to tap into the growing market of people who are looking for beverages that may actually be good for you. In recent years, unusual, exotic drinks like coconut water and the fermented tea kombucha have been surprise hits, albeit small ones in a world of billion dollar beverage brands. Sold in 16 ounce bottles, Coke's Sokenbicha comes in five flavors and touts that it contains "the goodness of natural botanicals."
The company is making all the right moves in launching the product. It's starting small -- just in Whole Foods -- and keeping it on the down low. The bottles make no mention of the Coca-Cola Company and you won't find any corporate press releases about it. There is, of course, a Facebook page and a Twitter account.
Sokenbicha isn't going to put any kids of Coke executives through college, but the move is a symbolic step in the right direction for Coke. The 122-year old company continues to cling tightly to the importance of its historic flagship soda brands, even as critics continue to lambast sugary drinks for being key contributors to obesity and diabetes. But Coke appears to have arrived at the realization that if it wants to generate growth in mature markets like the U.S., it's got to get off the reservation once in a while.
Sokenbicha came from Coke's venturing and emerging brands unit, which among other things is charged with identifying interesting new beverages from Coke's units around the world that can be sold in the US. Coke's Japanese division has had great success with Sokenbicha, where it's the company's biggest tea brand.
Coke's 2008 purchase of a stake in Honest Tea also came from the so-called VEB team. Honest Tea's drinks are simple, organic and only lightly sweetened, and they are a healthy addition to a portfolio with no shortage of nutritionally-indefensible products. Next year Coke has the option to buy the remaining 60% of the quirky company. It'd be foolish not to.
Image from Sokenbicha.com
Related: