Over the past few days, Coca-Cola has been in the news alot with numerous announcements. First with the global introduction of its PlantBottle, followed with its dispute with Costco, to their World of Coca-Cola speech of their 2020 plans. One point that was not lost of most people was the repositioning of vitaminwater10 to vitaminwater zero.
Currently, vitaminwater10 has 10 calories or less, but Coca-Cola claims it will be able to reduce calories completely out of this drink. In addition, the flavors will be transitioned to vitaminwater zero flavors. However, there were originally 8 flavors of vitaminwater10, so one flavor is being discontinued as a result of this repositioning – energy. Is this flavor not performing well compared to the others? Why discontinue one of the original flavors and stick with 4 of the newer, funky-name flavors?
This repositioning comes on the heels of a very impressive and successful launch for the vitaminwater10. Does this take away all the brand equity built into vitaminwater10, because alot of marketing dollars will be wasted as a result of this shift? What will be the consumer impact of this? Consumers may likely believe that zero calories is better than 10 calories, but the taste may be severely compromised. A lot of consumers have said that the xxx and essential flavors of vitaminwater10 do not taste as good as the full calorie offerings, and also have shifted back to the the full calorie beverages. We will have to wait to see what happens following the rollout next year.
In other news, vitaminwater will receive a package lift with metallic labels and nutritional value on the labels. BevWire believes this repackaging has benefits as well as shortcomings. First the positive – indicating the nutritional value shows consumers the healthy content they are taking in with each bottle. Not that the previous bottles did not show the nutritional value, but it was not as obvious. However, the repacking to shiny, metallic also kind of indicates that vitaminwater is selling out, or going celebrity. The original packaging was bland, but it worked. Not only that, but it showed that the important thing was the beverage itself, not the packaging. Now that the drinks are selling, they will repackage it to make it more…chic and flashy? BevWire just doesn’t agree with this…
However, BevWire did mention that vitaminwater is over-proliferated, so maybe this will indirectly help them shrink back down and pick out which flavors sell the best. Only time will tell….
BevWire 
KEEP ENEREGY!!!!! This is the only energy drink that actaully works and tastes good!!!!
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Energy is my favorite flavor too! Only in vitaminwater though, not the vitaminwater10. I’d rather they eliminate one of the other flavors…
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Any idea exactly HOW they will get it to be zero calories? I love low cal drinks but I just wonder how it really is zero calories?
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Hmm good question. All I’ve found out is that they claim to reduce and/or eliminate the calories by substituting sugar with stevia (natural sweetener). I’m not quite sure how you can actually trust them to get to zero calories though. vitaminwater10 is actually 25 calories when you take the “per serving” into account since each 591ml bottle contains 2.5 servings of 10 calories.
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The best vitamin10 is energy .. And it is going away??? In favor of the horrible green tea. ?? Come on… Thry really have this wring
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I agree – the green tea flavor isn’t well-liked and it’s been discontinued all over the place. Not sure why they are going to keep that flavor and nix the popular energy.
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Energy is the best of all the flavors. Also, it is the only of the Vitamin Water 10 products that have caffeine.
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The calories are necessary in any electrolyte drink. Absorption of electrolytes across the intestines is an active transport process that requires calories in order for this process to operate efficiently. I thought that this was the reason why coke had 10 calories in their product and have stayed away from the Sobe Life Water products for this reason (because these products have zero calories). The active transport process is not a big deal if someone is eating and is not dehydrated, but for someone training who is dehydrated the calories are important.
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I go through a case of the lemonade flavor of vitaminwater-10 every two weeks. The product has not been consistently stocked since its introduction, and is often very difficult to obtain in any given week. The lemonade-10 is the only flavor that interests me. It has a very natural lemon taste and natural cloudy color (I hate the phony yellow color that most lemonade drinks have).
This week, vitaminwater-zero (lemonade) replaced vitaminwater-10 (lemonade). I do detect a slight taste change, although the color is about the same. Manufacturers can claim zero calories when there are less than 5 calories per serving. Vitaminwater-zero has <1g of sugar per serving, so I'm guessing that it really has just under 4 calories per serving, or 10 calories per bottle – a reduction of 15 calories per bottle compared to vitaminwater-10.
I'm not a fan of the new label at all. It is gaudy, glittery, busy and somehow cheesy all at the same time. But it does attract attention, which is what is desired for a new product.
Having gone trough a few bottles now, I'm really noticing the taste change. Occasionally, I used to add a packet of Pure Lemon (crystallized lemon powder) to vitaminwater-10 – to enhance the lemon flavor. Now, I find I'm adding a Pure Lemon packet to every bottle of vitaminwater-zero. I'll see if it grows on me, but I was 100% satisfied with vitaminwater-10, and vitaminwater-zero is in no way an improvement. At best, vitaminwater-zero is close enough to vitaminwater-10 so that I will continue to buy the product.
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I agree lemonade zero suuuucks. Tastes just like diet soda. Will be returning the rest that I purchased. Not buying any of that zero crap again
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Energy flavor is the only one I drink. I go through one a day. Now I’ll have to look for another brand. Too bad, I’ll miss it.
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I am sorry that the energy vitamin zero was not included in the new roll out. This was the only energy drink in your line.
What a horrific mistake, Unfortunatley, you have left us no alternative than to find another product.
I don’t understand why you would have done something so foolish. You lost a good customer.
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Just bought a vitamin water zero lemonade flavored and it tastes like watery lemonade from lemonade stand.
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The only problem I’m having with new VitaminWater Zero is finding it in stores! Last week, flyers for A&P, CVS, and Target advertised the product on sale. But there were none on the shelves. I actually drove around to several A&P and CVS stores in my area (unfortunately, there’s only one Target in driving distance). They had plenty of full sugar Vitamin Waters, but no Zeros. Well, scratch that. They did have Green Tea and XXX varieties, neither of which I can stand. And so far, I haven’t seen Essential anywhere (which was my favorite regular VW and VW10 flavor). Not a big Energy fan; don’t want caffeine in my “water” drinks.
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Glaceau has forgotten what they’re supposed to be doing. Take a look at their website: it’s useless, and nearly unusable. All glitz, no content.
Just like they think their website is to show off someone’s Flash programming skills, they think they’re selling funky names and shiny labels.
I can make up all the funky names I want. The craft store has plenty of shiny stuff. I can even do Flash. What I can’t do — what I need Glaceau to do for me — is MAKE VITAMINWATER ENERGY. What a bunch of boneheads.
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I loved the orange 10 calorie vitamin water and now I cant find the lower calorie version anywhere. I went through two a day and thought it was a great alternative to plain water. What a shame. Guess I will have to find some other product.
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If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!! I bought a case a week of Vitamin water 10 Essential and am so disappointed they are changing it. I tried the zero flavors and they do taste different, very artificial. I will only drink Vitamin water if they bring back the 10’s!!
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Agree zero tastes like crap. bring back the 10! Really what is the diff b/w 10(4×2.5) and 25(10×2.5) cal? don’t think the 15 cal is going to make a difference
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I have tried a few Vitamin water 10’s, and I can say I definitely prefer the regular ones. I’m not saying the vitamin water 10’s taste horrible, but there is a lack of taste. They almost taste like regular water. It’s hard to taste the flavor sometimes. I haven’t tried the vitamin water zero yet, but I can bet it will have even less taste then the vitamin water 10’s.
I prefer the regular ones because they have flavor. I will take the 125 calories and 30 grams of sugar per bottle because they taste better. If I want to drink something that tastes like water, I will drink water. It’s definitely a lot cheaper then vitamin water.
My favorite flavor: Power-C
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I loved the 10 calorie energy drink. I always had problems finding it in stores, so I figured there was a lot of other people who loved it too. Please bring it back. Pretty please. Also I do love the zero calorie version. Lemonade is my favorite. It seems more lemony. I like it better than the 10 calorie drink. Anyway thanks for the zero calorie drinks they help me with losing weight,instead of reaching for high calorie softdrinks I reach for zero calorie vitamin water.Hey I need a job, are you hiring? LOL
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Energy 10 is the only one I used also – has anyone found another brand that is energy with low calories and natural sweetener?
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I was intorduced today to Zero Vitamin Water — the orange flavor — by my son who knows that I only drink sugar-free, caffeine free drinks. Am I to understand that the Zero drinks have no caffeine at all? I bought a few at the grocery store on my way home but if there is caffeine hidden in there, that are going to my son. I have read the label and can’t find anything about the caffeine content and have done several searches tonight for an answer — any help greatly appreciated.
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M, to my understanding, vitaminwater zeros mean zero calories not caffeine. Most of the flavors – save for energy (citrus flavor, yellow colored liquid) – do not have caffeine in them. Hope this helps!
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We are so sad because the lemonade is the only one we like. That covers my daughter in LA and me in Syracuse. Up here it is the most popular. I can rarely find it because it is bought out first. Why would they discontinue a product that actually sells! ? Sadness 😦
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All the current flavors suck with the exeption of a couple. like Power C, one of the originals. I used to love the old and unique flavors (Like rescue) and it was so different from Gatorade/Powerade. But when Coke bought it they ruined a great thing. Now they’re just bad tasting varients of Gatorade/Powerade. If I wanted that I would buy Gatorade/Powerade. I still drink the Power C, but am now big into Snapple and Honest Tea products.
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