Montreal: Confident there’s still plenty of room for growth in the Canadian soft drink market – particularly for brands aimed at the thirsty teen demographic – Coca-Cola Canada has launched its second new brand in less than a year: Cherry Coke.

The newest addition to the Coke stable was added after an analysis of the numbers revealed that the daily per capita consumption rate of soft drinks in Canada is only about half that of the u.s., according to Tina Warren, corporate communications director for Coca-Cola Canada in Toronto. ‘Now there’s a big opportunity,’ she says.

‘Digging deeper’ showed much of that opportunity lay in the youth segment, says Warren, adding that teens generally drink twice as many soft drinks as adults.

Tracy Atkinson, brand leader on Cherry Coke, Sprite and Barq’s at Coca-Cola in Toronto, says the opportunity became even more apparent given the fact that Canadian kids don’t have the non-cola selection that’s available in the u.s.

Typically, says Atkinson, flavor is a factor but ‘not the key driver’ in differentiating soft drink products in the market, especially in the teen segment. ‘So we really focus our efforts in differentiating the products on an image basis,’ she says.

In the case of Cherry Coke, which is targeted to the 13-to-18-year-old demographic, the launch emphasizes the brand’s unique imagery – bright red and black grafitti-inspired graphics – that Atkinson says tie in to the value teens place on individuality and self expression.

‘They want to feel unique and they want to feel different. Although they do tend to act as a tribe or a group, they like to feel they are making their own decisions,’ she says.

The Cherry Coke launch is primarily using mass-media advertising such as tv, radio and movie theatre advertising, as well as street posters ‘for some outdoor street sense,’ says Atkinson.

Cherry Coke’s Canadian launch is limited to Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, including Newfoundland. There are no plans for a Western Canadian launch at this time, says Atkinson.

‘In terms of building trial, we knew we had to go where teens hang out,’ she says, adding the product is being sampled at various festivals, clubs and concerts, as well as teen-attractive locations like SegaCity and Cineplex Odeon theatres.

Cherry Coke’s launch features a fleet of seven ‘sampbulances’ – refurbished ambulances replete with sirens, flashing lights and er-style medical gear.

The goal for the sampling component of the launch ‘is to contact about a million consumers,’ says Atkinson.

Cherry Coke was officially relaunched in the u.s. and the u.k. in January of this year using the same tag line: ‘Do Something Different.’

The movie and tv advertising, adapted from the u.s., is being handled by Cossette Communication-Marketing. Optimum Public Relations is handling pr. The campaign’s French-language tag line is ‘Et pourquoi pas?’ (And why not?).

Cherry Coke is available in 600-millilitre, 1-litre and 2-litre bottles as well as 12- and 24-pack 350-millilitre cans.