Getting bored.. try this new aluminum contour bottles...

Coca-Cola is testing a new set of contoured aluminum bottles for it iconic namesake brand.

At the annual Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference here Coke is offering sleek new 250 ml aluminum bottles in red, black and silver for regular Coke, Coke Zero and Diet Coke.

A Coke spokesman said via email that the new bottles are a concept the company is "piloting."

"We wanted to provide the analysts (at the conference) with a snapshot of some of our ideas currently in the pipeline," he said. A sign by the vending machine at the Florida conference says that "the new design is a modern interpretation of the classic contour bottle in aluminum form." The new bottles aren't currently available in stores, but have appeared at select events and some night clubs.

The Coke spokesman said the success of the pilot programs would be one of the factors the company would consider before deciding if it wants to launch the new bottles nationally. He declined to say what the other determining factors would be.

-By Anjali Cordeiro, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2408; anjali.cordeiro@ dowjones.com


On the other side, listen to what Container Recycling Institute said about this new contour can ....


The Container Recycling Institute, today, announced a campaign to discourage Coke from going nationwide with their new can that's shaped like a contour bottle. "Coke's contour can," said Pat Franklin, Executive Director of CRI, "is costly to consumers and costly to the environment. All the consumer gets for the higher cost of the shapely, contour can is more waste and more pollution."

Franklin says the contour can holds the same amount of Coke Classic (12 fluid ounces) as Coke's standard aluminum cans, but is 8 mm taller and 2 grams heavier -- using 15 percent more aluminum than a regular, straight-walled Coke can. The shape of the can was inspired by the original contour glass Coca-Cola bottle, which according to the President of Coke USA, is "one of the world's most powerful equities with consumers."

"Mimicking the refillable, glass bottle, creates the image that the contour can is environmentally-friendly," said Franklin. "But in fact, the contour can creates more waste and more pollution and uses more water and more energy in its production than the standard can, and is many times more wasteful than the refillable glass bottle."

The new can is being marketed in Terre Haute, IN, the city where Coke's glass bottle was first patented in 1915, and four other cities: San Angelo, TX; Tucson and Sierra Vista, AZ and Las Cruces, NM. CRI has been organizing activists in the test-market cities, in an effort to discourage Coke from going nationwide with the can.

CRI estimates that the contour can will consume an additional 25 million pounds of aluminum a year, if it is introduced nationwide. With a 64 percent recycling rate, the institute estimates that approximately 9 million pounds will end up in landfills annually. CRI maintains that the introduction of the contour can flies in the face of the Coca-Cola Co.'s "commitment to the environment", as expressed in their publication, The Coca-Cola Company & The Environment. In that publication they declare, ". . . we have a responsibility to the billions of people . . . and that responsibility includes conducting our business in ways that protect and preserve the environment."

"If Coke goes to the national market with the contour can," said Franklin, "it will reverse the environmental policy of the world's leading soft drink manufacturer, and turn the clock backwards on source reduction."

# # #



NOTE: CRI is encouraging consumers to do four things to help prevent nationwide marketing of Coke's contour can.

1. Sign a petition showing their opposition to Coke's newest package
2. Write a letter to the editor of their local newspaper,
3. Send a check to 'Kick the Can Campaign', c/o The Container Recycling Institute
4. DON'T BUY COKE IN CONTOUR CANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

News Release
Container Recycling Institute1911 Ft. Myer Drive, Suite 900Arlington, Virginia 22209703/276-9800 fax 276-9587

Coke will join using aluminum bottles.

Coca-Cola’s iconic contour bottle is getting a new metal attitude. The cola giant, next year, will begin testing Coke and Coke Zero products in aluminum bottles.

Coke joins Budweiser, PepsiCo and a small handful of other beverage makers who are embracing this cutting edge form of packaging.
Aluminum bottles offer enhanced graphic capabilities and the ability to keep beverages colder, albeit at a cost. They cost roughly three times that of glass.
But, the premium packaging has its benefits. "The bottles stay colder longer and look cool as hell," said Michael Sands, the former Snapple CMO who was the first to introduce an aluminum bottle in the U.S. Mistic Re Energy launched in 2002 and Snapple Elements followed in 2003.
For Coke, the new 8-oz. packaging is symbolic of the company’s refined focus on its core identity, per sources. There is nothing on the bottle except for an oversized trademark (and the fine print, of course). Turner Duckworth, San Francisco, handles.
"It takes everything that is Coke and makes it fresh and new by simplifying it," said a source.
The new bottles will first be seeded at high-profile events and clubs in markets such as Atlanta and Philadelphia.
Coca-Cola also launched its new Caribou Coffee line in 12-oz. Alumi-Tek bottles in August. Coke declined comment.
While Coke is scaling back the graphics on its bottles, Mountain Dew will splash six new designs on its ornate Green Label Art series of aluminum bottles beginning Jan. 28. Created by contemporary artists, the limited edition bottles will be available at retail for the first time.
In May, Mountain Dew became the first U.S. carbonated soft drink available in an aluminum bottle (both of the Snapple drinks were sans bubbles). The original 12 designs were only available at events and through sweepstakes and influencer mailings.
“We got such a great response on the Web site, blogs, at events and in the media that we felt we were onto something big and powerful,” said Marisol Tamaro, senior marketing manager for PepsiCo-owned Mountain Dew.
Next week, Greenlabelart.com will begin a countdown until the launch of the new designs. A 16-oz. bottle will cost $1.99 versus $1.19 for a regular 20-oz. plastic bottle. The new bottles (several hundred thousands of which will be offered) will be touted online, via wild postings and print advertising.
A second set of six limited edition bottles will be available at retail in August 2008. Seed Gives Life, New York, handles advertising for the Green Label Arts initiative.
Budweiser is credited for being the first company to offer aluminum bottle products en masse in America in 2005. Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob Ultra are among the A-B brands to launch in the “bottlecan.” (The word is a literal translation from the Japanese, who first created the packaging in 2000 as an answer to that country’s backlash to PET bottles.)
"Our consumers are always looking for new products and innovation from Anheuser-Busch, [and] the aluminum bottle allowed us to deliver that,” said Keith Levy, vp-brand management at A-B in St. Louis.
Sales of beer in the aluminum bottles spiked 33% in 2007, he said.
For A-B, which had been struggling to find its role within the cocktail culture, the sleek looking bottles “allowed it to be accepted in occasions dominated by hard liquor like in the high-end club scene,” Levy said. “Mixed drinks in general are about fashion. The bottles have that element of style.”
This access comes at a cost. “Keeping it at the same [price point] makes it hard to make money. That’s OK. To us the image, style and innovation is worth the marketing investment,” said Levy.
CCL, Hermitage, Pa., produced the Snapple bottles as well as the current Mountain Dew and Iron City beer bottles.
Ed Martin, CCL’s vp-sales and marketing, said because of the cost of the bottles, “I don’t see us competing with other forms of packaging. It’s not about unit cost. It’s a marketing tool. It’s more like marketers saying, ‘Should we buy another print ad or a TV commercial’ [or invest in the aluminum bottles].”
Other companies are starting to make the investment as well. Miller Chill will be available in an aluminum bottle in the spring. Dos Equis has one in Mexico and “there are lots of energy drink projects that haven’t hit yet, but they are being looked at very hard,” said Martin.
A-B, meanwhile, continues to innovate on its packaging. It rolled out “Chill Chambers” at stadiums, Applebee’s, Hooters and other locations to keep the aluminum bottles at a chilly 22 degrees.
“Glass would explode,” said Levy. “The chill chamber just blows out more of a key benefit consumers are looking for from beer.”

Brandweek, December 17,2007