LONDON: Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the 2012 Olympic Games did not lead to the sales uplift that was expected in the UK, a study has stated.

The annual Britvic Soft Drinks report, from the soft drinks business of the same name, said that sales of all variants of the Coca-Cola brand rose by just 0.8% to £1.15bn in 2012, while volume sales were down by 3.3%.

This performance was in stark contrast to that of its rival, Pepsi, which saw the value sales of all its variants rise by 7.4% to £352.2m, while volume sales grew by 10%. The report said a that strategy which tapped into consumers' desire to stay in, and thus cross-promoted drinks and snacks, was particularly successful for the firm.

At the corporate level, Coca-Cola did benefit from its majority ownership of Innocent, the smoothie maker, which recorded a 36.6% increase in sales to £213.5m, as volume surged 60% to more than 98m litres. This was in part due to the brand's move into the pure juice category.

Red Bull, the energy drink, saw sales rise 6.7% during the year, while older brands such as Robinsons Squash and Schweppes registered smaller increases of 4.1% and 4% respectively.

Just two brands failed to see any growth: Ribena's sales slipped back 0.6% and Tropicana's sales dropped 10%.

In terms of individual categories, colas remained the top seller, accounting for 22% of total grocery, convenience and impulse sales of soft drinks, on £1.6bn.

Energy drinks grew fastest, with both value and volume sales increasing at a rate of around 10%. Juice sales were up by 1%, while volumes fell by 5.8% because of the rising price of raw fruit materials.

The report identified the "water plus" category as "one to watch", as it registered increases of 7.4% increase in value sales and a 7.7% lift in volume sales.

Data sourced from Marketing Week, Marketing; additional content by Warc staff