‘Wonderful to Be Loved Again’ : Protests, Weak Sales Cited in Return of Original Coke
Top Coca-Cola officials admitted Thursday that the company misjudged the American public’s attachment to the original-formula Coke and said that they were happy to put it back on the market.
Company President Donald R. Keough said that after the decision in late April to change the time-honored Coke taste, complaints never stopped pouring into the company’s headquarters here, much to the surprise of Coke officials, who had felt the protest would soon die off.
Putting the best face on the company’s multimillion-dollar marketing reversal, Keough told a news conference at Coke’s downtown headquarters here that “The simple fact is that all of the time and money and skill poured into consumer research on the new Coca-Cola could not measure or reveal the deep and abiding emotional attachment to the original Coca-Cola felt by so many people.”
He added that since it was disclosed Wednesday that old Coke would be coming back alongside the new, more than 15,000 callers had phoned the company to praise the decision, many of them sounding as if they were in tears.
“It’s just wonderful to be loved again,” said Coke Chairman Roberto C. Goizueta.
The latest sales figures also helped persuade Coke executives to reintroduce the old formula, which will now be called Coca-Cola Classic. Brian G. Dyson, president of Coca-Cola U.S.A. (the company’s marketing arm), admitted that while sales of the Coke concentrate to bottlers went up sharply in May, June sales were “clearly below our expectations.”
Dyson said that June’s disappointing sales could be attributed to “the fact that many loyal consumers practiced a withdrawal of enthusiasm” for the new Coke.
But he said that Coke expects to capture an even larger share of the market with the return of the old Coke to the Coca-Cola product line.
“By the end of this year, more than half the colas consumed in America will bear the trademark Coca-Cola,” he predicted. “And more than one out of every three soft drinks of any kind consumed in the U.S. will carry the trademark Coca-Cola.”
The Coke executives addressed the news conference from a podium decorated with classic 6 1/2-ounce green bottles of Coke. They vehemently denied that reintroducing old Coke had been part of a contingency plan in case the new flavor fell flat.
“Some critics say Coca-Cola made a marketing mistake; some cynics will say that we planned the whole thing,” Keough said. “The truth is we are not that dumb and we are not that smart.”
Decision Made Monday
Goizueta said that the final decision to bring back old Coke was made only last Monday and was prompted by the chorus of outcries from consumers.
“We are a consumer-driven business,” he added.
Of the decision to reformulate Coke, Keough said: “We knew we would hear howls from certain quarters. . . . But the passion for original Coca-Cola . . . was something that caught us by surprise.”
He cited one letter saying: “Changing Coke is like God making the grass purple or putting toes on our ears or teeth on our knees.” Another began “Dear Chief Dodo.”
Pepsi USA, a Purchase, N.Y.-based company that is Coke’s closest rival in the soft drink field, viewed Coca-Cola’s announcement with outward glee. Pepsi President Roger Enrico, speaking to reporters at a news conference in New York City following Coke’s press session, said: “We look at it as an opportunity to divide and conquer.”
Saluted Gay Mullins
At their news conference, Coke officials also saluted Gay Mullins, a 57-year-old medical researcher in Seattle who founded a vociferous protest group known as the Old Cola drinkers of America.
Keough said Mullins would be sent “the first case of Coca-Cola Classic off a bottling line in his territory . . . in appreciation for his loyalty.”
In response, Mullins told The Times in a telephone interview: “I saw that big giant up there and I climbed up after him. I yanked the golden goose and pulled it down.”
Mullins’ campaign, which won support from thousands of outraged Cokeaholics, also got a boost from Coke fifth columnists, he said.
“Coke secretaries and husbands of secretaries and wives of executives secretly called me to let me know what was going on at headquarters,” he said. “These people put their country high ahead of the company.”
Welcomed in Atlanta
Coke’s decision to reintroduce the old formula was no more welcomed than in the city where it was born 99 years ago when Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton concocted the first batch of the sticky, sweet syrup in his backyard.
“It could be a marketing coup d’etat ,” said Franklin Garrett, Atlanta’s official historian, who had drawn the wrath of the company for having compared the reformulation of old Coke to “fixin’ something that ain’t broke.”
Coke officials said that the old-style Coke will begin hitting shops and stores in about three weeks and will be available everywhere by around mid-September.
Coca-Cola executives said that they still have faith in the new formula and that it will remain the company’s flagship drink.
Since the rollout of the reformulated cola in April, Coke officials said, more than 150 million persons--or more than half the population of the United States--have tried the new drink. That is double the number who ordinarily drink Coca-Cola in a year, they said.
