The Failure of New Coke

Coke- The original brand of Coca Cola WWII conquest- Time was celebrating Coke’s ‘peaceful conquest of the world’ 1950: 5:1 ratio Did competition make consumers cola conscious?? But they fought bad- legal battle for ‘cola’ term

1960: Pepsi repositioned itself as a youth brand- ‘drink of the youth’ 1970: Introduced Pepsi challenge 1980: Heralding the arrival of Pepsi generation, signed up celebrities Hence, Coke starter losing its market share- 24% Fanta, Sprite, Diet Coke along with Pepsi

The Strategy 1984: Released an advertisement praising the ‘less sweet’ taste of Coke 1985: Decided to terminate it’s popular soft drink, replaced it with a “new” formula

The Reaction A large %age of US population decided to boycott the new product Sales Public Outrage 11 th July 1985: “We have heard you” _djFC9Uhuw _djFC9Uhuw

The Learning Marketing is about much more than the product Had conceded it’s key brand asset- Originality 1880’s- Only product in the market Capitalized on it’s ‘original’ status “The only thing like Coca Cola is Coca Cola itself. It’s the real thing”

Newspaper Clipping : Sublimated essence of all America stands for- a decent thing, honestly made, universally distributed, conscientiously improved with the years

Hence, by launching New Coke, Coca Cola was contradicting it’s own marketing efforts Confining the brand’s significance to a question of taste was misguided

Finally, released Classic Coke

Concentrate on brand’s preception Don’t clone your rivals Feel the emotional attachment Don’t be scared to take a U-turn Do the right market research