Happy Birthday, New Coke!

Today, “New Coke” would have turned 25. But sadly it will only live on in our hearts and minds… and possibly in vending machines in American Samoa.

On this day in 1985, The Coca-Cola Company rolled out a reformulated version of its leading product, Coca-Cola, in an effort to regain market share it was losing hand over fist to Pepsi.

The new product was met with what is probably the most widespread, negative consumer reaction EVER. The reformulated recipe really only survived for 3 months; in July of 1985 the original formula—rebranded “Coca-Cola Classic”—was reintroduced, thus effectively killing off its replacement.

New Coke has been heralded as the biggest product failure ever and THE textbook example of bad marketing.

But was it?

Whether or not they planned it (for the fun of it try googling “New Coke conspiracy”), suffice it to say that when the dust settled on the whole fiasco, Coca-Cola sales rebounded and the company regained its dominance of the soft drink market.

So maybe “New Coke” was indeed the biggest product failure ever, but it may also be the greatest example of how to galvanize consumer loyalty.

Just something to think about…

-Sarah, Emogen marketer