Where Did New Coke Go Wrong?

The company’s switchboards were soon drowning in nearly 10,000 calls a day from irate customers. New Coke became a worldwide story, but for all the wrong reasons. New Coke failure was criticized as the biggest marketing blunder of all time. On July 11, 1985, less than three months later, the company brought back the original Coke.

On July 11, 1985, less than three months later, the company brought back the original Coke. Legendary brand designer Walter Landor said products are created in the factory, but brands are created in the mind. Coke learned this the hard way.

Surveys indicated that the majority of regular Coke drinkers liked the new flavoring. : 153 Three quarters of the respondents said they would buy New Coke again. The big test, however, remained in the South, where Coke had first been tasted and bottled.

Most Coke drinkers resumed buying the new Coke at much the same level as they had the old one. Surveys indicated that the majority of regular Coke drinkers liked the new flavoring. Three quarters of the respondents said they would buy New Coke again.

Why did Coca Cola lose market share?

To the shock of Coca-Cola, internal taste tests yielded the same results. Company executives grew convinced that its soda’s taste—not its rival’s advertisements targeting the “Pepsi Generation”—was the reason for its declining market share.

While the company was developing the unique formula for Diet Coke, which was introduced in 1982, it found in top-secret taste tests that a sweeter version of the concoction beat not only Pepsi, but the classic version of Coke. Executives decided to make a risky change.

The outrage caught Coca-Cola executives by surprise. They had hardly made a rash decision unsupported by data. After all, they had performed 190,000 blind taste tests on U.S. and Canadian consumers. The problem, though, is that the company had underestimated loyal drinkers’ emotional attachments to the brand. Never did its market research testers ask subjects how they would feel if the new formula replaced the old one.

Since its introduction in 1886, Coca-Cola’s secret recipe had been tweaked several times—such as when changing sweeteners from cane sugar to beet sugar to corn syrup—but its taste had remained constant. While the company was developing the unique formula for Diet Coke, which was introduced in 1982, it found in top-secret taste tests that a sweeter version of the concoction beat not only Pepsi, but the classic version of Coke. Executives decided to make a risky change.

Although Coca-Cola remained the world’s best-selling soft drink, rival Pepsi-Cola continued to gain market share in the 1970s and early 1980s, thanks in part to its aggressive “Pepsi Challenge” campaign in which consumers taking blind taste tests were surprised to learn they preferred the flavor of Pepsi. To the shock of Coca-Cola, internal taste …

Coca-Cola bets everything on New Coke. On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola Company chairman and CEO Roberto Goizueta stepped before the press gathered at New York City’s Lincoln Center to introduce the new formula, which he declared to be “smoother, rounder, yet bolder—a more harmonious flavor.”.

Rather than divide its market share between two sugar sodas, Coca-Cola discontinued its 99-year classic recipe and locked Formula 7x away in an Atlanta bank vault with the intention that it never again see the light of day.

When did Coca Cola change their formula?

Thirty years ago, on April 23, 1985 , Coca-Cola announced that the company would take an unprecedented step in the ongoing cola wars: changing their formula. The secret formula for the classic soft drink would be locked away in a vault, forever, replaced that May with a sweeter pop designed to appeal to changing American tastes.

However, it is sweeter than the original formula and also has a body that could best be described as lighter.

In fact, New Coke wasn’t actually all bad for the company.

However, it is sweeter than the original formula and also has a body that could best be described as lighter. It tastes a little like classic Coca-Cola that has been diluted by melting ice. I have always preferred Coca-Cola to Pepsi, finding the latter much too sweet and thin.

Why was the new Coke so successful?

Still, New Coke was a success because it revitalized the brand and reattached the public to Coke.

New Coke continued to do what it had originally been designed to do: win taste tests. In 1987, The Wall Street Journal surveyed 100 randomly selected cola drinkers, the majority of whom indicated a preference for Pepsi, with Classic Coke accounting for the remainder save two New Coke loyalists.

The show, set in 1985, included cans of New Coke in three of the season’s episodes. About 500,000 cans of New Coke were produced for the promotion, to be sold mostly online. So many people were eager to buy it, however, that the volume of orders crashed the Coca-Cola website.

Dasani, bottled water brand produced by Coca-Cola that failed in the United Kingdom despite huge marketing push; seen as UK equivalent of New Coke. MagiCan, failed Coca-Cola promotion in 1990.

It was renamed Coke II in 1992, and was discontinued in July 2002. By 1985, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to diet soft drinks and non-cola beverages for several years. Blind taste tests indicated that consumers …

Coke II. In April 1985, the Coca-Cola Company introduced a new formula for its Coca-Cola soda, known informally as New Coke. It was renamed Coke II in 1992, and was discontinued in July 2002. By 1985, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to diet soft drinks and non-cola beverages for several years. Blind taste tests indicated that consumers …

New Coke was introduced on April 23, 1985 . Production of the original formulation ended later that week. In many areas, New Coke was initially introduced in “old” Coke packaging; bottlers used up remaining cans, cartons and labels before new packaging was widely available. Old cans containing New Coke were identified by their gold colored tops, while glass and plastic bottles had red caps instead of silver and white, respectively. Bright yellow stickers indicating the change were placed on the cartons of multi-packs.