Marketing Strategy 101
Marketing Strategy 101
In the early eighties, Coke was about to lose a marketing trump card to Pepsi. Coke’s market share had been in free fall since the end of the war, declining from 60% at that time, to just 24% in 1983. Pepsi was about to be able to claim that not only did it taste better than Coke (as proven in blind taste tests), but that it was actually more popular. This would have added even more fuel to Pepsi’s already significant marketing momentum.
While Coke was also losing market share to other new market entries, and increasing consumer preference for diet, citrus, & caffeine-free beverages etc., Pepsi’s marketing strategy was continuing to win new customers.
Obviously, people preferred the taste of Pepsi! Better taste was the main thrust of their advertising. Why else would anybody drink such an otherwise worthless mixture of ingredients?
This fact was further born out with the runaway success of Diet Coke. Coke actually developed it from the ground up to taste more like Pepsi, rather than simply replacing the sugar content of the original recipe with artificial sweeteners.
All of the facts & evidence pointed to Coke having a taste problem with the original recipe. Coke had in fact been working in secret for years on a new one.
Drawing on the success of Diet Coke, Coke’s marketing strategy called for the modification of that recipe to a sugar based drink. They felt they could finally turn the tide by introducing “NEW Coke”, based on that formula.
In pre launch blind taste tests, people thought the new Coke tasted sweeter & smoother than the original. Extensive research revealed that people preferred the New Coke to both the original Coca Cola recipe & Pepsi.
Statistically speaking, the taste of New Coke was significantly preferable.
New Coke was the solution, but what to do with the original? If they kept both on the market, it was a sure bet that Pepsi would be able to claim that it was more popular than both, at least for a time! And a marketing strategy that called for the promotion of a new & an old Coke would only confuse the public & dilute the brand.
The original recipe was dropped.
So what happened when new Coke was introduced?
It bombed completely, & utterly! Here’s the brilliant tag line that they used to introduce it. “The Best Just Got Better, Coke Is It!” Gee, that looks like a winner.
People hated the new Coke, many without even having to taste it. And they were incensed that the original had been “stolen” from them.
One hundred years, & countless millions of dollars in advertising had made Coke Cola a part of people’s very identity. Drinking Coca Cola wasn’t about taste at all.
It was about mental association.
Emotional Opium!
The act of raising that funny looking spiral bottle to your lips. The cane sugary fragrance that followed. The sharp carbonated bite that set your throat a blaze with each vigorous swig. For many people, it was anchored deeply to fond, albeit sometimes even imaginary memories.
Coke had no choice but to bring back the original recipe, amid a huge fanfare of publicity, as though it were the second coming.
What a hullabaloo about nothing. Sugar water.
For god’s sake!
If nothing else, this story should prove to you once & for all that it’s not what you do that counts, it’s what you say & how powerfully you say it. And, that your customer’s buy, or don’t buy, for all kinds of seemingly irrational reasons. What’s critically important is not your product, but how your marketing strategy relates ownership of that product to your buyer’s beliefs, feelings, & desires!
It also demonstrates that “me to” can be a very dangerous marketing strategy.
While huge companies like Coke can afford to blow through billion dollar advertising budgets like there’s no tomorrow, as a Guerrilla marketer, I urge you to avoid expensive frontal assaults & one-upmanship like the plague.
Be creative instead, & seek to outflank the enemy!
Marketing Strategy 101 - To learn more about this author, visit Daniel Levis's Website.
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When it comes to marketing strategy blunders, pretty much everybody remembers the nosedive failure of New Coke, right? But what most people don’t know is the fascinating story behind the story, & the valuable lesson it reveals.
In the early eighties, Coke was about to lose a marketing trump card to Pepsi. Coke’s market share had been in free fall since the end of the war, declining from 60% at that time, to just 24% in 1983. Pepsi was about to be able to claim that not only did it taste better than Coke (as proven in blind taste tests), but that it was actually more popular. This would have added even more fuel to Pepsi’s already significant marketing momentum.
While Coke was also losing market share to other new market entries, and increasing consumer preference for diet, citrus, & caffeine-free beverages etc., Pepsi’s marketing strategy was continuing to win new customers.
Obviously, people preferred the taste of Pepsi! Better taste was the main thrust of their advertising. Why else would anybody drink such an otherwise worthless mixture of ingredients?
This fact was further born out with the runaway success of Diet Coke. Coke actually developed it from the ground up to taste more like Pepsi, rather than simply replacing the sugar content of the original recipe with artificial sweeteners.
All of the facts & evidence pointed to Coke having a taste problem with the original recipe. Coke had in fact been working in secret for years on a new one.
Drawing on the success of Diet Coke, Coke’s marketing strategy called for the modification of that recipe to a sugar based drink. They felt they could finally turn the tide by introducing “NEW Coke”, based on that formula.
In pre launch blind taste tests, people thought the new Coke tasted sweeter & smoother than the original. Extensive research revealed that people preferred the New Coke to both the original Coca Cola recipe & Pepsi.
Statistically speaking, the taste of New Coke was significantly preferable.
New Coke was the solution, but what to do with the original? If they kept both on the market, it was a sure bet that Pepsi would be able to claim that it was more popular than both, at least for a time! And a marketing strategy that called for the promotion of a new & an old Coke would only confuse the public & dilute the brand.
The original recipe was dropped.
So what happened when new Coke was introduced?
It bombed completely, & utterly! Here’s the brilliant tag line that they used to introduce it. “The Best Just Got Better, Coke Is It!” Gee, that looks like a winner.
People hated the new Coke, many without even having to taste it. And they were incensed that the original had been “stolen” from them.
One hundred years, & countless millions of dollars in advertising had made Coke Cola a part of people’s very identity. Drinking Coca Cola wasn’t about taste at all.
It was about mental association.
Emotional Opium!
The act of raising that funny looking spiral bottle to your lips. The cane sugary fragrance that followed. The sharp carbonated bite that set your throat a blaze with each vigorous swig. For many people, it was anchored deeply to fond, albeit sometimes even imaginary memories.
Coke had no choice but to bring back the original recipe, amid a huge fanfare of publicity, as though it were the second coming.
What a hullabaloo about nothing. Sugar water.
For god’s sake!
If nothing else, this story should prove to you once & for all that it’s not what you do that counts, it’s what you say & how powerfully you say it. And, that your customer’s buy, or don’t buy, for all kinds of seemingly irrational reasons. What’s critically important is not your product, but how your marketing strategy relates ownership of that product to your buyer’s beliefs, feelings, & desires!
It also demonstrates that “me to” can be a very dangerous marketing strategy.
While huge companies like Coke can afford to blow through billion dollar advertising budgets like there’s no tomorrow, as a Guerrilla marketer, I urge you to avoid expensive frontal assaults & one-upmanship like the plague.
Be creative instead, & seek to outflank the enemy!
Marketing Strategy 101 - To learn more about this author, visit Daniel Levis's Website.
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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