Cherry Coke special edition cans in China to carry cartoon rendering of Warren Buffett
04 Apr 2017
A special edition of Cherry Coke in China, will carry a cartoon rendering of billionaire investor Warren Buffett on cans.
For a limited time, shoppers in the country of 1.3 billion people would be able to buy cans of Cherry Coke printed with Warren Buffett's face, Bloomberg reported. The flavour launched in the Chinese market on 10 March.
The move comes as Coke launches the flavoured soda in China, a sugary drink the 86-year-old claimed was his secret to staying young.
The Berkshire Hathaway CEO, who is one of the wealthiest people in the world is worth $74.9 billion.
However, supporting the efforts of Coke in China, which he told Yahoo News he was doing for free, potentially benefited both Buffett and the drinks maker.
Berkshire Hathaway, Coca-Cola's largest single shareholder had an investment worth about $17 billion. Buffet was also a genuine consumer, and had said in 2015 that he drank at least five cans a day - regular Coke at the office, and Cherry Coke at home.
The drinks giant was now looking to leverage Buffett's huge popularity with Chinese investors and consumers. For a brand that usually carried images of athletes or pop stars, an octogenarian billionaire might seem to be an odd choice, according to commentators.
In China, however, Buffett enjoyed the kind of popularity associated with rock stars.
"People like Jack Ma and Warren Buffett have cult status because of their success," said Carter Chow, China CEO of marketing agency J Walter Thompson.
"I can't think of a better way to launch Cherry Coke than with its best-known fan on the package," Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, said in the company's press release.
Buffett told Yahoo Finance that four or five months ago, Kent had said they would introduce Cherry Coke into China and asked him about putting his picture on the cans and bottles.
Buffett told Yahoo Finance, ''I said it would be fine to do it for the first six months after launching the product."