The Ten Commandments for Business Failure - Don Keough [34]
Almost immediately after the announcement, complaints tied up the phone circuits to Atlanta in ever-increasing numbers of telephone calls. In a matter of a few weeks we had more than four hundred thousand letters and calls—all negative. Our experts urged us to stay the course.
One letter was from a lawyer in Idaho addressed to Roberto and me: “Gentlemen, will the two of you please autograph the bottom of this letter because it will soon be worth a fortune. It will bear the names of the two dumbest executives in American business history.” A letter like that is good for one’s humility curve.
Protesters were massing as far away as Seattle, where an organization called the Old Coke Drinkers of America had drawn five thousand people to their demonstration against New Coke. On the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson announced that there were now plans to change Twinkies and add spinach filling.
Some of our U.S. bottlers, who had been the most enthusiastic about the change, were telling us they couldn’t play golf anymore because they were being accosted at their local clubs by fellow members who were angry over New Coke. Bottler salespeople were refusing to go into stores because they were being verbally attacked. People were driving pickup trucks to supermarkets and stocking up on old Coke. It was mass hysteria.
Our research gurus and marketing experts told us it was just a matter of time. New Coke was going to be a smash success. All the complaints are just keeping the Coke name in the press.
In late July, Roberto and I and our wives were in a small Italian restaurant just outside of Monaco following a meeting with the twenty-five largest Coca-Cola bottlers in the world. The proprietor had been told we were associated with The Coca-Cola Company and after we were seated, he approached the table carrying a wicker basket covered with a red velvet cloth, reserved for the finest table wines. He lifted the cloth and there was a bottle of Coca-Cola. “This is the real Coke,” he proudly announced in broken English, like it was rare old cognac. Despite all the free publicity Coke was getting, that moment really caught our attention.
But it was an eighty-five-year-old woman who convinced me we had to do something more than stay the course. She had called the company in tears from a retirement home in Covina, California. I happened to be visiting the call center and took the call. “You’ve taken away my Coke,” she sobbed.
“When was the last time you had a Coke?” I asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. About twenty, twenty-five years ago.”
“Then why are you so upset?” I asked.
“Young man, you are playing around with my youth and you should stop it right now. Don’t you have any idea what Coke means to me?”
It became crystal clear that we were not dealing with a taste issue or any real marketing issue. All the experts and all their data had been misleading. This was a deep psychological issue. A brand is not defined by what you or I think it is. A brand is defined by what is embedded in the mind of each consumer. Because Coca-Cola is consumed by so many individuals in so many cultures, it is defined differently by every person.
The upshot was that I knew we could spend a fortune and we would never succeed in making U.S. entry of New Coke successful. Roberto also came to that same conclusion. The U.S. consumer had spoken clearly and loudly: Coca-Cola was their product and they wanted it back. We agreed. I went on TV and announced that we would be bringing back old Coke as “Coca-Cola Classic.” Peter Jennings interrupted ABC’s highly watched General Hospital with the breaking news that Coca-Cola was bringing back the original formula. Every major network and station covered it as the lead story on their newscasts. Newspapers ran banner headlines.
America went crazy. We got flowers and love letters. The whole thing ended like a classic Frank Capra motion picture. Big company makes a decision, the people rebel, the company backs down, and the people win. Consumers got their Coca-Cola and sales went through the roof. The