Remember when one of the world’s most profitable brands made a huge branding mistake?
In 1985 Coca-Cola introduced a new formula, in reaction to Pepsi’s growing market share. But people hated it.
In fact, Coca-Cola damaged their brand loyalty with one simple act.
But nearly 30 years on, Coca-Cola is still one of the world’s top brands. In fact, Coca-Cola seems to have stronger brand loyalty now than in 1985.
However, they didn’t just do this with luck. They did it through a proper brand re-evaluation!
Coca-Cola realised that creating a new product without thinking about what their customers really wanted was a huge mistake.
So, they went back to producing the original (now known as Coca-Cola Classic) within months and stopped making the “New” Coke.
Small businesses do this, too – thinking they need to change marketing tactics or branding strategy, even if what they’re doing is successful.
A knee-jerk action almost cost Coca-Cola their entire brand!
But they did recover. They took time to reevaluate by asking questions like “What do our customers really want?” and “What are our core values?”
We can all learn from Coca-Cola. Sure – they dropped a huge clanger, but by giving people what they really want, they are now once again at the top.
