Coca-Cola’s “New Coke” Failure

Coca-Cola fans “Black Tuesday” On April 23, 1985, the first step of a big mistake made by the Coca-Cola brand was taken.

Coca-Cola, which was in serious competition with Pepsi in those years, has been benefiting from the success of its rival Pepsi’s campaigns and Pepsi’s expansion of its market share. uncomfortably this wanted to prevent. But he was unaware that he would be overcome by his greed and lay the foundation for a scandalous story of failure.

Pepsi’s campaigns in the 70s were very successful.

So much so that, by the beginning of the 80s, Pepsi achieved serious success and increased the market share of Coca-Cola. to its lowest level in history. had caused its decline.

The blind taste test campaigns called “Pepsi Challenge” were making a big splash.

In this campaign, which Pepsi named “Pepsi Challenge”, which means “Pepsi Challenge”, it gave consumers a taste of two different cokes. the best one He wanted them to choose.

As a result, most of the consumers Enjoy your Pepsi He seemed to like it more.

Uncomfortable with the success of its rival, Coca-Cola found the solution by producing a product that tasted similar to Pepsi.

Sweeter comparing Pepsi and Coca-Cola with taste tests a new formula They invented it and named it “New Coke”, meaning “new coke”.

The cost of Coca-Cola’s research for the “New Coke” had exceeded $4 million.

Over the course of the research, Coca-Cola was mostly used on more than 200,000 Coca-Cola customers. blind taste tests focused.

As a result of the tests, the new formula is compared to the old formula. much more loved concluded.

Although it was a very costly study, this research had some problems.

First of all, the research is very much compared to Coca-Cola’s customer base. a small group was done on.

The other problem was that during the test, the participants did not know whether the product they were drinking was from the Coca-Cola brand. So, which of the drinks they tried was the old formula and which was the new formula? unspoken.

The research ignored that the Coca-Cola brand represents a way of life.

Although the company has launched the new formula based on research, the real question is how consumers will feel when the old formula is replaced by the new formula. ignored they were.

Consumers of Coca-Cola A reflection of American culture and way of life he saw as.

Advertisements for the new Coke also created inconsistency for the Coca-Cola brand.

Coca-Cola in its previous advertisements the sweeter the coke the worse He was making references to his rival Pepsi by presenting his argument.

In addition, while the old cola was marketed as the “best” for years, suddenly calling the new cola “better” is the result of the old and popular formula. actually not the best It was a reflective argument. This was another of the biggest mistakes Coca-Cola made.

While Coca-Cola was waiting for the new product it presented to attract attention, it faced a great reaction.

Consumers thousands of searches And tens of thousands of complaint letters and they conveyed to Coca-Cola how uncomfortable they were about the new Coke.

The response was not limited to calls only. Consumers new easy protest They even took to the streets with placards that read, “Our children will never know what a refreshing drink is.”

In the face of the backlash, 79 days after its release, Coca-Cola announced that they were returning to the old formula.

It was such big news that televisions dividing your publications They published the statement made by Coca-Cola.

Explanation, “our boss is our customer” The company official said, apologizing, saying that they will listen to consumers’ request and bring back the old formula.

Coke with the old formula after the “New Coke” disaster, “Coca-Cola Classic” released and re-named most preferred became a carbonated beverage.

Although the brand later tried to launch the new formula with the name “Coke II”, the new formula could not find a place on the shelves.

Coca-Cola tried to rebrand the new formula in 1990, but after the backlash, this project was discontinued in 2002. completely canceled.

As a result, with the new formula named “New Coke”, disaster, It continues to be remembered and described as a great disaster both in the marketing world and in the history of Coca-Cola. Where do you think Coca-Cola made the biggest mistake?