Coke's Classic, Diet campaigns: one hits the spot, one doesn't By Michael McCarthy and Cathy Taylo

NEW YORK While the battle cry in Atlanta for Coke Classic looks like "Always More Spending," the slogan for Diet C

Beverage industry sources said last week that Lintas: N.Y.’s revamped “Taste It All” campaign for Diet Coke is not expected to return to the airwaves until late summer at the earliest–making it likely that Diet Coke advertising will be missing-in-action during the important summer selling season.
Lintas executives could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Coke said that “Taste It All” would return but she declined to give any timetable.
Coca-Cola’s decision to hold back on Diet Coke could be attributable to several factors, according to sources: the heavy advertising support thrown behind the Coke Classic campaign; the rollout earlier this year in the U.S. of Tab Clear by Lowe Howard-Spink Ltd./London; and the inability of Coke and Lintas to agree on the next phase of “Taste It All.” Some rip-o-matic executions of new Diet Coke work had circulated in the production community about a month ago, but it’s believed that Lintas’ work isn’t ready to be produced yet.
With the Hollywood-based Creative Artists Agency also trying to get its foot in the door on Diet Coke, Coke previously shifted about $10 million in ad support that was supposed to go to Diet Coke and Sprite and put it behind the big “Always Coca-Cola” campaign (ADWEEK, Feb. 22).
While Diet Coke sits on the bench, Coke announced last week that it would boost ad spending on the “Always” campaign by $21 million this summer and fall due to the “initial success” of the campaign. “Awareness levels are running very high,” said Chuck Fruit, vp/director of global advertising and media services.
This summer Coke will air four previously unseen spots from CAA as well as 10 ethnic-oriented spots from Burrell Advertising/Atlanta and Sosa Bromley Aguilar & Associates/San Antonio for a total of 35 TV spots since February.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)