Case Study #4 1. Information that would have been important before introducing New Coke: * Conduct their own taste test in various locations to compare results to Pepsi. * Collect info from present Coke drinkers on how much they would prefer a “New Coke” flavor. * Collect info on why those who do not drink Coke are unsatisfied with the product. 2. It appeared that Coca-Cola was more interested in attracting new customers than keeping existing customers. Due to the fact that the Coke executives focused primarily on the quantitative research than the qualitative research which showed that some people were deeply unhappy with the change. Most likely those unsatisfied with the change would have been existing customers over the past years than new customers. 3. I think that Coca-Cola did not adequately research the potential risks of the change due to the fact: * That it attracted only a 3% market share. * A massive public backlash occurred from loyal Coke drinkers. * Coke was back in the soft drink market a few months later. * The name was switched multiple times till 2009 when it was finally switched back to Coke. 4. The variable Coca Cola neglected to take into consideration were their own loyal customers. They did not account for those who enjoyed drinking Coke than Pepsi and suddenly decided that they wanted to change the taste in order to attract new customers to compete against Pepsi. This in return ended up backlashing on them and losing money after trying to attract new customers to compete with Pepsi. 5. Most important function in market research is having a strong noticeable brand that would be appealing to loyal customers as well as attract new customers to try the product that is being