In June 2017, Coca-Cola Life will vacate the UK market due to its poor acceptance by British consumers. Coca-Cola Life was initially launched in 2013 in Argentina and Chile and has since been on shelves in over 20 countries. Attempting to achieve a healthy status, this product is formulated with stevia and designed to be the go to between Coca-Cola Classic and its zero sugar alternatives Coca-Cola Zero and Diet Coca-Cola.

UK consumers seem to be disinterested, which is partially due to the struggle to associate Coca-Cola with the Life brand. The brand message seemed uncertain with no clear identity such as Coke Zero’s ‘zero sugar’ tagline. As opposed to being an in-between drink, it has arguably performed as a product in limbo, because it has either been seen as not healthy enough for the health conscious or not Coca-Cola enough for consumers who like the other variants.

Despite the plug being pulled in the UK, it will remain in other markets. This product was launched in Mexico in 2014 with the country having one of the biggest carbonates markets, second only to the US. Within Coca-Cola Life’s launch year, the Mexican soft drinks market was hit by a sugar tax, but the brands first year results were an impressive 325 million litres, the success of which has continued through to 2016. This tax, alongside the trend for healthier products, resulted in more producers reformulating with stevia.

GlobalData Consumer Analysts’ state that ‘with the on-going and increasingly significant health trend in the UK, Coca-Cola would likely benefit from focusing on one of its other brands to cater for this market.’