What Should Coca Cola Have Done?

What should have occurred? What should occur in future situations? It would be a consistent inference to suggest that Coca-Colas decision to change its formula and market New Coke to the American population was nothing short of a distinguish failure. On 23 April 1985 New Coke was introduced and a few days later the production of original Coke was stopped. This joint decision has since been referred to as the biggest selling blunder of all time (Bhasin, 2010).But to completely dismiss the fact that Coca-Cola was losing market share to Pepsi-Cola, as well as other products that they themselves were producing (Diet Coke), would not fairly guard justice to the decisions behind Coca-Colas marketing blunder. Coca-Cola was in a dilemma. They were going through an identity crisis, and that crisis seemed to lead them to make their one major costly decision. That crisis was quite a simple. Coca-Cola had forgotten who they were and grasping for market share, instead of focusing on branding lead them in an ominous direction.In order to avoid an identity crisis, Coca-Cola should have understood that a brand is far more than just a logo. Instead, its comprised of a complete set of attributes and tools, or identity elements, that give the brand a unique identity (Forward). The simple fact is that all the time, money, and skill poured into consumer research on the new Coca-Cola could not handbill or reveal the deep and durable emotional attachment to the original Coca-Cola, felt by so many people. The passion for original Coca-Cola was something that caught executives at Coca-Cola by surprise.It was a brain-teaser, an American enigma, and one cannot measure it any more than one can measure love, pride, or patriotism (Bhasin, 2010). Of all of the consumer research and data analyzing Coca-Cola and its executives claim to have performed, its a mystery that they forgot one simple rule ask your customers first Sam Craig, professor of marketing and international business at the Stern School of Business at New York University, pointed to what he and other industry observers have long considered a fatal mistake on Coca-Colas part. They didnt ask the critical question of Coke users Do you want a new Coke?By failing to ask that critical question, they had to cover songpedal very quickly (Ross, 2005). Coca-cola should have concentrated on the brands perception. marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products (Bhasin, 2010). If Coca-Cola had concentrated on brand perception and less on trying to clone or compete with another attach tos product, they would have never made the fatal mistake. What Coca-cola learned was to not be afraid to make a mistake. Yet, most importantly they learned to remove those mistakes and not be afraid to make a u-turn.Through the brand failure of New Coke loyalty to the real thing intensified. Coca-Cola assimilated that by going back on its decision to scrap original Coke, the company ended up creating an even stronger bond between the product and the consumer (Bhasin, 2010). Consumers began realizing that coke was more than a drink. It was an run across an enigma. The question then arises Coca-Cola has recently decided, along with Pepsi-Cola, to change its recipe in order to avoid putting a cancer warning on their cans. forget Coca-Cola have learned anything from the biggest marketing blunder of all time?Bhasin, H. (2010, January 1). Coca Cola tag Failure. Retrieved April 2012, 26, from Marketing91 http//www. marketing91. com/coca-cola-brand-failure/ Forward, J. (n. d. ). How to Build Your Brand and Avoid an Identity Crisis. Retrieved April 26, 2012, from Beneath The Brand http//www. talentzoo. com/beneath-the-brand/blog_news. php? articleID=8478 Ross, M. E. (2005, April 22). It seemed like a good idea at the time . Retrieved April 26, 2012, from MSNBC http//www. msnbc. msn. com/id/7209828/ns/us_news/t/it-seemed-good-idea-time/. T5mkCuweSSA