New Coke : Failed Project Or Marketing Ploy?

However, Pepsi began to slowly catch up to their status and in the early 1980s, Coke had only a one percent lead over Pepsi in exclusive drinkers. Coke was very concerned with this because there product was more readily available than Pepsi’s and they spent more than $100 million more annually on advertising and they really didn’t want Pepsi to usurp their rank as the leading cola. However, Pepsi had been running commercials on television where they put Coca Cola and Pepsi head-to-head in a blind taste test that came to be known as the Pepsi Challenge. In this challenge, Pepsi had faithful coke drinkers take a sip from two different glasses and pick which sample they preferred. One of the cups was marked with a “Q” and the other was marked with an “M.” They consistently chose the cup marked “M,” which would be the cup holding Pepsi. When Coca Cola heard of this challenge, they immediately wanted to prove it to be false, so they conducted blind taste tests themselves. However, when their tests were performed, they got the same results as Pepsi, and the majority of the testers, 57%, preferred Pepsi over Coke. These results really concerned Coca Cola, and they began to do a plethora of other market research projects. They couldn’t figure out exactly what it was that made testers prefer Pepsi, but eventually decided that it must be the taste. From this came the creation of what came to be known as “New Coke.” Coca Cola had their scientists experiment with the secret

products to suit customer’s needs, Coca-Cola was able to make a positive step forward in their

The company known as Coca-Cola today was started in September of 1919, but the first Coke brand was served as early as 1886. Since that time it has grown to be one of the most globally recognized brand names with a stock value of $167 billion. Coke’s plan has always been developed with the future in mind. Right away the company realized that it was more profitable to manufacture the concentrate used to make carbonated drinks than to bottle it. From that point on they saw the entire world, not simply the originating country, as their desired market. It seems only practical that the company should pursue this agenda until conquered then focus the effort on expanding into different product lines. This logical

In the Pepsi Challenge in the 1980’s, customers took a blind sip test of Coca-Cola and Pepsi and most people ended up favoring Pepsi. Coca-Cola became worried and started to alter their drink to make it sweeter however after the change people disliked the new Coca-Cola so they changed it back. Though after the challenge people thought

Rivalry: The rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi is extremely high; however, both companies continue to remain profitable. Prior to the 1980s, pricing wars negatively affected profitability for Coca-Cola and Pepsi. After Coca-Cola renegotiated its franchise bottling contract and both companies increased concentrate prices, the rivalry began to focus on differentiation and advertising strategies. Through creative advertising campaigns, such as the “Pepsi Challenge” where Pepsi ran blind taste tests to demonstrate that consumers

The traditional change model consists of three steps: unfreezing, i.e. recognizing the need for change because of some event or threat, the actual change actions and refreezing, i.e. incorporating new ways of operating and thinking into everyday operations of the organization. Apply this model to the situation at the coca-cola company at the point when the lawsuit was served in 1999.

This case study is the story of Coca-Cola, its history and the report about one of the most fascinating stories about the company this is still regarded by many as a mysterious case: “the introduction of the new Coke”.

Coca-Cola, as the leading brand in the world, has the highest position in soft drink industry. Its outstanding product “Coke” has been won the heart of everyone. However, in this case, we realize that they had a failed attempt at introducing the new product called New Coke in 1985.

Marketing strategies began to take broader dimensions as the soft drink industry continued to expand and became more complex. In 1976, Pepsi introduced the Pepsi Challenge in its campaigns, a moved that directly challenged Coca-Cola’s longstanding dominance. In 1985, responding to the pressure of the taste tests, which Pepsi always won, Coca-Cola decided to change its formula. This move set off a shock wave across America. Consumers angrily demanded that the old formula be returned, and Coca-Cola responded three months later with Classic Coke. Five years after the infamous Coke fiasco, the Coca-Cola

Last year, Coca-cola saw its sales decreased in the European market. In order to increase the sales, Coca-Cola needs to define a new strategic communications plan. As mentioned above the image of Coca-Cola has been damaged quite a lot for the past 2 years by different factors. A hard work needed to deal with consequences of this damage in the image of the company.

“A Coke is a Coke, and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same, and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."(Andy Warhol, 1975) Regardless of its corporate reputation, the organizational performance and its social responsibility of Coca-Cola makes it loved around the world. Ever since its creation in 1886 Coca-Cola has been a household brand known globally for generations of families. I have to mention, of all the cases researched this is my least favorite not only because of my childhood love for the product because the ethical issues in one way or another always manage to resolve themselves not before further tainting the reputation Coke worked so hard to obtain. Most times, whether an organization is innocent of an unethical act, it becomes secondary to the suspicion of the original act. Almost as if the court of public opinion has the power to ruin the reputation of an organization based on an unfounded accusation. In spite of my loyalty after having ready the case, I do believe Coca-Cola to be flawed. The contamination scare in Belgium is a great example of a public relations nightmare. The slightest hint of impurity should have pushed Coca Cola into crisis management mode but they were slow to react, citing it a minor issue (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, (2011). It was not until local officials

The revolution lead to a revolt as well as the rebirth of the old classic coke. Two new campaigns were introduced after the consumer crisis in 1985: the most popular Red White and You, pathetic appeal for Coca-Cola classic and the Catch the Wave for the new taste of coke (“The Real Story of New Coke”). During the summer, Coca- Cola announced the taste variance; frantic consumers purchased coke in bulk hoarding the remains in their homes while others formed protest bands with claims to having brought back the original formula. Coke’s prior history is significant because they used their short fall as a comeback. For instance if you fail a test but then study harder for the next one and receive a passing grade, you have redeemed yourself. Same with failing in an area of life there is still a chance reclaim the past downfall to enrich the future.

Innovation is much more than taking a current beverage and repackaging it with different flavors. It also means more than boosting Coca-Cola Classic sales (Cravens, 2009). “New formulations could potentially serve as the basis for future advertising efforts, while providing shelter from health critics and politicians who blame soda for the nation's obesity epidemic” (Schultz, 2013). New formulations and brand extensions will help consumers that are no longer purchasing the brand to try new flavors or brand products, have a positive experience, and then hopefully return to the purchasing of previous products also (Bloomberg Businessweek, 2005). The innovation strategy should strengthen the brand.

Coca-Cola spends huge amounts of fund on marketing every year to remain its competitiveness. However, recently, Coca-Cola had a weak global growth. The sales volume of soda is not so satisfactory. Coke is claimed to have too many calories and sugar, thus being bad to health, as a result of which, consumers turn their attention to other drinks (Kell n. pag.).

Coca Cola’s first main weakness is that it is highly susceptible to any kind of negative publicity. Every kind of negative publicity can hurt the brand badly. Some years ago after traces of pesticides were found in the products of Coca Cola, it had hurt the brand really hard. Sales had dipped in various corners of the world apart from the criticism that flowed. Any such thing can hurt the popularity and sales of coca cola. However, Coca cola can overcome this weakness by being more transparent regarding the ingredients it uses in the production of its brands.