New Coke was a new formula for the soft drink Coca-Cola, introduced by the Coca-Cola Company in 1985.
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26 Facts About New Coke
2.
The story of New Coke remains influential as a cautionary tale against tampering with an established successful brand.
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3.
New Coke's bottlers were already complaining about absorbing other recent additions into the product line since 1982, after the introduction of Diet Coke; Cherry Coke was launched nationally nearly concurrently with New Coke during 1985.
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4.
New Coke had improved sales by tweaking the drink's flavor slightly, and so was receptive to the idea that changing the flavor of Coke could boost profits.
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5.
New Coke believed it would be "New Coke or no Coke", and that the change must take place openly.
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6.
In many areas, New Coke was initially introduced in "old" Coke packaging; bottlers used up remaining cans, cartons and labels before new packaging was widely available.
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7.
Old cans containing New Coke were identified by their gold colored tops, while glass and plastic bottles had red caps instead of silver and white, respectively.
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8.
New Coke's stock went up after the announcement, and market research showed 80 percent of the American public was aware of the change within days.
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9.
New Coke's sales were up 8 percent over the same period as the year before.
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11.
Ads for New Coke were booed heavily when they appeared on the scoreboard at the Houston Astrodome.
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12.
New Coke filed a class action lawsuit against the company, while nevertheless expressing interest in securing the Coca-Cola Company as a client of his new firm should it reintroduce the old formula.
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13.
Zyman heard doubts and skepticism from his relatives in Mexico, where New Coke was scheduled to be introduced later that summer, when he went there on vacation.
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14.
Goizueta stated that Coca-Cola employees who liked New Coke felt unable to speak up due to peer pressure, as had happened in the focus groups.
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15.
Since New Coke officials were preoccupied over the weekend with preparations for the announcement, their PepsiCo counterparts had time to cultivate skepticism among reporters, sounding themes that would later come into play in the public discourse over the changed drink.
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16.
Coca-Cola had argued in its defense when the suit was originally filed that the formula's uniqueness and difference from Diet Coke justified different pricing policies from the latter – but if the new formula was simply an HFCS-sweetened Diet Coke, Coca-Cola could not argue the formula was unique.
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17.
Six months after the rollout, New Coke's sales had increased at more than twice the rate of Pepsi's.
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18.
New Coke's sales dwindled to a three percent share of the market, although it was selling quite well in Los Angeles and some other key markets.
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19.
Still, New Coke was a success because it revitalized the brand and reattached the public to Coke.
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20.
New Coke continued to do what it had originally been designed to do: win taste tests.
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21.
When this group was given a chance to try all three in a blind test, New Coke slightly edged out Pepsi, but many drinkers reacted angrily to finding they had chosen a brand other than their favorite.
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22.
New Coke even threw a tenth anniversary party for New Coke in 1995 and continued to drink it until his death in 1997.
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23.
In 1985, New Coke was sold only in the United States, United States territories, and Canada while the original formula continued to be sold in the rest of the world.
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24.
New Coke was eventually returned to the company's product portfolio; it was test-marketed in certain U S cities under the name Coke II in 1990, which was taken national in late 1992, despite the company's original intention not to create a second brand.
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25.
New Coke considered but rejected gradually changing the drink's flavor incrementally, without announcing they were doing so.
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26.
New Coke, he said, would have succeeded had it chosen this strategy.
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