Aditya Chaman 17PGP009

The New Coke- Case Study

Akshay Kale 17PGP062
Arnab Ghosh 17PGP243
Kunal Rawat 17PGP071
Rishabh Sharma 17PGP249
 How it Began…
Invented by John Styth Pemberton in 1885 in Atlanta, USA,
it started of by the name French Wine Coca as a nerve tonic
containing wine and coca leaves
An year later, the wine got replaced by caffeine and kola nut
and got a new name.. Coca-Cola
For Pemberton, Coca-Cola was a headache remedy
rather than a refreshment.. Till
Asa Griggs Candler, a druggist, accidently discovered that it
tasted great with carbonated water and so the Coca-Cola
we know today was born

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 Over the years
1888 1919 1923 1940s/ WWII 1960s 1983
1981 Mid 1985

1892 1922 1930s 1950s 1975 Early

1970s 1982 1985
July 1985

Woodruff bought multiple brands and merged them into one CocaCola Foods Division.
Coca-Cola
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time.
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 1. Major Forces Influencing Coke
Internal External

Corporate Objective/ Business Culture Brand Loyalty of American Citizens

Operations Attitude towards Competition

Need for Diversification Market Dynamics

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 Problems Identified and
Research Objective for
Developing New Coke
Coke was failing the Pepsi challenge. It had never tested its
flavor against competitors
Coke was always focused on marketing and advertising than
the product itself, which was the same since 1890s
Refreshment and thirst quenching were no longer the only
priorities among customers. Flavor was a rising need
Old coke was harder and a little bitter. It needed a more
favorable taste to ensue the taste buds of the new
generation

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 Is Relevance of market
research lost in the
context of failure of new
coke ?
Coca-Cola Company assumed the loyal customers who didn’t
like the new flavor would slowly start liking it
They ignored the voice of 45% brand loyal customers who didn’t
favor the new flavor during blind tests
Upon launch, the old (favored) Coke was immediately
discontinued
Why the new Coke seemed to fail wasn’t because of the failure
of the new flavor but the discontinuation of the old one

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 How did the Coca Cola
Company get it so terribly
wrong ?
Coca-Cola Company took its brand loyal customers for
granted
The customers that didn’t like the new flavor were
assumed to slowly switch to and accept the new coke
Coca-Cola Company presumed that both cokes cannot
coexist
Their decision to remove the old coke immediately upon
introduction of the new coke fueled the fire.

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 Handling Press Conference
Questions
• What’s the difference between new and old coke?
• To what extend are you introducing this product to the Pepsi Challenge?
• There are those who suggest if it ain’t broken don’t fix it( if old coke was doing fine as a
product, what was the need to introduce a new one)?
• Pepsi’s advertisement today says your change is an admission that your old product wasn’t
good enough to make it. Your comment?
• Did new coke came entirely by accident?
• Coke has been advertising that it less sweet and that’s part of its attraction- the real taste
of coke. Now you’re offering something sweeter. Are you going to stop running those ads
or are you acknowledging pepsi did something right?
• Did you ever consider ever marketing them both?

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 5. Key Learnings for Undertaking
Market Research
Market research
on all competitors
whether small or
big

Market research Market research

on identifying on changing
customer’s need consumer’s needs
on which and perception.
company can
offer its products

Before launching
a new product,
testing of the Market Research
prototype of on regular basis
product on a
sample of people

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 1929 Ad of Coca-Cola

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That’s all Folks