Diet Coke’s decision to launch a slate of new flavors had some critics wondering if the company was heading for another “New Coke” disaster.
But one executive says Coca-Cola has learned from past mistakes.
“We’ve learned that when you have a great thing, you don’t mess with it,” Rafael Acevedo, the company’s North America group director, told Cheddar, pointing out that, unlike with the 1985 marketing fiasco, the classic Diet Coke isn’t going anywhere.
What is changing is the packaging -- the company introduced slimmer cans -- and the flavor options. Ginger Lime, Feisty Cherry, Zesty Blood Orange, and Twisted Mango were added to the line up.
“We’re targeting spice seekers, and we want to target those people who are trying to look for bolder flavors and new experiences,” Acevedo said. “We saw that the sleek can actually connects with the new target as well, it makes the brand feel more premium and more modern. So all the research that we have is telling us that consumers absolutely love it.”
And Diet Coke certainly did its research. The company spent over two years working on this project and talked to about 10,000 consumers to figure out what would work.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/diet-coke-refreshes-itself-for-2018).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
