Coke cans go white for the holidays, with polar bears

— -- There are some things you can always count on: death, taxes — and red Coke cans. Until now.

Death and taxes aren't likely changing, but Coke today will announce that it's going to put a temporary halt to its decades-old tradition of churning out billions of red cans of Coke.

Out with the red and in with the white. Specifically, 1.4 billion white cans of Coke in the U.S. and Canada between now and March. What's more, Coke's going to plop the iconic Coke polar bears on these cans under a holiday promo it has dubbed Arctic Home.

The move is a bid to boost fall and winter sales — seasons when soft-drink sales typically surge for the holidays, then fall. It also comes at a time Coca-Cola has been seriously innovating with smaller-size mini-cans, high-tech fountain dispensers and now the Coke brand's first white cans in its 125-year history.

"It's the most important holiday program we've ever launched," says Katie Bayne, president of sparkling beverages at Coca-Cola North America.

The cans will trumpet a Coca-Cola tie-in with the World Wildlife Fund. So will white bottle caps on other Coca-Cola brands. Each will include a special code that lets folks text $1 donations to the World Wildlife Fund's efforts to protect the polar bear's Arctic home. Coke will match consumer donations up to $1 million.

But the real story is the white can. Coke has spent billions of dollars over the years marketing its cans as red. There could be consumer confusion over white, even though Coke is taking extraordinary steps to avoid that — even adding special bands around some containers that explain it's good ol' Coke.

The cans will begin appearing on store shelves Nov. 1 and remain through February.

The question is: Will Coke executives ultimately be seeing red over the white cans?

"We were very careful to make sure people know it's the same Coke they've always loved," Bayne says.

Branding consultants think Coke can pull it off.

"I'm slightly shocked," says consultant Peter Madden. "It's certainly going to create more tension on the Coke brand — which is a good thing."

The move is really about Coke chasing younger consumers, says consultant Michael Bellas. "They want a younger demo to look at Coke with fresh eyes."