For the past seven years, Coke’s branding slogan has been "Open Happiness". In a recent shift announced yesterday, the multi-billion dollar soft drink brand is changing its slogan to ‘Taste the Feeling’. The branding change comes at the behest of Chief Marketing Officer Marcos de Quinto, who changed the slogan to unite the company on a global scale. This is the first time Coke has used one cohesive marketing strategy for all products.
The industry is moving forward with a focus on health. However, Coke’s reliance on sugar in their drinks puts them under a critical lens in a culture concerned with rising diabetes and obesity rates. The logic follows that the associations to diabetes and obesity are counterintuitive to the “Happiness” on their slogan. By focusing on taste, the company refocuses consumer’s attention to the product itself rather than the effects of the product.
