By Ian Neubauer
In a rare corporate admission, Coca-Cola Australia (CCA) said Mother, its most recent foray into the $151 million energy drinks market, was flawed but it had learned from the mistake and would shortly launch of a revamped product.
“Responding to consumer feedback on the taste of the original product, Coca-Cola is holding up its hands and admitting it got the taste wrong,” the bottler said in a statement.
“New Mother, launching in early July this year, will taste nothing like the old one and will deliver double the energy kick — making it the most potent energy drink in Australia.”
CCA is betting a $3 million marketing campaign will help Mother Mark II make a dent in a market overwhelmingly dominated by Red Bull and V, and is touting its new creative and multi-channel approach as the “mother of all relaunches”.
But the $15 million CCA threw at the original Mother last year failed to dislodge the Red Bull-V duopoly. Ditto for Lift Plus, Burn and Recharge —the bottler’s first, second and third energy drink offerings — all of which fizzed out.
Mother will be available on- and off-premise in 500ml cans from July 1.