Coke Goes Produce

Coca-Cola has made another misstep. And we've talked a lot about Coke probably in the past three or four months as they continue to raise prices. So now what they've decided to do is license two of their brands sSimply and Minute Maid to add to fruit. Frutura is the Global Fruit Sales Company which will distribute fresh grapes and citrus bearing these Coke logos on it. Now, we've tried this before. We tried it with Disney, which I think is probably even a stronger brand to connect produce to kids than it is Minute Maid. But to me, this is just a cheap shot to try and make some money. Licensing the brands that you've got if you walked in and saw a Minute Maid Orange, would you be more likely to buy that orange?

Sally: I'm not sure what the messaging is that they're going for here, Phil. They're going to be distributing fruits like Clementine's, lemons, limes, oranges, and mandarins, as well as red green and black seedless grapes. And so, I'm not sure what message that is going to send to people when they see those logos in the produce department. Do people connect Minute Maid to the Coca-Cola company? I'm not sure if they make that, if shoppers make that connection. But yes, I agree it could be a misstep for this company.

Phil: Yeah, and also, I didn't have the opportunity to check, but my belief is that most of the oranges that's used in Minute Maid come from Brazil anyway. It's from concentrate, so I'm not sure if there's a disconnect. I think it's a major disconnect.