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New Coke, 35 years on

independent.co.uk

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Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#51

Post by Brendinooo »

rangibaby wrote: post #13
franze wrote: post #3

Not mentioned in the article was the "market research gone wrong". New Coke was market tested in supermarkets with taste samples and questionnaires. New Coke was preferred in these taste tests. But the context was wrong, a small sip in the supermarket under surveillance is not a bottle at home / cinema / picknik. But: "almost ruined" is wrong, too. After this CocaCola basically got the status as USA national heritage…

“Some cynics say we planned the whole thing... ...The truth is we are not that dumb and we are not that smart.”

I use this quote often; it's the single greatest takeaway from the New Coke story for me.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#52

Post by NoodleIncident »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #50
yodon wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add a little more color, the "which is sweeter" question, which drove the shift to New Coke, was as a leadership failure actually secondary to the deeper brand failing that was New Coke. Coke's brand has always been a golden-age concept, a celebration of all the good times you've had in the past drinking coke with family and friends (think of all the old timey photos and artwork you've seen in Coke ads, and it's b…

> because it was destroying their relationship to one of the strongest brands in the world. No one wanted Coke to be New. They had Pepsi for that. They preferred Coke to be their connection to the golden age of all their past good times. I don't believe anything resembling this kind of thinking process goes through a typical customer's head, even subconsciously. It doesn't pass the smell test as a rationalization, an…

I find it strange how many people on the internet are convinced ads and branding just... don't work? They obviously do. Even if you think they don't work on you (which you're probably wrong about), they work on everyone else.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#53

Post by MivLives »

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.

Also grabbed it as I was pretty sure it's the only chance I'd ever get to try it.

Reminded me of Pepsi a lot, like a Pepsi made by Coke. Much lighter and sweeter tasting. Honestly probably would have done well if they hadn't used Coke branding on it.

Personally I like cane sugar Coke, or stevia Coke over it. Fun fact Coke is the one beverage I know of that you can buy with five different sweeteners: - Cane sugar - High Fructose Corn Syrup - aspartame - aspartame and acesulfame potassium (Coke Zero) - stevia

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#54

Post by [deleted] »

gamegoblin wrote: post #43
karatestomp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those blind tests are so weird. I’m not a huge soda drinker but I can tell Pepsi vs. Coke by smell , let alone taste, and I’m pretty sure I’m no super-taster. I mean yeah close clones of either might fool me (never checked) but I’m very sure I could tell those two apart without difficulty, and likely without even taking a drink.

I thought the exact same thing. I decided to prove I could tell the difference to my wife, so we set up a blindfolded test, and I did absolutely no better than random. However, we did another test where I was given a sip of coke beforehand as a baseline, and then got 100% accuracy. But without the known-flavor baseline, I was essentially unable to accurately label the samples.

[deleted]

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#55

Post by epicureanideal »

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…

I would be interested to know whether they tested this WITH FOOD. If I were just drinking a few sips of some soda, I probably would prefer Pepsi. But if I'm eating almost any kind of food, I prefer Coke, because it's not so overpoweringly sweet in comparison to whatever food I'm eating. And in general I don't just crack open a soda and drink it straight, I'm usually drinking it with some food, so 90% of the soda I buy is Coke despite what would show up in too-simple market research studies as a preference for Pepsi.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#56

Post by mixmastamyk »

yodon wrote: post #33
yodon wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

To add a little more color, the "which is sweeter" question, which drove the shift to New Coke, was as a leadership failure actually secondary to the deeper brand failing that was New Coke. Coke's brand has always been a golden-age concept, a celebration of all the good times you've had in the past drinking coke with family and friends (think of all the old timey photos and artwork you've seen in Coke ads, and it's b…

Interesting, reminds me of the steady "Chrome-ification" of Firefox, something I've never asked for. Thankfully a few things have been reversed, like the silly tab shape.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#57

Post by mixmastamyk »

gamegoblin wrote: post #43
karatestomp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those blind tests are so weird. I’m not a huge soda drinker but I can tell Pepsi vs. Coke by smell , let alone taste, and I’m pretty sure I’m no super-taster. I mean yeah close clones of either might fool me (never checked) but I’m very sure I could tell those two apart without difficulty, and likely without even taking a drink.

I thought the exact same thing. I decided to prove I could tell the difference to my wife, so we set up a blindfolded test, and I did absolutely no better than random. However, we did another test where I was given a sip of coke beforehand as a baseline, and then got 100% accuracy. But without the known-flavor baseline, I was essentially unable to accurately label the samples.

Beyond the sweetness difference, Classic Coke has a lot more bite. It almost hurts during the first sip of a freshly opened can. Obvious if you are aware of it.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#58

Post by mixmastamyk »

dannykwells wrote: post #42

My understanding is that this was, long-term, very good for Coke. Check out this line: " On 11 July 1985, once the extent of the soda brand’s mistake had become evident, Coca-Cola relaunched the original recipe, rebranded as Coca-Cola Classic. According to the beverage corporation, the news of the drink’s long-awaited return “made the front page of virtually every major newspaper”. " Talk about free advertising!! Fro…

I remember it often on the nightly news as well.

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#59

Post by TeMPOraL »

NoodleIncident wrote: post #52
TeMPOraL wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because it was destroying their relationship to one of the strongest brands in the world. No one wanted Coke to be New. They had Pepsi for that. They preferred Coke to be their connection to the golden age of all their past good times. I don't believe anything resembling this kind of thinking process goes through a typical customer's head, even subconsciously. It doesn't pass the smell test as a rationalization, an…

I find it strange how many people on the internet are convinced ads and branding just... don't work? They obviously do. Even if you think they don't work on you (which you're probably wrong about), they work on everyone else.

I didn't say they don't work. They do. And in tune with the article on averages (and curse of dimensionality) on the front page now[0], I'll happily concede that different brands may work strongly on different people at different times. Hell, myself I had periods in my youth when I had fanboy-level attachment to a brand or two.

My point is that I doubt that the typical relationship with a brand is as sophisticated as 'yodon described. If it was, we'd all be falling victim to advertising bullshit much more often. So e.g. when Coca Cola airs another commercial with a grandfather pulling up coke during family supper, I believe almost everyone watching either smiles or rolls their eyes. I don't think their minds race to the memories of their family dinners, or old times, or whatever. That would be a dangerously strong emotional reaction to an ad.

--

[0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22956832

Re: New Coke, 35 years on

#60

Post by [deleted] »

gambiting wrote: post #5

"According to Mullins, the issue was not just the new taste, but that the company had done something “un-American” - taken away his “freedom of choice”." Ah the good old "I want freedom of choice, but if you exercise yours then that's un-American". And we think that entitlement is a 21st century invention.

[deleted]
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