Coca-Cola challenges seek to find sugar alternative—and consumer stories

Sugar has become the enemy of the modern healthy diet, and the Coca-Cola Company is looking for a replacement.

A 12-ounce can of the company’s signature soda contains 39 grams of sugar, and sales have been down over the last few years. Enter Coke’s idea to turn it around: the “Sweetener Challenge.”

Coca-Cola is offering $1 million to anyone who can help it “find a natural, safe, reduced, low- or no-calorie compound that generates the taste sensation of sugar when used in beverages and foods.”

Though Coke has its own research and development department, the contest serves to source new ideas as well as promote its initiative.

Inventors have 134 days to complete the challenge, and it “must be novel and not contain, or be derived from, Stevia or Lo Han Guo (Monk Fruit).”

“We’re always searching for newer, better ingredients, and we know that amazing ideas can come from anywhere,” Robert Long, Coca-Cola SVP and Chief Innovation Officer, said in a statement.

[RELATED: Learn how to create content that makes a difference to your bottom line at the Brand Storytelling and Content Marketing Conference at The Coca-Cola Company.]

If you’re not a scientist, you can still be a part of Coke’s campaign.

In its press release, the company wrote:

The “sweet story challenge” invites people around the world to submit written anecdotes and videos about their favorite, tried-and-true methods of naturally sweetening foods or beverages in their cultures, communities or families. Up to five individual or team winners will vie for $100,000 in total prize money, with winners announced in December.

In its contest instructions, Coca-Cola’s brand managers clearly call for an emotional response:

… Cultures around the world use sweets for a variety of purposes, including marking important rituals, celebrations, and life events.

The history of the wedding cake extends centuries, the addition of sweet to savory foods is not uncommon in many communities, and sweet tea evokes memories of rocking chairs on a porch. No matter the difference in preparation, ingredients, and texture, we all seem to find a bit of home in a sweet beverage or a local specialty.

Though the story challenge could bring Coke additional fodder for its brand journalism efforts, the moves also serve to complement the company’s push toward sugar alternatives:

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