Marketing Research on Launch of New Coke

Submitted to: Dr. Madhuri Shete

Submitted by: Anamika Chaurasiya

1062200170 (20GEN8)

General Management (Marketing - d)

 Anamika Chaurasiya (21GEN8)
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Marketing Research on Launch of New Coke

Summary

 The case concerns one of the most egregious marketing blunders: the launch of
new Coca-Cola.
 Coca-Cola introduced a new coke to take market share from Pepsi.
 Coca-Cola conducted taste tests on 200000 people to evaluate their new coke
recipe, and the results revealed that consumers liked a sweeter coke. Only 30000-
40000 people were given the opportunity to try the novel formula in this study.
 In addition to the taste tests, the business polled a distinct group of consumers to
gauge their acceptability of the new Coke concept.
 Following all of the taste tests and polls, a new coke was released, which was
sweeter than the old coke. Also, after a few days, the corporation ceased
producing the original coke, resulting in low sales of the new coke due to a boycott
by a huge portion of the US population, forcing Coca-Cola to bring back the
original coke.

Facts

 Coca-Cola spent $4 million on market research over two years to replace the old
coke with the new coke.
 It polled 200000 people and conducted taste testing. Only 30000-40000 people
out of a total of 200000 tried the new Coke formula.
 The new coke formula was preferred by the majority of consumers (53 percent)
who tried both the new and old coke formulas.
 The corporation also polled a different group of customers to find out which brand
of Coca-Cola they preferred.

Query

Where did the market research fail in this case? What would you do if you were a
market researcher?

Answer

▪ One of the major blunders made by the company's researchers was focusing solely
on taste. They mistakenly assumed that customers' buying decisions were solely

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 Anamika Chaurasiya (21GEN8)
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dependent on the taste of the coke, which was not the case. Habit, nostalgia, and
loyalty should have all been taken into account by the researchers.
▪ In addition, only 30000-40000 people out of a total of 200000 tried the new Coca-
Cola formula, which was an insufficient sample size. The remaining respondents
were not given the opportunity to test the coke, resulting in market research
inaccuracies.
▪ They also made the mistake of removing the original Coca-Cola and only offering
the new Coca-Cola to the customers. Consumers' reactions would be radically
different if they knew their actions would result in the removal of the original
coke.
▪ Coca-concentration Cola's was solely on the physical aspects of the product, such
as branding and taste. They did not take into account the symbolic value of the
traditional coke in the American market. Sales soared after the traditional coke
was reintroduced.
As a researcher, I would have done the following:

▪ I would have undertaken the research not just on the basis of flavour and
branding, but also on symbolic meaning, customer behaviours, and devotion to
the classic Coca-Cola.
▪ Would not have removed the original coke off the market, preferring to offer the
new coke as an option.
▪ Would have assured that all 200000 respondents were given the opportunity to
try both the old and new coke.