"Steve Heyer, Coke's president and chief operating officer, said the company has faced challenges in recent years in growing its Sprite and Fanta brands in North America, and volume growth in the region for Fanta, in particular, is not where the company wants it to be. He said Fanta's performance has been strong in Europe and Asia."

We all know Fanta is a dog, what took them so long to figure that out?

Yea, I think it could have potential too if they would do it right. Thay could start by making it taste good!

Central Coke is the first in a long line of bottlers who will be giving up on Fanta. I don't think we'll see the name in the US come the end of 2004, and this time, it will be gone for good.

The Fanta question comes down to "can KO market Fanta flavors in such a way that consumers are willing to pay a premium over the 3rd Tier/store brand flavors rate"? Or, more sinisterly, "can KO push 3rd Tier flavors off the shelves?".

So far, neither is happening. Fanta is becoming nothing more that the flavor that happens to be in KO vending machines, and the occasional fountain.

To help it in the stores, KO must, IMHO, either market the h**l out of it, or break it loose from Coke in supermarket pricing. In fountains, KO must convince its major partners to move from a 5 or 6 nozzle fountain to a 10+ nozzle one.

Fanta won't leave Texas, it's just too good a seller here. The state's 47% hispanic, and that's a strong market for Fanta. Orange is a big seller here. You can't find Minute Maid Orange in 20oz. bottles anywhere around here, it's all Fanta Orange 20oz. everywhere you look.

and in So. Cal, its a great seller too.

The MM and Fanta flavours are both sold here, but Fanta is already being sold at sub-store brand prices (3 20-oz for 1.98, 2.50 a 12 pk, etc..) CCE is definately pushing it lower than the Coke pricing.

Of course, this is a STRONG pepsi market, but CCE also sells a ton of Cactus Cooler here, too.

It's really a shame that Coke has done nothing to promote Fanta in this area of the country. When the local Wal Mart had it, I was addicted to the orange and I was really sad to see it go. You can't expect a brand to do anything when you don't promote it. I bet most people didn't even realize that it was a Coke product unless they happened to look very closely at the package.

NC is still strong Fanta territory. You can find grape, orange, pineapple and strawberry almost everywhere. Even Fanta-branded vending machines. There's a significant Hispanic population here, and in some parts of town Fanta is just as visible as Coke or Pepsi in the supermarkets.

Was Fanta ever really promoted in the US? I used to see Fanta Orange and Root Beer on fountains, until Minute Maid and Barq's kicked them off. Occasionally, I'd see Strawberry too.

I didn't even know it was a Coke product until much later. The Coke museum in Atlanta has exotic Fanta drinks from all over the world.

From the Coca Cola Africa page at http://www.africa.coca-cola.com/brands.html :

Fanta
Fanta was acquired by The Coca-Cola Company in 1960 and is now sold throughout Africa. Fanta Orange is the core flavour, representing about 80% of sales, and has a solid fan base.

African consumers, particularly teens, fondly associate Fanta with happiness and special
times with friends and family. This positive imagery is driven by the brand's fun, playful personality, which goes hand in hand with the bright colour (particularly orange), bold fruit taste, and tingly carbonation.

Complementing orange are a range of Fanta flavours bringing local excitement and variation to the brand. Fanta variants proving popular with consumers in markets across the continent include Fanta Passion (Congo), Fanta Pineapple (South Africa) and Fanta Foliz (Morocco)

But back here in the US, it wasn't really promoted at all, and I bet most people just thought it was a store brand, or a third tier brand like Shasta.

The same with Pepsi's "Patio" brand...kind of languished until it was replaced by the Slice flavor line in the mid-80's.

Most people still think it's a generic brand. It's all over the place in Europe it is very popular there.

But as far as the USA it has always given the impression of a store brand soda, since it's mostly sold in department stores and small markets. The packaging even looks generic.

I think only certain states will carry Fanta such as TX, IL, and Ca, etc... The reson is because those states had Fanta all along.

It really makes no sense to sell orange, or grape, Fanta to only have it compete with orange and grape Minute Maid.

If they want to keep Fanta they need to focus on the abstract flavors instead of the generic flavors.

There are people that don't even know it exists anymore.