Tab Gets an Energy, P-O-P Boost

Consumers with good memories should recall Tab, one of the first low-calorie soft drinks. Now Tab's familiar name, logo and distinctive package color are being revamped to energize a totally new product from the Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta.Coke jumped on the low-calorie energy drink craze with its February launch of Tab Energy, a pink, fruit-flavored beverage in thin, magenta-colored cans. The drink has a mere five calories per serving, and the product targets style-conscious females ages 18 to 34, says Scott Daughdril, manager of retail business solutions with Coca-Cola. Coke backed the launch with eight P-O-P displays. Primary among them was a suction cup display for the inside glass windows of convenience store coolers, and a "pedestal cooler" boasting a futuristic design and tapered base geared for supermarkets and drugstores.Additional P-O-P included promotional coolers for convenience stores; corrugated and metal floorstands for supermarkets and drugstores; and a gravity-fed wire "gravity adapter" that attached to a shelf's edge to provide incremental inventory. Replacement graphics were provided for easy updates to existing coolers in convenience stores and supermarkets, Daughdril reports.Asked about the copy on the P-O-P, he says, "That's what's so bold about it. It's the bright pink brand graphics in large form. The graphics feature the Tab logo that many consumers will recognize, but with the word 'energy' prominent, so that consumers will understand this is a new product."Orchestrating this major launch of 50,000 displays required no greater effort than launches of past products, Daughdril says. "It's not uncommon for some of our launch brands to debut across the country within a short period of time," he says. "It takes a fair amount of planning with our equipment manufacturers to ensure our bottling partners get the merchandising equipment when they need it."Displays were expected to stay in stores up to six months or more, he adds. While he is aware of no effort to measure the impact of P-O-P on consumer brand awareness or sales, "order volume on the equipment, the most direct way of assessing a program's success, was very strong."Display Technologies, College Point, NY; Profitmaster Displays, Atlanta; PFI, St. Louis; and Display Industries, Norcross, GA, manufactured the P-O-P.A paramount objective was raising the profile of Tab Energy in the convenience store cold vault, where many cold singles are purchased, says Daughdril. To maximize that exposure, Coke looked to the suction cup displays that merchandise the product with an eye-catching styrene pink Tab Energy graphic on the suction cup. Floorstands rolled out to supermarkets and were placed in the beverage aisle next to other energy drinks.Because Tab Energy's packaging "is so unique and eye-catching," he says, it was a challenge to design P-O-P that lived up to the strength of the package. Coke realized it could best create highly impactful store displays by remaining faithful to package graphics. "All [displays] were designed to create awareness and promote trial of this new brand," he says. "Everything was about encouraging consumer trial."

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