Fashion-Forward Can Keeps Diet Coke Fresh

Fashion can veer between the playful and the sophisticated. And that is precisely what a new limited edition Diet Coke can, reportedly slated for release in September, looks like.

According to a news item in Adweek, the new limited-edition soda can features the same slim-feeling silvery aluminum background with a beautiful bold new play on typography. A giant D rests upon the K, wrapping horizontally around the can with the full name discretely tucked into a letter, according to images posted on the magazine's website. The new design is part of a promotional partnership with StyleCaster.com, a fashion and design website, the story said.

Diet Coke has unveiled several other special editions this year, including fashion-forward designs from Karl Lagerfeld in Europe and heart-themed cans, in coordination with Heidi Klum, to promote heart health and awareness.

Limited Editions Boost Brand Loyalty

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Even for a brand with market strength like Diet Coke -- second only to big brother, Coca-Cola Classic for North American brand market share in 2010, according to Beverage Digest -- limited editions can help refresh the image and experience of the brand.

Getting buzz, driving revenue and staying relevant are some of the reasons big brands like Coca-Cola might roll out limited editions, says branding expert David L. Rogers, who is the author of The Network Is Your Customer: 5 Strategies to Thrive in a Digital Age.

"The value of a limited edition is that it allows a legacy and long-established brand to do something a little different and stay fresh and interesting to the audience," he says. "On one hand, traditional branding tells us that there is equity and value in consistency. For example, if Hershey's were to change its classic bar every few years, [which] is so iconic and well known, [the brand] might hurt [itself] by fiddling."

"On the other hand, we live in a fast-changing world and everything is accelerated by digital media," Rogers says. "Customers always want something new and interesting [from] the brands they care about. How do they strike a balance between consistency and fresh?"

Will the nearly 1.2 million Facebook fans of Diet Coke agree? We'll have to wait until September to find out.

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