New Coke, 35 years on • Hacker News Board

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#21

Post by RandallBrown » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 4:53 PM UTC

Ancalagon wrote: post #17

ajphdiv wrote: post #12

Do they have different formulas for different countries? I’ve had coke products in several different countries and they all tasted different to me. The most noticeable was a coke in Germany tasted less sweet compared to US coke.

yes, in the US anyways corn syrup is used in place of sugar cane which is used in say Mexico

I don't believe this is (100%) true anymore.

Mexican Coke you buy in the US is sweetened with cane sugar, but Mexican Coke you buy in Mexico is often sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#22

Post by tomohawk » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 4:55 PM UTC

Where they really screwed up was when they changed from using sugar to high fructose corn syrup. This drastically changed the taste of Coke. If you want original Coke, you can get Mexican Coke, available from many stores, which still uses sugar.

I find American coke to be an entirely different beverage, which is almost undrinkable.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#23

Post by projektfu » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 4:55 PM UTC

josh_fyi wrote: post #16

Or possibly New Coke was a huge boost, through the attention that the controversy aroused. After the New Coke fiasco wrapped up, Coca Cola sales soared.

I agree with this. Coke was really hurting in the overall market when New Coke was introduced.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#24

Post by yodon » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 4:55 PM UTC

stuff4ben wrote: post #2

I wish someone would spill the secrets of how New Coke came to be from inside CocaCola's offices. From the boardroom to the marketing dept, to the "chefs" who made the new recipe. Now that would be an interesting read. To see the decisions that were made and office politics that shaped what almost caused CocaCola to go under.

The path to New Coke was quite simple, actually. Coke learned that in blind taste tests, consumers overwhelmingly preferred Pepsi to Coke, by a wide margin and repeatable across a wide range of tests. The preference was simple - Pepsi was sweeter, and in blind taste tests people overwhelmingly preferred the sweeter drink.

This hard data was seen as indicating a looming crisis and management felt the need to act and act quickly. What the data failed to show, however, was how brand aware consumers perceived the two drinks. Even though blind taste tests showed overwhelming preference for Pepsi, if you left the labels on the cans consumers overwhelmingly preferred Coke.

Coke management listened to the researchers but all parties concerned failed to understand what the research was and wasn't testing, and what conclusions one could and couldn't draw from it.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#25

Post by timcederman » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 4:58 PM UTC

7thaccount wrote: post #4

I've never had New Coke, but heard it was good. Can anyone speak to the flavor?

I bought some as part of the Stranger Things promotion, so assuming it actually does match the original recipe, it was pretty good. I did blind taste tests with the rest of the family and everyone picked New Coke as their preferred flavour. I guess the best way to describe it is it seemed a bit sweeter (but not more sugary), in the same way Tab had a sweeter flavor profile compared to Diet Coke.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#26

Post by JoeAltmaier » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 4:59 PM UTC

timcederman wrote: post #25

7thaccount wrote: post #4

I've never had New Coke, but heard it was good. Can anyone speak to the flavor?

I bought some as part of the Stranger Things promotion, so assuming it actually does match the original recipe, it was pretty good. I did blind taste tests with the rest of the family and everyone picked New Coke as their preferred flavour. I guess the best way to describe it is it seemed a bit sweeter (but not more sugary), in the same way Tab had a sweeter flavor profile compared to Diet Coke.

Strangely, in blind taste tests, a majority of folks chose Diet Pepsi over all the others (all other Pepsi; all other Coke). Which shows, soft drink preferences are largely cultural?

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#27

Post by michaelbuckbee » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 5:00 PM UTC

stuff4ben wrote: post #2

I wish someone would spill the secrets of how New Coke came to be from inside CocaCola's offices. From the boardroom to the marketing dept, to the "chefs" who made the new recipe. Now that would be an interesting read. To see the decisions that were made and office politics that shaped what almost caused CocaCola to go under.

This is often discussed in business schools as a danger of doing market research. Pepsi was running ads about beating Coke in tastes tests (which Coke confirmed).

Pepsi is sweeter and people liked it better in a little sample sip, but to sit down and drink a whole glass was too much.

New Coke was made to taste more like Pepsi.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#28

Post by encoderer » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 5:01 PM UTC

yodon wrote: post #24

stuff4ben wrote: post #2

I wish someone would spill the secrets of how New Coke came to be from inside CocaCola's offices. From the boardroom to the marketing dept, to the "chefs" who made the new recipe. Now that would be an interesting read. To see the decisions that were made and office politics that shaped what almost caused CocaCola to go under.

The path to New Coke was quite simple, actually. Coke learned that in blind taste tests, consumers overwhelmingly preferred Pepsi to Coke, by a wide margin and repeatable across a wide range of tests. The preference was simple - Pepsi was sweeter, and in blind taste tests people overwhelmingly preferred the sweeter drink. This hard data was seen as indicating a looming crisis and management felt the need to act and a…

Also fascinating is that it was a failure/misapplication of consumer research. When testing New Coke vs their existing product people preferred the New Coke but they didn't ask the pivotal question: Would you prefer this instead of coke.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#29

Post by flyers25 » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 5:04 PM UTC

7thaccount wrote: post #4

I've never had New Coke, but heard it was good. Can anyone speak to the flavor?

It tastes a bit like Diet Coke but with normai sweetener instead of artificial sweetener.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#30

Post by gmueckl » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 5:05 PM UTC

ajphdiv wrote: post #12

Do they have different formulas for different countries? I’ve had coke products in several different countries and they all tasted different to me. The most noticeable was a coke in Germany tasted less sweet compared to US coke.

The taste is certainly different in different countries. Other companies also adjust their recipes for different areas. I think it is partially because of regional taste preferences and probably also because of different regulatory requirements. There are differences in the lists of allowed and forbidden food additives in North America and the EU, for example.