Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Today, you probably know Diet Coke for its silver and red branding—which is more or less how it’s looked since Coca-Cola’s sugar-free alternative first launched in 1982. But starting this month, in a market where diet soda sales are down, Diet Coke is going bespoke, as millions of unique designs are hitting U.S. shelves for the first time as part of a campaign called "It’s Mine."

So for the next several months, no two 12-ounce bottles of Diet Coke will look exactly alike.

"Personalization and customization is a huge trend, obviously," says Rafael Acevedo, group director of Diet Coke in North America. With Coca-Cola’s first major personalization campaign, Share a Coke in 2014, the company put thousands of people’s names onto bottles. The idea was that you’d spot someone’s name and want to buy them a Coke—and it’s an idea that worked, with measurable uptake in both short term sales and longer term brand loyalty. For Diet Coke, that concept got a tweak. "In this case, it’s more personal, "Acevedo says, "to have that sense that Diet Coke is giving you something no one else can have."...