Coke updates can design with ‘red dot’ theme

Coca-Cola is testing a packaging redesign of its flagship brands such as regular Coke and Coke Zero with the rollout of a new look in Mexico.

The Atlanta-based beverage giant has taken the wraps off a new “One Brand” design that makes Coca-Cola’s classic “red dot” logo dominant on cans of regular Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Coke and the stevia-sweetened Coca-Cola Life.

The specific variety is denoted in smaller print and with color accents.

The new design isn’t expected to make its way to North America — the company’s biggest region in sales terms — until next year at the earliest.

Coke said U.S. marketing and promotions have already been set for 2016, and that the company is exploring a variety of “One Brand” packaging graphics for the domestic market.

Can design may strike some as trivial. But Coke and other beverage giants take it very seriously, especially at a time when they are grappling with flagging consumption of soda.

“Packaging is our most visible and valuable asset,” Coke’s chief marketing officer, Marcos de Quinto, said in announcing the “One Brand” rollout early Tuesday.

The idea is to unite the visual identity of the different products in Coca-Cola’s soft drink line up and make it easier for consumers to differentiate between full-caloried drinks with those with no calories or no caffeine, Quinto said.

Coke, which will release its first quarter earnings on Wednesday, has already made changes to some packaging in its line up.

In January, Diet Coke teamed up with computer giant HP to create the “It’s Mine” program that put an explosion of colors, geometric designs and graphics on millions of Diet Coke cans and bottles. The new Diet Coke designs hit stores Feb. 1.