Zero marketing

Zero may be nothing, yet zero seems to be becoming really something in the marketing industry in recent years.

It started, I believe, with Coke Zero. We already had Diet Coke, which contains no calories, so I never saw the point of Coke Zero. Coke Zero may taste better, although I am not certain of that, but if so, why? And if not, why have two products that are essentially identical except for the name?

Yet Coke Zero has become so popular that now virtually all soft drink companies offer their own zero brands.

Other food products, too, highlight the word zero and have mostly dropped phrases like sugar-free and no carbs from their labels.

Weight Watchers now promotes "zero calorie" foods. You can find Zero Milk Chocolate, East Zero products, Vitamin Water Zero, Camp-Zero Coolers, Zero Odor Eliminator and Colgate Zero toothpaste, among other products.

Interestingly, the zero trend has not seemed to have impacted the sports world. Football announcers still report scores as seven to nothing, not seven to zero, and British soccer announcers still say a scoreless game is nil-nil, not zero-zero.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear the Budweiser folks are planning a comeback with a new beer called Bud Zero.