Coca-Cola dives in to sparkling water craze against Pepsi, La Croix, Spindrift
Water is the new soda.
Coca-Cola is launching a new flavored seltzer brand next year to compete with brands like La Croix and Spindrift in the saturated sparkling water category.
AHA, the bubbly new drink, will hit shelves in March with eight flavors such as strawberry with cucumber, and apple and ginger. There will also be two caffeinated varieties, black cherry and coffee and citrus, and green tea that contain 30 grams of caffeine, slightly less than a can of Coke, the company announced Thursday.
The sparkling water category has attracted a cult-like following of consumers looking for better-for-you beverage options with all-natural ingredients as alternatives to sugary soft drinks like soda, as brands find ways to break into the exploding $4.2 trillion wellness industry. Coke's new sparkling water launches come after PepsiCo. rolled out Bubly, its line of sparkling water with zero-calories and no artificial flavors and sweeteners, last year.
Brands have been following the La Croix model. The retro Costco staple from the 1980s rebranded as a lifestyle product marketing its neon-colored cans all over Instagram and through partnerships with music festivals like Coachella and even in pop art exhibits. The company's net sales were $244 million in 2017, up from $203 million the previous year.
Sales of Coke North America's sparkling water portfolio, anchored by brands like Dasani and Smartwater were up 27% in 2018, according to Nielsen. AHA will replace Dasani Sparkling, which has been on the market since 2014, at retailers, Coca-Cola said.
"Sparkling water has had another very big year and we are well-positioned to increase our presence in the category in a big, bold way," Celina Li, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola North America, said in a statement. "AHA is our big-bet brand in this big-bet category."
And as soda sales fall flat, beverage brands seem to be increasingly banking on sparkling water. Last year, bottled water, including the sparkling category, trumped soda as the No. 1 drink sold in the U.S. Americans drank an average of 39.3 gallons of bottled water in 2016 and 38.5 gallons of carbonated soft drinks, according to research firm Beverage Marketing Corp.
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