Coca-Cola Advances "World Without Waste" Global Packaging Upgrade: What's Going On

Observant fans of "happy water" may have noticed that the Coca-Cola they bought recently looks a little different.

Today, The Coca-Cola Company announced that it has successively launched products with all-new packaging in the Chinese market. This is another global-scale packaging upgrade since the "one brand" global marketing strategy was released in 2016.

In fact, giving its flagship product a new look is also Coca-Cola's latest move to advance its "World Without Waste" goal.

Xiaoshidai noticed that the new packaging specifically adds the words "Recycle Me", encouraging consumers to recycle beverage bottles by creating a sense of talking face-to-face with the bottle. Below, let us take a look at Coca-Cola's new packaging together.

"Big makeover" for Coke Zero

Xiaoshidai learned from Coca-Cola today that the products featuring the new packaging are classic Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, including PET bottle and can products in different sizes.

"Coca-Cola" packaging refresh

According to its 2020 ESG report, in terms of retail value, the Coca-Cola series to which the above products belong contributes the most to this beverage giant with annual revenue of 33 billion USD, accounting for nearly 50%.

Overall, the new packaging takes a minimalist route.

According to the company, this packaging refresh simplifies the design, removing some visual elements including the ribbon, while moving the "Coca-Cola" logo upward and leaving partial blank space on the bottle body.

Coca-Cola describes the "subtraction" design concept as a tribute to its century-old classic packaging, and stated in the announcement that "the 'Coca-Cola' contour bottle introduced in 1915 is an eternal classic in the history of world packaging. Its high recognizability means it can be identified at a glance even if it is shattered on the ground. A truly deeply rooted brand may no longer need complicated information and ornate design."

In terms of color scheme, classic Coca-Cola continues the previous pairing of a red background and a white logo; Coca-Cola Zero Sugar adopts a pairing of a red background and a black logo.

Notably, the new color scheme of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is the most visually direct adjustment this time.

Xiaoshidai noticed that the old version of this product, on the basis of the classic red-and-white color scheme, highlighted Coca-Cola Zero Sugar by adding a black arc bearing the words "zero sugar" at the top of the packaging.

The new packaging, however, changes the overall color scheme, making it more distinct from classic Coca-Cola while also standing out more on shelves and in other locations.

In addition, the Coke Zero packaging also adds content such as "0 sugar" and "0 fat" in prominent places, reflecting the beverage giant's "little trick" of catering to the health trend.

Xiaoshidai, upon reviewing materials, noticed that Coca-Cola Zero Sugar has long been among The Coca-Cola Company's "billion-dollar" brand camp and has maintained strong growth in the Chinese market in recent years.

More creative attempts

Another highlight of this packaging change lies in the newly added sustainable packaging content.

Xiaoshidai saw that,

the new packaging adds the words "Recycle Me", with the first character designed as a pattern with two arrows, to encourage consumers to recycle beverage bottles in a more intuitive and more interactive way, supporting sustainable development.

In fact, bottle packaging can be described as a "treasure billboard", which is reflected in the fact that it requires no extra investment cost, can penetrate into more places along with the product, and reaches a guaranteed consumer group. Therefore, using packaging design as a carrier to practice sustainable development is a good direction.

"The Coca-Cola Company hopes to further convey the initiative of recycling and regenerating beverage bottles through product packaging, a medium with global influence. This is also another highly creative global practice by The Coca-Cola Company in fulfilling its 'World Without Waste' sustainable packaging strategy." The company stated in its announcement that the new "Coca-Cola" packaging bearing the sustainable packaging mark has also been successively launched in global markets, including the United States, Singapore and Malaysia.

Next, Coca-Cola, which has a huge beverage family, will also extend this design to multiple "billion-dollar" brands.

"The 'Recycle Me' mark is expected to also appear on Sprite, Fanta and Schweppes, being changed successively in the Chinese market, with different paces in different cities."

Coca-Cola China told Xiaoshidai today.

These are also The Coca-Cola Company's latest moves to advance its "World Without Waste" goal.

As early as 2018, The Coca-Cola Company released its "World Without Waste" global sustainable packaging vision, committing that by 2025, the Coca-Cola system would use 100% recyclable packaging globally; and that by 2030, it would help achieve the collection and recycling of an equivalent amount of the packaging used for the company's sold products, while using more than 50% recycled materials in its product packaging worldwide.

To encourage more people to join the ranks of PET bottle recycling, Coca-Cola China has also made many attempts. Since 2019, Coca-Cola China has joined hands with community subdistricts, international designers and material partners to jointly develop the "Recycle Me, See You Later" circular regeneration themed public awareness exhibition, showing the public the value of recycling and regenerating beverage bottles.

For example, Coca-Cola China carries out a monthly beverage bottle recycling-for-drinks exchange activity in Wuliqiao Subdistrict and Changshou Road Subdistrict in Shanghai. The collected beverage bottles enter designated recycling and processing institutions, are made into public facilities such as sun umbrellas, and return to the community once again, realizing a closed recycling loop for beverage bottles in the community.

Coca-Cola China's circular regeneration themed public awareness exhibition

For a long time, the green development of plastic packaging has been a key part of environmental governance and a key topic for beverage enterprises.

"Recycled PET (rPET) is a material with both economic value and environmental significance. Thanks to the well-functioning domestic recycling system and a complete industrial chain and supply chain, rPET material has been widely used in industries such as apparel and home textiles, further realizing the internal value of PET material. The recycling and regeneration of beverage bottles requires coordination among the entire industrial chain and all sectors of society, including the joint participation of multiple parties such as manufacturers, consumers and recycling enterprises. Coca-Cola's 'Recycle Me' mark is a positive measure to encourage consumers to participate in environmental protection and will play a leading and driving role in building a closed loop for plastics." Dr. Wang Jun, Technical Vice President of the Plastics Recycling Branch of the China Synthetic Resin Association (CPRRA), said in Coca-Cola's announcement.

Today, Coca-Cola China told Xiaoshidai that in addition to the "Recycle Me" label on bottles, the company will continue to be committed to public education and communication on the recycling and regeneration of beverage bottles, and will achieve the "World Without Waste" goal through creative attempts such as working with all sectors of society to create themed exhibitions, joining hands with community subdistricts to build a closed-loop model for beverage bottle recycling and regeneration, and designing and launching rPET derivatives.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378241.html