Coke goes back into the water
Coca Cola has launched its first bottled water in London since the 2004 Dasani disaster, which was voted the worst marketing blunder of all time.
Glaceau Vitaminwater is a nutrient-boosted "lifestyle" drink which comes in six colour-coded flavours. The drink brand was bought from its founder Darius Bikoff for £2.1 billion last May but Coca-Cola will not disclose how much it is spending on the UK launch.
Dasani, which sold for 95p a bottle, had to be withdrawn from Britain following a £7 million marketing campaign - after revelations it was taken from the mains and that the purification process left it with twice the legal limit of cancer-causing bromate.
Coca-Cola spokeswoman Joan O'Connor said: "This is not a water, it's an active lifestyle brand." Glaceauis aimed primarily at "time poor" urban professionals and is seen as a fashionable accessory in New York with customers including Cameron Diaz and Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker.
But the drink, recommended price £1.69 for a 500ml bottle, risks complaints about its environmental footprint. It is bottled in Donnery, a spring near Paris, and transported by lorry more than 300 miles to London.
Ms O'Connor said the French spring was chosen after "a lot of evaluation". But she insisted: "Glaceau is highly committed to the reduction of its carbon footprint." Coca-Cola hopes Glaceau will tap into the new market for flavoured waters, which reached 435 million litres in 2006. Glaceau is currently only available at Selfridges and around 50 central London stores but will be rolled out around Britain.
The colours include green, a multivitamin lemonade; orange, with calcium and vitamin C; red, a raspberry-apple flavour with vitamin C and zinc; pink, a dragonfruit drink with vitamins C and B; purple, a fruit punch with Vitamin B and potassium; yellow, a tropical citrus with Vitamin B and guarana.
The Orange was tested for the Standard by hospitality student Yara Hummels, 22. She said: "It's healthier than Coke but not as boring as water. I'm not really into the vitamins - I like the flavour and this is not too sweet." The purple flavour was tried by banker Lucie Vidal, 34, who said she liked the taste but wouldn't buy it because of all the calories.
Media planner Timo Schmid, 24, said of the yellow drink: "It's a bit bland. I don't need vitamins in my water."
