Coca-Cola unveiled its 13 new commericials for its flagshipbrand, Coke Classic, which continue the succesful "Always"campaign for the 3rd year. The slogan has been changed slightlyto "Always and only Coca-Cola." In Atlanta, Chris Roush writesthat five of the ads "place heavy emphasis on battling private-label sodas" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 2/14). "Qualities liketaste, the contoured Coke bottle and the red disk logo are evenmore prominently stressed than in the last two years" (StuartElliott, N.Y. TIMES, 2/14). Ten other ads, from Creative ArtistsAgency, will be released next month (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/14). MARKET SHARE REPORT: Beverage Digest, an industrynewsletter, reports that Diet colas lost ground last year, whileCoke Classic, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew and Sprite allgained. In the soft drink market, top-ranked Coke rose from20.1% in '93 to 20.4%, while No. 2 Pepsi rose from 17.7% to17.8%. Among sports drinks, No. 1 Gatorade (78.2%) lost groundto Coca-Cola's Powerade (10.1%) and PepsiCo's All Sport (5.4%).Gatorade held 85.6% of the market in '93 (Herry Berkowitz, N.Y.NEWSDAY, 2/14). PEPSI TO SPIN OFF RESTAUARANTS? USA TODAY reports someanalysts are predicting a spinoff of PepsiCo's restaurantdivision -- Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut (USA TODAY, 2/14). A-B TO ICE RELATIONSHIP WITH LABATT: Following LabattBreweries' legal loss to Anheuser-Busch over the terms "ice beer"and the ice brewing process, there is speculation that Labatt'sagreement with A-B to brew Budweiser in Canada could be injeopardy. While Labatt spokesperson Sharon Paul said the twoissues have no relation, A-B officials could not be reached forcomment. The deal brings Labatt C$45M in annual profits (MarinaStrauss, Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 2/14). In St. Louis, Robert Manorreviews the testimony by August Busch IV in the Labatt trial andthe view the trial provided behind the scenes in the beer wars.A-B announced that it will replace Ice Draft with two new beersBud Ice and Bud Ice Light (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 2/13).
