From: Packaging News

Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) is getting into the festive spirit special limited-edition packs, truck tour dates and iconic TV ad.

Available from 12 November, the limited-edition festive packs feature the iconic image of the Father Christmas designed by Haddon Sundblom enjoying a bottle of Coca-Cola. The graphics will appear on Coca-Cola zero sugar, Coca-Cola original taste and Diet Coke across a variety of formats including 330ml cans, 500ml PET bottles and on the wrapping of multipacks.

The packs coincide with the return of its Coca-Cola Christmas truck tour and ‘Holidays are coming’ TV advert.

With consumers spending more than £265m on Colas during the Christmas period last year, the Father Christmas packs are designed to encourage shoppers to get into the festive spirit and enable retailers and wholesalers to boost sales by adding an ‘extra element of specialness’ to their drink range during the Christmas period.

Often hailed as the unofficial start of the festive season, Coca-Cola’s iconic ‘Holidays Are Coming’ TV advert will appear on screens from mid-November which the soft drinks giant said: “will include our glass bottle four pack at the end, a format which becomes even more popular during special occasions.”

The Coca-Cola Christmas truck will also kick off mid-November, touring Great Britain and visiting 24 locations across the country handing out more than 240,000 Coca-Cola zero sugar or Diet Coke samples to consumers. Every truck stop will include recycling signage and bins to encourage consumers to recycle their cans and bottles, the latest in a variety of Coca-Cola communications to encourage more people to recycle in GB.

Simon Harrison, customer marketing director at CCEP GB, said: “Coca-Cola has become synonymous with Christmas and traditions like our Coca-Cola truck tour and ‘Holidays Are Coming’ advert are the perfect way to build anticipation in the lead up to the big day.

“The Christmas opportunity has been growing for a number of years now with shoppers spending £1bn more on groceries during Christmas 2017 than 2016. Colas performed particularly well adding the most absolute value to the soft drinks category with Coca-Cola zero sugar claiming the fastest-growing cola brand crown. With our 2018 multi-million pound Christmas marketing campaign planned to hit 95% of adults in GB, we’d recommend that retailers get well stocked up on our wide variety of festive packs to take full advantage.”

The latest activity joins the arrival of a festive Cinnamon Limited Edition variant to the Coca-Cola zero sugar portfolio, which was the fastest-growing cola brand during Christmas 2017.