When Image Became Everything: The New Coke Fiasco At 25

The Faster Times ^ | 4/23/10 | Patrick Cassels

[okie01]

“A phenomenal shift!” remarked Pauley, wide eyed. “We now buy soft drinks for the image.”

With all due respect to the author, we have always bought soft drinks that way. Well, image plus distribution (every soft drink bottler strives to have their product -- and their advertising -- literally everywhere). As a party to much research and many focussed groups on the subject -- pre- and post- New Coke -- I can assert this with conviction.

Further, Coca Cola actually managed to turn the New Coke debacle into an immense positive. New Coke took the place of Old Coke on the supermarket shelves and on the fountain valve. When Classic Coke returned, it added new space on the supermarket shelves and another valve on the fountain.

Thus, once the changeover and the re-introduction were complete -- Coke had doubled its shelf space and fountain presence. Pepsi then became a furious marketer of "flanker" products itself, seeking to protect its shelf space from encroachment by Coca Cola. The two titans ended up owning, between them, about 80% of the total shelf space -- while the small regional brands and flavors (Grapette, Nehi, Double-Up, even Royal Crown and Diet-Rite, etc.) disappeared in the torrent.

I've always thought it plausible that Coca-Cola actually planned it the way it turned out -- in which case, it wasn't a marketing blunder, but a bold marketing coup.

[tarawa]

the reason they tasted funny to me when I was in the Gulf was that they alwyas seemed to have a metallic taste to them, probably because I don’t think those Pepsi cans were aluminum.