Sprite taps into tea drinking trend with Sprite + Tea
Sprite is continuing its successful limited-time-only (LTO) drinks for the summer months with the launch of its newest offering, Sprite + Tea, available across all of Canada until October.
“Sprite + Tea is designed to reflect the way fans enjoy and remix Sprite by taking inspiration from the social trend of steeping tea in the product,” said Jacques Blanchet, director of integrated marketing for Coca‑Cola Canada. “This new launch reflects the bold and innovative spirit of the brand, while delivering the refreshing experience Sprite fans crave.”
Coca‑Cola's R&D team completed several rounds of consumer testing to fine-tune the formula for what the company says is a smooth and refreshing balance of the complementary flavours.
"The promise of this flavour pairing, which began as an intern research project, was reaffirmed when the trend of steeping tea in Sprite took off on TikTok with millions of views; it was clear there would be interest in a Sprite with the flavour of tea,” added Blanchet. “Matching the flavour preferences of consumers is a focus for us and Sprite + Tea is designed to tap into the excitement for this pairing among fans.”
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Blanchet compared the Sprite + Tea origin story to another hybrid offering, Sprite Lymonade, which was driven by fans mixing their beloved brand with lemonade. Packaging for the LTO fuses the Sprite logo and signature green with gold and brown accents, dynamic splash graphics and a font atypical of ready-to-drink tea brands. Sprite + Tea hits the market on the heels of last summer’s hit LTO, Sprite Chill, returning for the summer for a limited time only.
Blanchet said the team hopes Sprite + Tea will become a year-over-year seasonal offering in Canada.
“Innovations are at the heart of the Sprite brand and give us an opportunity to take new, bold approaches to our marketing,” Blanchet added. “Sprite has always been tapped into culture, and we’ll keep pushing ourselves to meet our Canadians consumers where they are with innovations like Sprite + Tea.”