Offering Choice and Information
10-08-2017
At Coca‑Cola South Pacific (CCSP), we are responsible for the marketing of 25 brands owned by The Coca‑Cola Company (TCCC) in Australia which are featured on over 180 different products that are sold in thousands of outlets across the country. In addition to the Coca‑Cola® variants for which TCCC are best known, TCCC’s options also include Sprite, Fanta, Lift, Fuze Tea, Pump, Zico coconut water, Goulburn Valley juice, Barista Bros flavoured milk, Cascade and Glaceau vitaminwater.
TCCC’s brands are manufactured by our bottling partner Coca‑Cola Amatil across 12 bottling plants around Australia with 99% of these non-alcoholic beverages made locally. Coca‑Cola Amatil also own a number of brands, including Mount Franklin water. CCSP and Coca‑Cola Amatil work closely together to market and sell the combined portfolio of brands. Together we employ more than 4300 Australians spread across every corner of our country.
As a significant Australian business responsible for global brands, we take corporate responsibility seriously. Our marketplace actions have been implemented to address one of the key community concerns, obesity. In Australia our focus is on two fundamental principles: provide more beverage choices and provide more information.
Provide more beverage choices
We have invested significant time and resources in recent years to innovate some of TCCC’s most popular drinks, providing consumers with greater choice. We know that while many people want to reduce their kilojoule and sugar intake, they do not want to compromise on taste. This is a difficult balance to achieve but is something we work hard to get right. Successful innovations have been made possible with new ingredients, such as stevia leaf extract, which makes it possible to produce lower kilojoule drinks that still taste great.
1. More choices of lower kilojoule options
One of TCCC’s first no-sugar, low-kilojoule colas, diet Coke was introduced to Australians in 1983.
By the end of 2014, all TCCC’s top selling brands in Australia had a low-kilojoule alternative, including Coca‑Cola (Coca‑Cola Life, Diet Coca‑Cola and Coca‑Cola Zero), Sprite (Zero), Fanta (Zero), and Powerade (Zero).
2. More choices of smaller serving options
We are working with our bottling partner Coca‑Cola Amatil to increase the range of smaller portion sizes for those who want to reduce their sugar and kilojoule intake but still enjoy their beverage of choice. Research indicates that changing the food environment through reducing plate or packaging sizes can help consumers choose and consume smaller portions.
We are focused on ensuring that smaller portions are available in more stockists throughout Australia.
The 250ml varient is available in 70% of convenience stores and petrol stations and 8100% of grocery retailers.
We are seeing the results as smaller packs are now growing faster than larger packs in Australia. We continue to downsize our larger packs, including the 390ml PET to replace the larger 450ml PET in the majority of our stockists.
Provide more information
A key priority for us is to provide our consumers with the clearest possible nutrition information about our beverages, helping them to choose the best option for themselves and their families. We have long been committed to providing clear and transparent nutritional labelling so that people can make informed choices about our products.
1. Clear, transparent labelling on pack
We voluntarily introduced the % Daily Intake Guide label on all our products in 2007 which provides clear information on both the amount of kilojoules per serve and what this represents as a percentage of an adults total daily energy intake.
In 2014 we committed to adopting the Government’s voluntary Health Star Rating System (HSR) to assist consumers in making informed choices. The beverage category is part of the integrated HSR approach and as such needs to have a minimum display requirement of energy (kilojoules) only.
2. Clear, transparent labelling on vending machines
More recently we introduced nutrition information panels on our vending machines, reaching 75% by the end of 2015.
3. Online product comparison tool
Launched in 2015, our online product comparison tool allows people to compare nutritional information and product ingredients across all of our beverages.
4. Responsible Marketing practices
We have important policies for our marketing practices to ensure we provide meaningful and responsible information.
The Coca‑Cola Company has a long-standing policy not to market beverages to children under age 12. This means that we do not buy advertising directly targeted at audiences that are more than 35% children under 12. This policy applies to television, radio, and print, and, where data is available, to the Internet and mobile phones. You will see our adverts on general viewing classified family shows like the X Factor, but you won’t see any of our brands on channels like the Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon.
In 2010 we introduced Global School Beverage Guidelines. In primary schools, we do not offer our beverages for sale unless requested by a school authority. We retain records of sales to primary schools which are audited annually.
In secondary schools, we work with school authorities to ensure a full range of beverages is made available – including water, juices and other beverages in both regular and low-kilojoule/no-kilojoule versions.
We comply with the relevant State and National school guidelines around Australia.
In Summary
Choice and information is at the heart of our business. If people want great taste without sugar and kilojoules, we have the drinks to meet that need.
We have made good progress, but know we can do more. This is why we are developing ambitious new actions for the years ahead. Key among these is the commitment to increase availability of smaller size packages, to offer more lower sugar and kilojoule beverages options, and to increase the access of transparent nutrition information.
We will continue to work on ways to promote more choice for consumers. We look forward to bringing news of these to the public as they roll out.
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