Minute Maid Colour is a sparkling drink made with locally-sourced black grape juice, and is ‘specially designed for consumers in Tamil Nadu who have a liking for grape flavored beverages’, according to Coca-Cola India.
“[We] are actively focusing on our strategy to offer consumers a wide variety of choices as per their preferences,” said T. Krishnakumar, President of Coca-Cola India and South West Asia.
“In-line with this, we follow a hyper-local strategy and introduce localised beverages that suit the consumer preferences specific to a region.”
The company is currently focusing on developing products for the local market according to the ‘palates of a particular region’, with especial attention from a flavours point of view.
“Consumers in Tamil Nadu have a special love for grape flavoured beverages,” added Srideep Kesavan, Director-Juices of Coca-Cola India and South West Asia.
“The product was developed keeping in mind local affinity and preferences. We named it ‘Colour’ since the term has a strong emotional connect & nostalgia across generations.”
‘Colour’ is what locals in Tamil Nadu used to call soft drinks, hence this branding is an attempt to resonate with local lingo, according to IndiaRetailing.
Minute Maid Colour is currently priced at INR25 (US$0.35) per 250ml bottle, and is limited within the Tamil Nadu region for now.
Fruit circular economy
The new product is also in line with Coca-Cola India’s Fruit Circular Economy initiative, which is its endeavour to ‘make a concerted difference in the Indian fruit ecosystem’, according to the company’s website.
“[Around] 30% post-harvest fresh fruit is wasted [in India], and farmers’ incomes need to improve,” said Coca-Cola India.
“[Our project has] evolved over the last few years to make real, purposeful interventions at each step of the agricultural value chain.”
Coca-Cola Vice President, Fruit Circular Economy Asim Parekh added that: “We plan to leverage our capability of building demand as well as ensuring surplus availability of Indian fruits, thereby meeting both local and export requirements.”
“With a focus on increasing farm productivity through Innovation and technology, we support the cause of doubling farmer incomes over the years.”
“The surplus fruit supply shall be processed to create high value fruit juices by integrating farm supply with the consumer needs, thus propelling the fruit economy of India.”
At the product launch, Krishnakumar told local media that Minute Maid Colour contains 12% of fruit content and 9.5g of sugar per serving.
Coca-Cola India has been on a near-continuous development and innovation track in recent months. These have included using mobile technology to sell its Kinley mineral water to local customers, as well as the launch of its Minute Maid Smoothie under the Health and Wellness portfolio last year.
