Coca-Cola Deleting ‘Classic’ From Coke Label

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

Published: January 30, 2009

After 24 years, one of the most famous blunders in marketing history is quietly coming to end. The Coca-Cola Company is dropping the “Classic” from its red labels in some Southeast regions, and the word will be gone from all of its packaging by the summer, the company said Friday. The story was first reported by the trade publication Beverage Digest.

The “Classic” designation — which appears under the “Coca-Cola” script on labels — was added to the packaging in 1985, to distinguish the original formula from a sweeter, wildly unpopular new version of Coke.

New Coke has long since disappeared from shelves, making the “Classic” qualification unnecessary. The font size of the “Classic” has been shrinking in the last decade, and the company removed it from labels in Canada in 2007.

“When people think Coke, they think classic, so more than two decades after introducing the word classic, the reason for being — quote unquote — for that word as a descriptor has disappeared,” said Scott Williamson, a Coca-Cola spokesman.

With the introduction of a new global advertising campaign, called “Open Happiness,” Coca-Cola decided it was time to make its American product match what it was called elsewhere. (The language on the side of the label where it now says “Coke original formula” will change to say “Coke Classic original formula.”)

“Every place else in the world it is called Coca-Cola, except for in North America,” Mr. Williamson said.

The new-Coke introduction was one of the more noteworthy debacles in marketing history. Coca-Cola had concocted a sweeter formula for its cola soft drink, and it replaced the original formula in April 1985.

It had spent four years testing the new recipe and conducting taste tests with more than 190,000 people. Coca-Cola found people chose the new formula 55 percent of the time, and the original one 45 percent of the time.

But Coca-Cola forgot to ask how people would feel about losing the traditional soda.

“It’s been, probably, one of the most talked-about case studies ever,” said Paul Worthington, the head of strategy for the branding firm Wolff Olins. “They failed to understand the emotional significance to people that messing with Coke would have, and that’s gone down in history.”

As soon as new Coke was introduced, Coca-Cola began getting hammered. Employees had to work overtime on its complaints hotline, where it was receiving an average of 1,500 calls a day. People started hoarding containers of the classic formula, formed groups like the Old Cola Drinkers of America, and even boycotted the company in protest.

Ten weeks after introducing the new Coke, and after publicly vowing that the original formula was gone for good, company executives brought it back.

They added a “Classic” underneath the script Coca-Cola lettering to distinguish it from the new formula. Coca-Cola Classic began to outsell new Coke almost immediately, and revived the company’s sales.

It was “a humbling experiment,” Donald Keough, Coca-Cola’s president, said at the time. “Some cynics say we planned the whole thing. The truth is, we’re not that dumb, and we’re not that smart.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/business/media/31coke.html