Coca-Cola’s new pixel-flavored Zero Sugar Byte aims to reach gamers in the metaverse
Earlier this year, the soft drink giant launched an outer space-flavored product. Now it’s continuing to up its technological game and broaden its appeal among younger, tech-savvy consumers by launching a pixel-flavored drink.
Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte allegedly tastes like pixels
What exactly do video game graphics taste like? Coca-Cola claims to have found the answer with the launch of Zero Sugar Byte, a new product that the company claims contains “the flavor of pixels.”
The announcement is the latest in a string of recent campaigns from the soft drink giant aimed at innovating its flavor profile, flexing its technological muscle and connecting with a younger consumer-base that’s increasingly plugged into the metaverse.
The limited-edition Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte — developed by Virtue, an agency owned by Vice Media Group — is an extension of the brand’s ongoing ‘Real Magic’ campaign. It’s also the second product launch from Coca-Cola Creations, which kicked off earlier this year with the release of Coca-Cola Starlight – a product alleged to taste like outer space. Meanwhile, the brand stepped up its tech prowess last year by dropping its first non-fungible token (NFT) collection in observance of International Friendship Day.
The new product launch is specifically geared toward the gaming community, which has become a major target in the ad world as Roblox, Discord, Decentraland and other metaverse-based platforms continue to gain mainstream appeal. With Zero Sugar Byte, Coca-Cola appears to be paying homage to the pixel, one of the fundamental building blocks of video games and the metaverse.
“For our second expression from Coca-Cola Creations, we wanted to create an innovative taste inspired by the playfulness of pixels, rooted in the experiences that gaming makes possible,” Oana Vlad, Coca-Cola’s senior director of global strategy, said in a statement. “Just as pixels power digital connection, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte brings people together to share moments of Real Magic.”
Zero Sugar Byte was released in Latin America today “in extremely limited quantities.” The brand says that the product will debut in US markets beginning on May 2 in the form of “twin packs,” which will contain one can for consumption and another for collecting. The product will only be available online for US consumers, making it, in the brand’s words, “a portal between the digital and physical worlds.”
Expanding on its theme of blending new products with digital experiences – which began during the Coca-Cola Starlight launch, which featured a virtual reality (VR) concert – the brand is pairing the release of Zero Sugar Byte with the launch of the ‘Pixel Point,’ a branded video game experience in Fortnite. “Upon entry, players will discover Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte in the metaverse and interact with fellow gamers through a series of four sensory-inspired, multiplayer mini-games,” the brand said in a statement. The video game was developed by Tool of North America.
For more, sign up for The Drum’s Inside the Metaverse weekly newsletter here.