On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola made a decision that would go down as one of the biggest marketing failures in history. For the first time in 99 years, the company announced it was changing its secret formula. The result was a new, sweeter version of the world’s favorite soft drink.
It might seem strange that the market leader would change its recipe, but Coke was feeling the pressure. During the early 1980s, Pepsi was gaining ground on Coca-Cola by narrowing the market share gap, partly through the successful “Pepsi Challenge” blind taste tests and the stronger appeal to younger consumers.
Pepsi showed that many people actually preferred a sweeter flavor. To win back, Coca-Cola spent millions on research. They conducted taste tests with nearly 200,000 people, and the majority said they preferred the smoother, sweeter taste of the new recipe. Confident in their data, Coke executives believed they had a winner.
When New Coke hit the shelves, the reaction wasn’t what the company had hoped for. People got annoyed, and Coca-Cola was flooded with up to 8,000 calls a day and received over 40,000 complaint letters. One letter was even addressed to the CEO as “Chief Dodo.”
It turns out that consumers didn’t just care about the taste, they had a deep sentimental attachment to the original brand. People wanted the old taste back, and some even held protests. In Seattle, angry fans were seen pouring the new soda down the sewers. Critics described the new flavor as awful, saying it lacked the kick of the original.
The public anger was so loud that Coca-Cola couldn’t ignore it. Just 79 days after the launch of New Coke, the company admitted its mistake. On July 11, 1985, they announced the return of the original formula, rebranding it as Coca-Cola Classic.
Image Credit: coca-colacompany.com
Once it was back on the shelves, the classic version quickly outsold New Coke and reclaimed its spot as the top-selling cola. New Coke was eventually renamed Coke II before being discontinued in the early 2000s.
Years later, CEO Roberto Goizueta reflected on the failure, calling it an intelligent risk. While the company didn’t get the reaction they wanted, the disaster proved just how much people loved the original brand.
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