Reflections on The Real Story of New Coke
On the April, 23, 1985, Coca-Cola Company began to introduce the reformulated Coca-Cola called New Coke into its largest market, the United States, to replace the original formula, which was regarded as a legend in marketing history. The reformulated coke promptly leaded to the country-wide storm of protests by the consumers who resisted the New Coke and called for the return of the original formula. Also, it drove people into a panic over losing their favorite soft drink. Customer Services in Coca-Cola Company and even its office were bombarded by the calls from thousands of fans of coke classic across the America. Even though this chaos ended with the return of coke classic, Coca-Cola Company, again, became the focus of the whole country and re-energized this fabled brand by helping its consumers realize that Coca-Cola was far more than a soft drink. Obviously, Coca-Cola intended to regain the lion’s share in its flagship market by taking this intelligent risk and it succeeded.
The story of New Coke did not happen occasionally. At that time, the company was gradually losing its share in its largest market with its most popular product because of its chief competitor’s better performance. Coca-Cola had no choice but to change otherwise it would lose more. However, every change was along with unknown risks and conflicts and the company had to take the risk and face the conflicts.
As a legendary company, Coca-Cola Company is never afraid of risks and conflicts. What’s more, it had taken the intelligent risk and made good use of conflicts to improve its image and re-energize its brand and products. Taking intelligent risk was a well-planned strategy to observe and control the changing environment. This great marketing strategy began with the introduction of New Coke, which was expected to refresh the customers’ memories