Sugar-free soda Tab, the first diet cola released by The Coca-Cola Company, is the latest brand to be discontinued as part of the company’s ongoing purge of underperforming ‘zombie’ brands.
Having recently announced the end of Odwalla and Zico, Coke today added Tab to its list of items discontinued in 2020, also joining the likes of Diet Coke Feisty Cherry and Coke Life.
“We’re forever grateful to Tab for paving the way for the diets and lights category, and to the legion of Tab lovers who have embraced the brand for nearly six decades,” said Kerri Kopp, group director, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola North America, in a statement on the company’s website. “If not for Tab, we wouldn’t have Diet Coke or Coke Zero Sugar. Tab did its job. In order to continue to innovate and give consumers the choices they want today, we have to make decisions like this one as part of our portfolio rationalization work.”
At the time of its launch in 1963, Tab was truly innovative: as one of the early category pioneers, it helped prove out the concept of a low-calorie, sugar-free cola with particular appeal to female consumers. The brand established a solid consumer base and helped build the diet soda shelf at retail, setting the stage for the introduction of Diet Coke in 1983, which swapped out saccharin for a new artificial sweetener, aspartame. In its wake, Tab’s popularity went into steady decline over several decades.
With Diet Coke — as well as Coca-Cola Zero Sugar — still doing strong numbers, the company has a “one-two punch” of complementary brands to lean into, according to Klopp. Coca-Cola, which has the largest dollar share of the low calorie carbonated soft drinks category, saw sales in that segment rise 12.9% over the two weeks ended on September 19, according to Nielsen data.
In a statement on the company’s website, Cath Coetzer, global head of innovation and marketing operations for Coca-Cola, said that the soda giant was “challenging ourselves to think differently about our brands” to accelerate its long-standing goal of evolving into a “total beverage company.”
Coetzer added that Coke’s portfolio redundancies were part of a company goal to “drive impact and growth,” rather than reduce its product offerings by a specific number.
“[This is] about continuing to follow the consumer and being very intentional in deciding which of our brands are most deserving of our investments and resources, and also taking the tough but important steps to identify those products that are losing relevance and therefore should exit the portfolio,” he said.
In resetting its strategic priorities, Coetzer said, Coca-Cola will be focused on scaling through “bets that have scale potential across beverage categories, consumer need state and drinking occasions.” The company noted that the discontinuation of Odwalla has provided resources that have been directed towards funding innovations like Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, Coca-Cola Energy and AHA.