With all the talk about Coke Zero vs. Diet Coke w/ Splenda, I thought I'd take it to the next level, how does it compare to the real thing? Call me crazy, but Zero is better than regular Coke.

I hadn't consumed a regular cola in about 6 months, as drinking diet has been my saving grace with weight lifting without gaining fat, but I had just bought a 20 oz. bottle of Coke Zero at the store and my brother was drinking a regular Coke. So I poured myself a shot-glass sized serving of regular Coke to compare it to Coke Zero.

Honestly, I could taste the corn in the corn syrup! It didn't taste all that great to me. It was like drinking a regular beer after getting my alcohol education on light beer, it was horrible.

Also, Coke Zero is slightly sweeter as well.

I just hope the people at Coca Cola know what they're doing cuz as far as I'm concerned, the market is confused as to what exactly Coke Zero is.

With every day of drinking Coke Zero, I'm coming closer and closer to agreeing with you.

Well, this board has many threads on this very subject. The general thought is that when Coke Zero in poured over a fair amount of ice; Coke Zero nearly (about 95% or so) tastes like Classic Coke.

An apparent majority of diet soda pop drinkers on this board have tried Coke Zero. So far, most of us are very impressed and have started to put Coke Zero in our day to day soda pop rotation.

Yes the market is confused. IMO the marketing plan is not consistent in the mass media and at the store level. Again there are several threads on this board where we have discussed this topic.

[ 07-01-2005, 02:24 PM: Message edited by: Mr Zabe ]

I mix Zero with alot of Spiced Rum and I can hardly tell the difference.

zero is good. but not as good as classic to me. but almost as good as c2.

i know i've said this about 10 times already. but people keep bringing it up.

i hope i don't get banned for talking too much.

I think Coca-Cola is focusing too much on diet
colas in America which is kind of an insult. There are already a Coca-Cola Lemon and a Coca-Cola Raspberry being sold. But are they sold here? No because Coke is going wild with diet colas.

They could have also launced Coke with Lime better then they did, You can barely tell it's a lime cola unless you look at the label closely. The also graphics look too much like regular Coke's graphics.

[ 07-02-2005, 01:23 AM: Message edited by: XLS_04 ]

coke (and pepsi) are focusing on diet drinks b/c they're the only segment of the soda market that's been growing steadily over the last decade.

i guess they figure that, because of health problems (diabetes) and people's desire to stay fit, that diet will continue to grow into the future. and that's why they're giving us more options.

i'm not sure if they're making a mistake or not. but it's hard to argue with the numbers.

after all, diet coke is expected to overtake pepsi as the #2 softdrink in just a few years.

I have no idea how long it takes a soda pop company like coke to develop,test and bring to market new and newly improved products.

I do know in the auto industry it takes approximately 7 to 8 years.

My point is that in the US a few years ago,the low carb/no carb dieting trend/fad was off like a rocket. My guess is that Coke based on this trend chose to develop new and or improved products to meet the demand. Sugar soda pop so they figured by their research division were going to be in less demand.

I would like to hear from our seasoned board mates who work for soda pop companies to see if I'm way off base.

[ 07-02-2005, 02:01 AM: Message edited by: Mr Zabe ]

Your auto example is VERY outdated. Companies like Toyota and Ford can now bring models to market in less than 30 months...

30 months is almost three years though.

either way... i'm still surprised that C2 bombed like it did. and there's more than one reason for it.

--too little, too late
--the shady pricing/packaging
--fuzzy marketing

it was three strikes from the beginning. they could try to revive it now. but, it's probably too late. C2 will probably be a memory in two years (if that).