Product Launch of Vanilla Coke

Transcription

1 Product Launch of Vanilla Coke Austin Gregorzek November 10, 2003 Youjin Choi

2 Before The Coca-Cola Company launched Vanilla Coke, it faced criticism for failing to innovate compared to its competitors. It may be contended that Coke is the master of innovation around the world, but in the United States the company realized it needed to forcefully address the issue of innovation. Coca-Cola s past experience with introducing a new product was an additional problem facing the company. Coca-Cola released New Coke in 1985, which failed as a consumer product. In an article published in Aktuelno, it stated after only 87 days the company responded to the public's demands and re-introduced the original Coke formula. Coca- Cola invested $4,000,000 in market research and conducted 200,000 blind taste tests for New Coke. Coca-Cola used the taste tests for the basis of launching New Coke. Ignoring how American consumers would feel about a change to Coke, Coca-Cola betrayed a national trust, said a Coca-Cola official at that time. Coca-Cola had to not repeat the same mistakes that caused the failure of New Coke. Coca-Cola also needed to control the issue in the business sector over how brand extensions either add or subtract value of the company for shareholders. Older Americans, who viewed their relationship to Coke as being sacred, and youth, who drive sales and consumption, were two of Coca-Cola s publics for the campaign of launching Vanilla Coke. Blending Vanilla Coke s image to reach across the generation gap was a key factor in a successful product launch. Older Americans remember Coke s fountain heritage, which relives the memory of soda shops, and the calm and peaceful days of the 1950s and 1960s. Soda jerks adding vanilla to Coke is part of the soda shop memory. For the youth market, the soda fountain is not relevant. The unexpected personality was targeted as smooth and intriguing for the youth. The curiosity of youth was to drive them to try and to buy Vanilla

3 Coke. Youth will try new things to rebel against tradition, and Vanilla Coke provided them the opportunity to rebel against traditional Coca-Cola. Providing information to the business media that a new Coke product would be available, and having to inform all publics at once a new Coke product is available for consumption were two output objectives for Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola was forced to move on its business angle early, due to a financial article leaking news of Vanilla Coke in May Coca-Cola spokesperson Ben Deutsch said the key was to drive home the innovative message. It was done primarily to make sure the message was accurate and speculation would not go on beyond the facts. As a result of the announcement in the business sector, leveraging the media s interest to create buzz for the summer launch became an impact objective for Coca-Cola. Having to solve the problem of informing the public of Vanilla Coke, Coca-Cola responded with an impact objective of increasing awareness that Coca-Cola is capable of innovation and continues to do so. Coca-Cola used the Vanilla Bean Café, located in Pomfret, Conn., as the focus for the nationwide launch of Vanilla Coke without the aid of advertising. Situated at the bottom of a hill, Coke was able to set up a cinematic dawn arrival of the first Vanilla Coke delivery for live broadcast by attending media, Kimberly Krautter wrote. The townsfolk made the event a community celebration, one that hearkened back to the bygone days of small towns and soda fountains where vanilla Coke originated, wrote Michael Burke, covering the speech of William B. Marks, Public Relations Vice President of Coca-Cola North America. The event generated 1,500 television hits and 250 newspaper stories and photos. Following the morning launch, Coke transported café employees and special guests to Manhattan for a launch party at NYU s Pressure, a hipster hangout. The move transported Vanilla Coke from its days at the soda shop

4 into the 21st century. The launch parties and television and newspaper coverage were effective at solving Coca-Cola s problems of needing to generate awareness and prove they were still innovative in the beverage market. Consumer awareness levels reached nearly 40 percent on the PR efforts alone, Marks said. The increase in awareness resulted in Vanilla Coke being the top-selling 20-ounce soft drink in supermarkets and drug stores across the country for the month following its launch. I think Coca-Cola s product launches were effective, because the company met its objectives they created for the product launch. Coca-Cola proved they were still capable of innovating new products that its publics would like, and they were able to successfully bridge the generation gap of their audiences. The two independent product launches, which were part of the same event, were successful in appealing to both audiences. The product launch of Vanilla Coke won the Platinum PR Award and PR People Award for 2003 along with being recognized as the Gold winner for the Mercury / 02 Excellence Awards. Two-way communication between Coca-Cola and its target audiences through taste tests and product launches, group influences by means of the townsfolk of Pomfret and the patrons of Pressure, selective exposure by way of not advertising the product launch and only informing the business media instead of all news media, and audience participation by means of having the target audiences involved in the product launches and taste tests, were the communication tools Coca-Cola and Weber Shandwick Worldwide used. After the product launch, celebrity endorsements were used in television commercials for the product. Pepsi waited to see if the initial buzz surrounding Vanilla Coke would fade away, or if the vanilla cola market would be strong enough to compete in. Around the same time of year Coca-Cola was going to introduce Vanilla Coke, Pepsi was going to launch Pepsi Blue, a berry

5 flavored cola. Pepsi had success selling to a youth audience with Mountain Dew Code Red. Code Red is Mountain Dew with a blast of cherry flavor. Urban and ethnic focus groups were responsible for naming Pepsi s new product. Pepsi kept the same target audience for Pepsi Blue and eventually Vanilla Pepsi, which is in direct response to Vanilla Coke. Whereas Coke fought to shake off the memory of New Coke in creating Vanilla Coke, Pepsi did not have to worry about Clear Pepsi from its past. The re-branding of Pepsi into a drink for the youth generation already shook off the failure of Clear Pepsi. Introducing Code Red and Pepsi Blue to the youth, urban and ethnic markets planted the seeds for Pepsi Vanilla to grow from. Pepsi Vanilla attacked Vanilla Coke when it was introduced. The not-so-vanilla vanilla, slogan for Pepsi Vanilla suggests that Vanilla Coke is a vanilla product, meaning it is basic or ordinary. Pepsi used television ads to attack Vanilla Coke claiming Pepsi Vanilla is better than Vanilla Coke and is the vanilla drink worth waiting for. Where Vanilla Coke uses celebrity endorsements in the form of Hip-Hop artist Missy Elliot and American Idol judge Simon Cowell to appeal to the urban and youth markets, Pepsi Vanilla actually placed their product in the hands of youth and in an urban setting in its ads. Pepsi Vanilla wanted to change the attitudes of vanilla cola drinkers, increase awareness of a new vanilla cola, and change behavior of Vanilla Coke drinkers. Pepsi Vanilla s major target audience is a youth market. For youth that are drinking Vanilla Coke, Pepsi Vanilla wants to offer them a new form of way to rebel against the tradition of Coke, and provide the perfect blend of a smooth, light and refreshing taste that s not too sweet, from Pepsi. Pepsi Vanilla also adds some variety to your day. Pepsi Vanilla is making it clear that Vanilla Coke is a boring drink and Pepsi Vanilla is the vanilla cola of choice if you want a better tasting drink that will provide you with a better feeling.

6 I think Coca-Cola and Pepsi succeeded in their campaigns for their respective vanilla cola products. Coca-Cola continues to be the top beverage company in the world and with the help of Weber Shandwick Worldwide successfully launched a new product with great success in the U.S. after their last attempt was a large failure. Coca-Cola did not repeat mistakes it made in the past, but also used techniques from previous campaigns to achieve success for Vanilla Coke. Rather than trying to go after just a youth market, Coca-Cola remained loyal to its older customers, something that was not done with the New Coke campaign. The success of the campaign shows that Coca-Cola customers display brand loyalty. After the continued promotion of Vanilla Coke and it sustaining a place in the cola market, Pepsi had to introduce its own vanilla cola to remain at a completive level with Coca-Cola. Pepsi had a niche product of its own with Pepsi Blue, but a berry flavored cola does not have the reach of a vanilla flavored cola. Pepsi s decision to attack Vanilla Coke and target only a youth audience, was a display of a company being loyal to its consumers and accepting feedback as to which direction a company should head. Pepsi has embraced its role as being a beverage for a youth market. Even though Pepsi was late entering into the vanilla cola market, Pepsi has advantages over Coca-Cola in other flavored colas, with Code Red and Pepsi Blue. It was not critical that Pepsi released Pepsi Vanilla right away in response to Vanilla Coke because of the previous mentioned flavored colas Pepsi already had in the marketplace. By not releasing Pepsi Vanilla right away, it shows that Pepsi thought the product might not be successful and long lasting. Pepsi essentially let Coca-Cola do the research to find out if a vanilla cola would be a lasting product, which is a smart business decision for Pepsi.

7 Coca-Cola conducted their campaign with success, whereas it is still too early to know if Pepsi will have success with Pepsi Vanilla. Both companies targeted the correct audience in response to who currently purchases their products, because in the cola market it is very difficult to change consumers attitudes that are brand loyal. It appears both companies did the research that was needed, produced effective programs in association with the launch of their product, established and met the objectives they set out to reach, and are continuing to evaluate their campaigns. Continued evaluation is necessary because vanilla cola is still a relatively new product that neither company can count on as being around for as long as their flagship products, which are Coke and Pepsi respectively.

8 Works Cited Aktuelno July 1, rder_id=ord_jiw9b9lwuc9zkdz Mercury / 02 Excellence Awards - The Platinum PR Award and PR People Award Finalist 2003 winner - PRSA-LA Prisms - The Monthly Newsletter for Members of the Public Relations Society of America Los Angeles Chapter February LA%20NEWSLETTER.PDF Coca-Cola PR Leader Talks Branding, January 16, 2003, By Michael Burke