The basics of having a profitable and long-lasting company have always included to cater to your customers; not only to have brand loyalty but to have the word spread by those loyal customers. Even before the book Groundswell carefully detailed this fact, the success of a brand has always been a two-way street; while the company presents a product to the world that is based off of there wants and needs, the customers give feedback on what works and what doesn't.
Your brand is whatever your customers say it is. And in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide.”
Groundswell, page 78
Smart companies know by now that the customer is always right and although this rule of thumb is pretty much common sense, there are those few companies that had to learn this fact the hard way; in this case, Coca-Cola.
Coca- Cola has always had a rivalry with Pepsi, which was introduced a couple of years after Coca-Cola was, due to the similar ingredients they both share. During the mid-70's, Pepsi was conducting these taste tests called the "Pepsi Challenge" that proved that people preferred Pepsi over Coca-Cola, thus making Pepsi THE new drink.
But Coca-Cola was not just gonna let a newcomer take its place after almost a century of being the standard of refreshment. In desperation to be on top again, Coca-Cola released the "New Coca-Cola" in 1985, with the recipe altered to try and create a taste that was superior to that of Pepsi.
Although there were taste tests conducted by Coca-Cola that showed that out of the 200,000 tested that 62% approved of the newer recipe over the classic one, the company overlooked the relationships that Americans in general had with the drink. For this reason, the new Coke suffered a huge backlash with the customers, making people buy and preserve thousands of cans of the "real" Coke, causing people to go in protest against this "fake knockoff" and actually did the exact opposite of what it was trying to do with Coca-Cola in the first place; increase Pepsi's already rising popularity. The act of Coca-Cola trying to compare its taste to that of Pepsi's only made the company look like posers instead of trying to be original like they had been for almost a century. Due to sales dropping exponentially and the customers speaking loud and clear about the new coke, it took Coca-Cola just 79 days to announce that they were going to bring back the original Cola.
While the regular Cola was put back in the shelves by extreme popular demand, the "New" Cola coexisted and was later called "Coke II" until it existed no more by 2002. Also, the original Cola was called "Coca-Cola Classic" to avoid confusion with the new Cola until 2009, when the new Cola was non-existent and there was no longer a need to have the word "classic" on the packaging.
But Coca-Cola was not just gonna let a newcomer take its place after almost a century of being the standard of refreshment. In desperation to be on top again, Coca-Cola released the "New Coca-Cola" in 1985, with the recipe altered to try and create a taste that was superior to that of Pepsi.
Although there were taste tests conducted by Coca-Cola that showed that out of the 200,000 tested that 62% approved of the newer recipe over the classic one, the company overlooked the relationships that Americans in general had with the drink. For this reason, the new Coke suffered a huge backlash with the customers, making people buy and preserve thousands of cans of the "real" Coke, causing people to go in protest against this "fake knockoff" and actually did the exact opposite of what it was trying to do with Coca-Cola in the first place; increase Pepsi's already rising popularity. The act of Coca-Cola trying to compare its taste to that of Pepsi's only made the company look like posers instead of trying to be original like they had been for almost a century. Due to sales dropping exponentially and the customers speaking loud and clear about the new coke, it took Coca-Cola just 79 days to announce that they were going to bring back the original Cola.
Although Coca-Cola was trying to innovate the quality of their product, this event proved that Coca-Cola is just a classic drink that is perfect already. They could have followed the steps mentioned in Groundswell on pages 93/94 to find a way to innovate without tarnishing the reputation of Coca-Cola, especially the first one; to find out what your brand stands for. I know that Coca-Cola would have never changed its recipe overall if they knew just what this beverage meant to America. I would have suggested making more flavors of Coca-Cola (such as the Cherry Cola that we have today) back in 1985 rather than change the main recipe altogether.
If this change were to happen today, then it would definitely take much quicker than 79 days to go back to regular Coke, since the Internet and social media have made the common voice stronger than ever. There would be tweets, hashtags, blogs, and even skits on popular shows like SNL or The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Although Coke currently lives up to its name, lets just hope that other aspiring companies can learn from this infamous moment in history.
If this change were to happen today, then it would definitely take much quicker than 79 days to go back to regular Coke, since the Internet and social media have made the common voice stronger than ever. There would be tweets, hashtags, blogs, and even skits on popular shows like SNL or The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Although Coke currently lives up to its name, lets just hope that other aspiring companies can learn from this infamous moment in history.
“Concentrate on the relationships, not the technologies. In the groundswell, relationships are everything. The way people connect with each other – the community that is created – determines how the power shifts.”
Groundswell, page 18
http://colafountain.topcities.com/newcoke.htm
http://www.businessinsider.com/pepsi-challenge-business-insider-2013-5
http://sabotagetimes.com/life/the-coke-wars-when-the-pepsi-challenge-nearly-killed-coca-cola/
http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/new-coke-and-new-media-reimagining-the-infamous-product-launch-in-the-digital-era
http://www.businessinsider.com/pepsi-challenge-business-insider-2013-5
http://sabotagetimes.com/life/the-coke-wars-when-the-pepsi-challenge-nearly-killed-coca-cola/
http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/new-coke-and-new-media-reimagining-the-infamous-product-launch-in-the-digital-era
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