Losing its Fizz: Coca-Cola "Classic vs. New"

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. 

It is safe to say that Coca-Cola has been one of the many icons that defines American culture since its creation in 1886. And over those years, this soda has provided that one of a kind taste that gathered loyal customers throughout generations. 

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. 

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.

“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

Queen Bey vs. The Internet: How the Groundswell Works

While reading Groundswell, I found inner content knowing that the definition of this term relates to freedom of speech and thought and also power to the people. Here is the official definition according to the book, just in case you were wondering:

Groundswell - A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations (pg. 9). 

To me, the Internet is here to stay for many generations not only because it allows us to connect to people, but it allows us to freely express our opinions. And in the internet, strength comes in numbers. The Babra Streisand example from the book showed just how much power the common people of USA have over a powerful celebrity. I also thought it was a bit funny that people on the net would spread those pictures of her house just to rebel against what is considered a "higher presence".

That example, followed by the DVD code example reminded me of what had occurred on social media shortly after Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. Who had the short end of the stick? None other than the Queen B herself; Beyonce.

She has always been at the top of her peak in the music industry, wether by herself or with Destiny's Child. Now, she is the epitome of female empowerment and the ultimate image that all women that live over a rock look up to as a role model. In this day in age, most women ask themselves in day-to-day situations, "What would Beyonce do?". 

I'm pretty sure not one person living in the 21st century would question this idiom.

After putting on one of the most memorable halftime performances in Super Bowl history, there were several pictures from the event posted on Buzzfeed.com that showed just how "fierce" Sasha Fierce  was.

The next day, Beyonce's publicist emailed the website asking to remove the photos. Here you can see the email:

Instead of complying with the request of a representative of a rich and powerful figure, the website wrote an article about this email and these specific pictures in response. This article only ignited the flame that would define the groundswell. 

The act of trying to have the photos eliminated from the Internet caused the exact opposite to happen. These photos went viral not only on various sites but with the help of people on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. The "unflattering" photos spread throughout these sites like wildfire through uploads and shares, most of them captioned "SHARE THIS PICTURE".

Soon after, photoshopped versions of the pictures flooded the net. People made creative versions and "memes" of the pictures that spread the awareness of these pictures. Here is this whole situation described in one picture:

Here are some other examples of these pictures:

The measure of searches of "Unflattering Beyonce" can be seen by clicking this link!!!

During her "Mrs. Carter Show World Tour", Beyonce made sure that there were no press photographers allowed to take photos and that only a hired photographer could take pictures. 

Although she is still Queen B, this small period of time in early 2013 proved that with a great quantity, there was power to the people on the Internet. It also proved that one cannot simply remove a photo, or anything, from the Internet. This example of the groundswell was so effective that you can find more of these photos by typing "Beyonce unflattering pictures" on Google Images. 

What this example of the groundswell showed is that the common people with Internet access have the louder voice over the higher powers such as corporations or a celebrity, wether the groundswell affects a topic in a positive or negative way. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/the-fiercest-moments-from-beyonces-halftime-show#.oygo9aLWr

http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedceleb/the-unflattering-photos-beyonces-publicist-doesnt-want-you-t#.kjE6K018J

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9854872/Beyonces-publicist-asks-for-unflattering-Superbowl-photos-to-be-pulled.html

http://www.google.com/trends/explore?hl=en-US#q=unflattering%20beyonce&date=2%2F2013%2025m&cmpt=q&tz=