New Coke to Get New Name, Parent Firm Says : Marketing: The decision to test Coke II marks the first big shot of the 1990s in the cola wars between Coca-Cola and rival Pepsi Cola.

New Coke, the reformulated, sweeter version of Coca-Cola that inspired a consumer rebellion before sinking to the bottom tier of soft drink sales, is trying out a new name and a different look, its maker said Tuesday.

Coca-Cola Co. said it plans to test market new Coke under the name Coke II. Company spokesman Randy Donaldson said Coke II would be sold initially in one city, which he would not identify, within the next few months.

The formula of the newly named drink will not be changed, Donaldson said.

Industry observers speculated that if the new name was adopted, the firm could return the Coca-Cola brand name to the original formula, now called Coke Classic.

Jesse Meyers, the Greenwich, Conn., publisher of the industry newsletter Beverage Digest, said the Coke II test marks the first big shot of the 1990s in the cola wars between Coca-Cola and archrival Pepsi Cola.

Meyers said he has seen the proposed packaging for Coke II, and its red, white and blue design with blue lettering closely resembles that of Pepsi. Coke’s Donaldson said the Coke II can is red, white and blue, but unlike Pepsi it has a red background with white letters and a blue outline.

The Coke II test comes as new Coke, regarded by some as one of the great blunders in marketing history, nears its fifth anniversary.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola announced in April, 1985, that after extensive taste tests it was changing the formula of Coke, the world’s best-selling soft drink. Consumer reaction against the new, sweeter-tasting product was so strong that the company two months later apologized and brought back the original formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic.

Coke Classic regained the position as the No. 1 soft drink. New Coke also remained, but its market share now is a relatively tiny 1.4%, compared to Coke Classic’s 20% share.

Coke officials always have maintained that new Coke, despite its Coca-Cola label, essentially is a new product and that its sales should be judged in that respect.

Donaldson denied that the Coke II test means the company is running up the white flag on new Coke.

“After five years, new Coke is no longer new, though it’s still called new Coke,” he said. “We just want to make it easier to distinguish between Coke II and Coke Classic.”

And he said there are no plans to change the name of Coca-Cola Classic back to Coca-Cola. “There are no plans to change anything about Coke Classic at all,” he said.

Emanuel Goldman, who follows the soft drink industry for Paine Webber Inc. in San Francisco, said the Coke II label, if adopted, would remove the perception that new Coke is a failure.

Coca-Cola is “the premier brand name in the world,” he said.

“You don’t want something called Coca-Cola that doesn’t work, so you call it Coke II,” Goldman said. “I think it’s not such a bad thing to do. The name of the game is Coca-Cola.”

Coke’s recent advertising campaign has pitted diet Coke, rather than Coca-Cola or Coke Classic, against Pepsi.

Meyers said he believes that Coca-Cola now wants to position Coke II against its competitor.

“They’ve had a very subtle approach,” he said. “If this approach works, they’ll go to a gross all-out attack.”