Younger consumers say they want products that are good for the planet. They’re also drawn to smaller serving sizes. German cola brand Vita Cola came to O-I Glass, Inc. looking for a new bottle that would capture that new generation of shoppers. They found the answer in a smaller (but mighty) refillable .33-liter glass bottle from O-I's plant in Holzminden, Germany.
Vita Cola is known as the cola with a citrus kick. The new Vita Cola glass bottles rolled out in spring 2020. It took about a year from the first discussions to the handover of the first bottles.
O-I teams researched competition as well as Vita Cola’s 60-plus year history. The new .33 liter glass bottle meets the requirements of ergonomics, ties in with traditional bottle lines and sets itself apart on store shelves. Shoppers familiar with the legacy cola brand will easily recognize the new bottle due to the light bulky appearance, the indentations on the neck and the haptic lettering on the belly.
Vita Cola and its fans appreciate that glass is a perfect material for a low-waste and circular economy. The new .33-liter white glass bottle can be refilled several times and can be melted down again endlessly to create new glass bottles. And since glass is virtually inert, the packaging doesn’t interact with the beverage it holds, leaving the cola as refreshing as consumers remember.
“We keep a close eye on the market. The packaging material glass has undergone a renaissance for some years now due to its qualitative and also sustainable characteristics,” says explains Paul Korn, Managing Director of Lichtenauer Mineralquellen, to which Vita Cola belongs. “A second trend, however, is that small glass bottles are becoming increasingly popular for catering and on-the-go consumption. And this is also increasingly the case with a younger clientele. We are thus offering our brand users an even greater variety of containers that correspond to specific consumption situations and are inviting young people in particular to take a closer look at the brand again."
Vita Cola has been around since 1958. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was bottled exclusively in the 0.7-litre fountain bottle, like many soft drinks. Vita Cola is featuring five of its flavors in the new .33-liter bottle.