“We don’t position Diet Coke in that way”: Coca-Cola CEO on the fridge cigarette

Gen Z drinkers have spent the past year calling a cold Diet Coke a “fridge cigarette”, and Coca-Cola CEO Henrique Braun is not going to market it that way. He tells Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma that consumers can call it whatever they like, but the brand is sold on flavor rather than on the joke. Braun also explains why North America volume went flat in a quarter that beat and raised, points at the Fourth of July landing in Q2 and a Topo Chico shortage, and says Coca-Cola earned the KFC contract it is taking from PepsiCo in January.

Featuring
Henrique Braun, CEO, The Coca-Cola Company
Brooke DiPalma, Senior Reporter, Yahoo Finance

Timestamps
0:00 Gen Z drinkers call Diet Coke a fridge cigarette
1:10 “We don’t position Diet Coke in that way”
2:13 What a value-seeking consumer is doing to the basket
3:17 Fairlife, the 2027 banana flavor, and premium against affordability
4:51 Hedging commodities and diesel into next year
7:09 Taking KFC from PepsiCo after nearly 40 years

Coca-Cola reported Q3 2026 on October 27: comparable EPS of 91 cents against 88 cents expected, revenue of $13.4 billion, global unit case volume up 5%, organic revenue up 7%, and full-year comparable EPS growth guidance raised to at least 11% from 9 to 10%. North America unit case volume was flat.

Coca-Cola reported Q3 2026 on October 27: comparable EPS of 91 cents against 88 cents expected, revenue of $13.4 billion, global unit case volume up 5%, organic revenue up 7%, and full-year comparable EPS growth guidance raised to at least 11% from 9 to 10%. North America unit case volume was flat.

#CocaCola #DietCoke #Earnings #KFC #YahooFinance

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