{"id":107,"date":"2013-02-08T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T16:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/?p=107"},"modified":"2013-02-07T01:03:53","modified_gmt":"2013-02-07T08:03:53","slug":"hocus-pocus-focus-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/2013\/02\/08\/hocus-pocus-focus-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Hocus Pocus Focus Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Millions of dollars spent on market research in the early 80s had the team at Coca-Cola convinced: people, especially the younger demographic, preferred the sweeter taste of Pepsi.<\/p>\n<p>In fears of losing even more market share to its younger competitor, the beverage maker developed a new Cola that beat Pepsi in taste tests. The positive response from focus groups convinced Coca-Cola to abandon its original product in favor of the newly formulated &#8220;New Coke&#8221; in April 1985.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;New Coke&quot; Coca-Cola Commercial - 1985\" width=\"580\" height=\"435\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QkfFdQ1yaqs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, as Coke turned sweeter, loyal drinkers turned bitter. Customers responded with angry phone calls and protests. Pepsi celebrated the move and ran advertisements claiming victory in the &#8220;cola wars&#8221; and ushering in &#8220;the Pepsi generation&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/files\/2013\/02\/KGrHqZqE-wl2PhS7BP9Mdr0mQQ60_35.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-113\" title=\"$(KGrHqZ,!q!E-wl2PhS7BP9Mdr0mQQ~~60_35\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/files\/2013\/02\/KGrHqZqE-wl2PhS7BP9Mdr0mQQ60_35.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"256\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z7Zz-QJCISo<\/p>\n<p>By July, Coca-Cola had realized the inaccuracy of its market research and brought back the original formula.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/imcetys.files.wordpress.com\/2006\/12\/caso-newcoke.pdf\">So why was The New Coke a favorite in blind taste tests but not among real consumers?<\/a> Firstly, they tested for<strong> only one variable<\/strong>: taste, while ignoring factors like strong sentimental value that contributed to sales. Also, taste testers only tried sips of each drink, which is <strong>not a realistic simulation\u00a0<\/strong>of how the product is actually used. Lastly, the research <strong>did not differentiate between the more important opinions of loyal customers and those of occasional cola drinkers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Marketers must make sure that their information truly is &#8220;The Real Thing&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Millions of dollars spent on market research in the early 80s had the team at Coca-Cola convinced: people, especially the younger demographic, preferred the sweeter taste of Pepsi. In fears of losing even more market share to its younger competitor, the beverage maker developed a new Cola that beat Pepsi in taste tests. The positive [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9044,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9044"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/konrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}