New Coke

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About

New Coke refers to the collequial name given to a reformulated version of the Coca-Cola company's Coca-Cola beverage. Released in 1985, the Coca-Cola company hoped the drink would boost sales but caused a bit of a backlash, when fans demanded the original formula's return. In 1992, the company rebranded the beverage as "Coke II."

History

In an effort to stop slumping sales against competitors, particularly Pepsi, which had begun to eat up market share from Coca-Cola, a new formula for Coca-Cola's flagship product was developed. On April 23rd, 1985, the newly formulated Coke was released. At the time, Jesse Meyers, publisher of the trade magazine Beverage Digest, said of the release, "This has got to be the boldest consumer products move of any kind of any stripe since Eve started to hand out apples."^[1]

The release of the beverage spurred an unprecedented backlash as soda drinkers demanded the return to Coke's classic formula. 79 days after the new formula's release, Coca-Cola announced they would be re-releasing the original Coke under the name "Coca-Cola Classic." The new formula would continue to be sold under the "Coca-Cola" label until 1992, when it was redubbed "Coke II," which was discontinued on July 10th, 2002.

Re-Release

In 2019, as part of a promotion for the American science fiction television series Stranger Things, which is set in the 1980s, Coca-Cola announced that it would be re-releasing "New Coke" for a limited time.^[2] On May 21st, 2019, the company released an advertisement for the soft drink using footage from Stranger Things (shown below).

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Reception

While initially providing Coke with the sales increase they hoped for, the new Coke went on to be considered one of the greatest marketing blunders of the modern age. Despite this, Sales briefly grew 8% until stabilizing and normalizing.

However, soda drinkers who were feverishly dedicated to the original formula responded negatively to the change. According to reports,^[3] the company received tens of thousands of phone calls and letters from consumers demanding the old formula back, as many 31,000 in the first two days of release.

In a 1992 episode of the animated sitcom The Simpsons, the show jokingly referred to the product as the "blunder of the century" (clip below).^[3]

Impact

The release of New Coke has come to be known as one of the most frequently cited marketing decisions of the 20th century, with some saying it was one of the century's greatest mistakes and others a piece of unexpected success. Coca Cola's marketing vice president Sergio Zyman defended the tactic:

Yes, it infuriated the public, cost us a ton of money and lasted for only 77 days before we reintroduced Coca-Cola Classic. Still, New Coke was a success because it revitalized the brand and reattached the public to Coke.