Pepsi Next and Dr Pepper 10 each have less than a 1% market share and Coke's last big diet cola launch, Coke Zero, was in 2005.
Sparkling beverages, including Coca-Cola and Diet Coke, continue to see strong growth, the company said.
Coca-Cola and Diet Coke supply 29% of that market, or about 3 billion gallons a year, ( see chart).
Its flagship brand is losing steam, having given away 2nd place in the cola rankings to Diet Coke and, as of the last quarter, reported a 3% sales decline on a 7% decline in net sales (yielding a 16% drop in operating profit for its Pepsi and Gatorade businesses).
As a marketing director at Coca-Cola, I was involved in the Diet Coke launch in 1983, when the company was savvy enough to bet that consumers would buy a no-calorie soda that tasted better than Tab.
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Cardello is a former marketing director at Coca-Cola, where he worked when the company introduced Diet Coke in 1983, so he knows of what he writes.
In addition to the white cans, other Coca-Cola products will feature white bottle caps including bottles of Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Nestea and Minute Maid products.
In 2010, Diet Coke unseated Pepsi as the No. 2 domestic soda by volume, behind Coca-Cola.
Among the differences: Regular Coke is labeled "Coca-Cola'' and states the calories at the front of the can, while Diet Coke's holiday can silver as always is labeled "Diet Coke'' and features snowflakes.
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First news hit the markets that for the first time ever, Diet Coke had overtaken Pepsi as the second-most popular soft drink in the country, behind Coca-Cola.
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