Evolving the Coca-Cola Packaging

I've always loved package design...from being a young kid to my first marketing job at Johnson & Johnson to right now. I love package design and I love to see it evolve. I love the subtlety of it all.

Which is why I've been watching with great delight the slowly evolving packaging of the Coca-Cola line around the world. With a portfolio that gets more and more broad, it's just as much art as it is science to balance unified branding with flavor/type differentiation. No small feat, especially when you're an icon.

Here's the old packaging, at least here in the US:



With a few tweaks that are rolling out over the next few months:



No big deal you might say? Well, when you think about how the cans are displayed at retail and you think about how people hold the cans when they are drinking them, maybe it is a big deal.

There is similar evolution happening in Northern Europe:



But with more interesting use of color in Spain:



It may seem confusing on the surface, but these kinds of changes require a great deal of thought and strategy, not to mention logistical coordination to get it out in the market. These are the kinds of subtle, continual changes that brands need to make to stay current and up-to-date.

I find it all so fascinating, as subtle as it may seem. Will it get me to buy more? Maybe not, but it makes the brand feel fresh for some reason. That's the beauty of an continually evolving package design.

What's your experience?  JIM