December 8, 2024 • 29 mins
We chug back in time to revisit the marketing campaigns of two legendary beverage busts to see how they go down a few decades later.
Get show notes for this episode and check out past episodes of the Speaking Human podcast by visiting speakinghuman.com.
#Podcast #SpeakingHuman #VO #Branding #Marketing #Advertising #Business #Coke #Brands #Ads #simplify #popculture #PEPSI #Brands #CocaCola #SodaWars #Blunders
Get show notes for this episode and check out past episodes of the Speaking Human podcast by visiting speakinghuman.com.
#Podcast #SpeakingHuman #VO #Branding #Marketing #Advertising #Business #Coke #Brands #Ads #simplify #popculture #PEPSI #Brands #CocaCola #SodaWars #Blunders
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaking Human.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today. On Speaking Human, we chug back in time to
revisit the marketing campaigns of two legendary beverage busts to
see how they go down a few decades later.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Speaking Human.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Welcome to Speaking Human, where we simplify the world of
marketing for humans. I'm Shad Conley and with me is
my co host Patrick Jebber. Now, Patrick, do you remember
in the eighties when it seemed like Coke and Pepsi
really genuinely hated each other. You know, Pepsi came out
(00:50):
with the Pepsi Challenge, which was this marketing campaign where
they went around to places like malls giving people blind
taste tests of Pepsi and coke, and people always chose Pepsi. Now,
what I'm getting at here is do you think we
need to reignite the Coke and Pepsi rivalry? Is it
better for innovation, better for consumers, better for our entertainment,
(01:15):
and just better for the world in general when these
two brands hate each other? Do we need that back?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Before I answer that question, here's my question, A question
on a question. Yeah, a question to a question all
out due today's youth and the incoming generations want rivalries.
I feel like it seems that they've progressed past that point,
and that feuds and the hatred, right, even if it's
(01:44):
limited to brands, might be a thing of the past.
Maybe that's just me. Is it just me?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I think you're right. I think we've gotten past all
that stuff. But I think it's about to flip back.
You know how we only go so far away from
things before they come back. Like fashion, you get like
a couple generations removed, and then everything just kind of
retreads again. Yeah, we're coming back to the rivalry point.
I think people are like, ah, these things are pretty entertaining.
(02:12):
I mean, look at our world now. We kind of
live in a world where it's like, hey, let's everybody
take a side on this. You know, you got to
be here, you got to be here. That's kind of
our culture right now. I mean, aren't we primed for
coke pepsi?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah? So what you're saying is we're doomed to repeat history.
We're doomed to repeat ourselves.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I mean basically, so we might as well enjoy you know,
a good coke pepsi fis fight. It's got to be
better than Tyson versus you know, Paul.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Oh, for sure. Yeah. Do we need more brand rivalries
in general? Is that what you're basically saying?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yeah, I mean I think so. I mean I'm hesitant
again because, as I just mentioned, we got a lot
of division in our world already. But how much more
entertaining was it when these two were going at each other.
I really feel like they were kind of doing their
best work when they were working against each other. There's
(03:16):
something too having an enemy that just kind of sparks
people to kind of work together and get things really going.
You know, there's like a psychological thing to that, even
if it's a fake one. As we know, we've seen
used in politics maybe around a lot today. Every day
at work, employees, you know, they kind of when they
band together against the boss, that kind of bonds them.
(03:39):
You might see it at home the kids when they're
going against the parents. So I think we saw that
with Coke and PEPSI So, I don't know, I think
we need a little bit of little something like that
going again.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
To me, the rivalries that have good spirit or seem
to be in good fun, whether they're not really behind
closed doors, is preferable. That's the kind of rivalry I
would like to see, is like the ones that they're
really like having fun and poking a little bit, but
they're not like mean spirited. Since there are so many
real problems. You know, you don't want to see brands
(04:12):
being twisted, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
No you don't, But I agree it can being good
fun where you have these marketing campaigns where they're just
kind of poking each other and going at each other.
And we have that a little bit, but I don't
think you feel it, you know, where you do with
like a sports team where you're like, ah, these two
you know, when these two are really going at each other. Man,
they're really just going back and forth and I don't
(04:35):
know who's wearing this. It can be a lot of fun.
And I think we used to, you know, it used
to be like McDonald's and Burger King, or Nike and Adidas,
or Apple and Microsoft maybe you know some of.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Those PC, PC and Mac.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, and they were a lot of It was just
a lot of fun and a lot of conversation to
kind of watch those things unfold.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, And you're even starting to see it a little
bit now with PEPSI how they've got those on to
cover cups and the car where they're like chasing people
and like giving them Pepsi and swapping it out with
other brands. They don't really say coke in there, but
there's they're sort of implying. I think even in one
of the ads where like the guy's delivering coke to
(05:16):
the place, but he passes the pepsi people, you know,
like and he like kind of gives him a weird look.
So maybe they're bringing it back.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, I hope so, and I hope they, you know,
come a little harder. Let's take some shots, even just
just over the bow, right, Yeah, just see what happens.
Fire some shots. If you can get something going, stir
some things up, you know, Cola. I don't know where
it's at in our world right now, but I think
you need to get get a little something going, get
a little fizz.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That fizz leads us perfectly into the main event today
where we're talking about coke and Pepsi. Listeners, you clicked
on this or tapped doop you tapped on it. It's
new co versus Crystal Pepsi. It's a double marketing flashback,
as we're calling it a double Yeah, in nineteen eighty five,
(06:07):
we have new Coke. New Coke was reformulated at this
time by Coca Cola to replace its flagship. They called
it the flagship. It was Coke Coca Cola in the
hope of revitalizing the brand. You know, they were sort
of getting a little stale, maybe even losing a little ground.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Sales were dipping.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
In the beverage industry. So very long story, or maybe
it's not even that long. It was kind of short.
Actually it was short lived. They did that had a
huge backlash from the public. One might even say they
infuriated people. They lost millions. It only lasted for seventy
(06:50):
seven days, so you know, that's not very long, but
it might have seemed like an eternity inside of Coca
Cola because from what you read and how mad people
people were, the people in there were sweating, you know,
especially the decision makers. So it lasted seventy seven days,
and then they reintroduced the original formula of Coca Cola
(07:11):
as Coca Cola Classic. New Coke dead on the vine,
and that's.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Where we get our Coca Cola Classic. This is a
story that probably what most people have heard. It gets
taught in marketing classes. Now, you know, it's just a
really telling case. It's interesting though, because prior to the
launch of New Coke, you know, they tested this like
crazy and people were like, this tastes better to me.
I like New Coke more than coke. But when you
(07:38):
know what, on the market, it was a completely different story.
People saw this thing and just totally rejected it. It
was a case of I don't want this new thing.
I want that old thing that I liked. How dare
you take that from me? Yeah, So, you know you
kind of talk about psychology versus formulation. You know, it's
one thing to test something to see what people think
(08:00):
of the taste. It's completely another when you're putting it
on the market. What kind of really happens. The probably
like super big takeaway from this was in the end,
sales of original Coke or what became Coca Cola Classic
actually increased when it went.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Back on the market.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
You know, the brand got more love at the end
of this as kind of a result, because it reminded
people of like, ah, how much I actually like coke
once it was taken away from them, you know and
brought back. So just a weird and wild story that
you know, taught us a lot of lessons as marketers.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, the idea that people hated new coke so much
that it helped the original coke because people missed something
they didn't even know they would miss is insane to me. Yeah,
it's insane, right, Like, you weren't even thinking about it
before this moment in time. You may not even been
drinking coke possibly before this moment in time. And yet
(09:00):
I take it away. I was telling you before we
aired today that I was thinking about it. And a
part of me compares this to this customer backlash to
the very recent Jaguar rebranding. And Jaguar, as our listeners
may or may not know, is an automobile brand and
it has a lot of history. If you didn't know this,
(09:23):
you know, the carmaker is going to be making only
evs and it just released this new brand that is
supposed to reflect that. But people are irate at this
brand redesign. Would they even be thinking about it or
care about Jaguar without this rebranding effort, Probably not, right,
Like it would just be like, oh, another EV. Oh
(09:44):
they're going to do EV's okay. And the fact that
people feel so strongly, like a part of me is
like does it matter, you know what I mean? Like
even the Coca cola flavor. I could see being upset,
right the new coke tasted different, but after like you know,
either stop drinking it or drink it. And then after
a little while, would you even remember what the old
(10:04):
coke tasted? Like, I don't know, you know what I mean, Like,
you do it long enough and you'd be like, oh, yeah,
this is coke. I think they are the part of
the problem was that they called it new coke. Should
just call it coke.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, I think that it had almost nothing to do
with new coke. It was all about losing old coke.
And I think right now I don't even drink coke
call a classic anymore. But if they did take it away,
I might have a reaction. You might just the idea
that I couldn't have it anymore might hurt me a
little bit. So I get it in that sense. And
it does trigger something, you know, it does kind of
(10:38):
trigger some sort of like fear response, which is weird.
And I can also understand why as a marketer you
wouldn't completely think of that, especially at this time.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I think the way Coke does it now is probably
more in tune to what is a stronger approach, you know,
think about Coke and Oreo. It's like a new flavor
profile kind of thing, you know, but it's not saying
we're going to replace anything. This is just a limited edition.
I think this gives the brand more flexibility now to
lengthen the time for it.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
It's like baby steps.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, and if something becomes very successful, then you can
leave it on the shelves longer, or bring it back
periodically or whatever, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah, Well, I think they've you know, figured that out
over time, and this was kind of the gateway to that.
But let's talk a little bit about the marketing, you know,
for New Coke. You know, it's been a few decades,
almost four decades now since this came out. It's almost
been forty years next year. So looking back on some
of the marketing for New Coke, you know, with the
(11:38):
perspective we have now, what do you think about it?
Do you think they did a good job of selling
this product? You know, taking what we know aside, what
do you what do you think of the marketing when
you look at it now?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I've said this before. I'm a coke person versus PEPSI.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, me too little biased there.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I'll just be very transparent. Normally I would say my
bias would tell me a lot of positives about a brand,
and you probably have heard it. My opinions show through
things that should be objective. I'm being a little more subjective.
So like when I'm looking at these ads, here's what
I'll pull. If we're looking at an ad, the one
(12:17):
with the there's like coke and there's like a flame
of some sort. The new coke can is exploding through
another can.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
It's like a merging out of Yeah, it could be
like a rock or something, or it looks like aluminum.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It could be like another can, like maybe the old can,
or it could be a flaming pile of rubble. Either way,
it looks dirty. And in both the ads with the
messaging they use, which was change for the best and
the best just got better. You know, if I'm just
looking at the psychology of it, something implies that Coke
needed to improve. I mean, I do understand this might
(12:55):
have been the only approach to this campaign, but it
feels like it was set up to loose you know
what I mean, Like, because improving a product is understandable,
but this feels like they backed themselves into this corner.
Partially because they called it new Coke, but the other
part is because like they were sort of like in
their advertising talking about change in this like, well, you know,
(13:18):
it just got better. You're implying that it was not
good originally.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, they say the best just got better, which I
actually kind of liked that wordplay. They're talking about, you know,
we were great, we are great, and now we're even better.
We were at a high level and we've taken it
through the roof with this new product. I thought that
tagline actually kind of worked for me.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
The best just got better.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, the best just got better.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, the other ones changed for the best, which I
thought was really yeah, change for the best not great, Yeah,
but yeah, the best just got better.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
I thought worked pretty good for me. There were things
about this I liked it. I think I liked a
little more. When you talk about like the dirty feel, yeah,
I think I get that too, you know what I mean?
And that's might just be the time period, though, Yeah,
is that how things kind of look?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
I don't know, it just doesn't look refreshing at all,
does it?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
No, but neither.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I mean even the like the look of the cans, yeah,
back and then versus like the look of the cans
now it's very much just functional, no esthetic appeal or
anything to you know, it's just like a rectangle.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
But I did like about this marketing campaign is it
did feel like they tried to make it feel big
and like something was happening, you know, something momentous was happening. Yeah,
there's a commercial where they got like new addition promoting it.
It feels like this is a big deal. They got
this logo which is completely different from the coke logo.
I like the way in one of the commercials they
(14:49):
try to explain that it's a bold but familiar flavor.
So they do all these things to just kind of
like build up the changing of coke, which probably back
fired on the product in some way. But I think
as if you're looking at the marketing and taking all
that aside, I do think it was effective in you know,
we're going to get people's attention, We're going to make
(15:11):
them feel like something major is happening, something major is coming.
Get prepared for this thing. Yeah, I think it accomplished that.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, and maybe had the product tasted better, you know
that people loved it, it might have been okay, But.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I don't know if there was any taste that could
have could have changed the story on that one. Well,
from Coke, we fast forward a little bit in time
and move on to its rival, Pepsi. Talking about nineteen
ninety two with the launch of Crystal Pepsi. Now, this
is another one that had a huge marketing campaign behind it.
(15:48):
It was a big change difference here. Crystal Pepsi initially
a big success first year, captured one percent of the
soft drink market, a share worth four hundred and seventy
four million, but sales quickly fell off a cliff. The
biggest culprit said to be the taste of crystal pepsi.
(16:12):
So in this case, people said the taste, we don't
like it. Another factor to that. Now here's where we
talk about this heated rivalry. Coca Cola launched tab Clear
as a deliberate kamakazi to confuse consumers and sabotage Crystal Pepsi.
(16:32):
Crystal Pepsi was off the market by nineteen ninety four,
so basically Coca Cola brings out tab Clear, and they
had no intention of making that product successful. They just
wanted to blur things in consumers' minds. Have another clear
soda on the market, mix things up a little bit
bold and mean, moved by coke.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Mean.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
But this is what I'm talking about back in the day,
you know, when we had this blood rivalry. That's some
cold stuff right now. Yes, I'm releasing a product that
I don't even care about, just to sink the.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Other guy cold blooded?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Cold blooded? Do you remember crystal PEPSI Patrick, I do.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I don't remember ever drinking it, but I do remember it.
Here's what I do remember. I really, I really really
liked the tie in that they had in their commercials
with Van Halen's Right Now.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Which was a super popular Yeah video. I think that
was like Video Music Award winner of that year. Whenever
it came out. It was a huge video.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, it was super popular and one of the only
memorable things about this campaign, to be honest with you,
like everything else was kind of like whatever. But I
clearly remember those commercials and how they like piggybacked off
of the Van Halen's success, So that part of the
marketing was spot on pop culture and its finest right, Like,
(18:00):
these brands have traditionally done some good stuff like that,
where they figure out what's hot and what's right now
and they can just build some success from that, you know,
whether it's sales or an introduction of a new product
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
So yeah, Crystal Pepsi is an interesting one. I was
more marketing conscious for Crystal Pepsi than I was for
New Coke. I was, you know, too young for that
one to sink in. But when Crystal Pepsi came out,
I was like a you know, young teen hm. So
I remember some of this. I remember like some of
these ads. I remember when this first came out, like
(18:36):
getting some of this at our house and trying it
and being like, oh, that's weird. But like you it
was that commercial with the Van Halen, you know, just
doing the video. That's all they I mean, that's what
the marketing did. They just like said, hey, let's just
take this video completely, copy the concept and you know,
put this song in that's popular and just in search
(18:57):
you know, Pepsi blurbs in there for the part instead
of like right now this is happening in the world blurbs,
but it works.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Again, it kind of gives you that epic feel like,
right now, something's happening, this is a big deal, like
crystal Pepsi's coming out or something that doesn't have a color.
As for the rest of the marketing, you know, it's
very much of its time. Like you look at those
bottles of crystal Pepsi with the logo, which just looks
like water bottles. Now, I mean, this is basically before
(19:29):
we had mass market water bottles, but it looks like
a cheap water bottle.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It does not look good or.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Appealing to me in any way when I see a
shelf of those crystal Pepsi bottles, Yeah, you know, and
pure call up pure refreshment.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
This is the other thing.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
There was this kind of movement around this time where
clear was like to represent something more pure and healthier.
If you remember, zeema was another kind of popular beverage
around this time, an alcoholic beverage where it was it
was clear. So that's kind of what they're relying on here,
was just this clear purity. There's not much else going
(20:06):
on for me beyond the van haling of it. But
the van halein of it is is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, I think, you know, from the standpoint of the advertising,
like the pure Cola pure refreshment in the crystal pepsi
plastic bottle like being in a clear water splash. Here's
what it does, right comparatively to like the Coca Cola.
It looks fresh and clean and thirst quenching, whereas cokes
(20:33):
kind of felt dirty and it didn't look refreshing in
that way, you know what I mean, Like you want
your drink to have like if I'm not drinking fire
or like dirt, you know, which is a coke whe
felt dirty, you know, And the pure Cola pure refreshments
does speak to someone who is thirsty, So I guess
there's that to it. And to your point, like the
(20:55):
whole one hundred percent natural and the no preservatives, low
sodium messaging was kind of actually ahead of its time,
Like I think about all the all natural sparkling sodas
and how much those have caught on, and that's kind
of what they were tapping into, I think in those
original messages, like getting into that healthy side, but you
know it's obviously soda, it's just clear soda.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah. I think the creator of Crystal Pepsi, said it
was like the best idea I ever had, but the
worst execution, meaning the product was just not very good.
I don't know if it was because it tasted too
much like pepsi, but it was clear and that kind
of really threw people off. But it's a good name. Yeah,
Crystal pepsi is a good name. It does create an
(21:39):
image there and there's a lot of marketing potential around that.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, if we could rename that, what would you rename it?
If it couldn't be Crystal, because you know, Crystal, the
woman whose name Crystal trademarked that, So you can't use Crystal.
Let's just say, what else could you call that? And
make that make sense.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
About invisible pepsi?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Ooh, hollow pepsi like hollow man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Kevin Bacon could promote it.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah, see through pepsi. I agree with you. I think
the Crystal pepsi is a pretty good name. Does conjure
up some negative feelings today with the whole like drug
that's goot Crystal in it, but at the time, but
at the time, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Even still, I think it's a unique name.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, And I mean honestly like I would try it today,
but I don't because I'm curious of what that tasted like.
I guess if it tasted like pepsi. I don't really
drink pepsi, so I'm even trying to remember what pepsi
tastes like.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
It does seem like a drink that would be around today,
so I get where you're coming from there, but it
wouldn't taste exactly like pepsi.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Well, maybe the people over at Pepsi will take some
cues from what we're telling them, Like, I think the
world needs crystal pepsi right now. What do you think
about if we were too Thunderdome these two marketing efforts,
who would win?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
For those who don't know Thunderdome.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Man, it's a verb we've made.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yeah, based on the movie you know, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
It's when you throw two things in to fight each
other to the death.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah, only one emerges, or.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
As we like to say, two men enter, one man leaves,
or in this case, two beverages enter, one beverage leads.
So I'm putting both these products and both these marketing
efforts in the ring to fight each other. Only one
can emerge. It's close for me. I know where you're going.
(23:42):
I'm probably going Coke by a tick. I just like
their I like their overall campaign a little better. I
feel like it's a little bigger. To me, it felt
like something more. As I mentioned momentous, you know, I
like that, it was like, this is earth changing, this
is a moment in time you're never going to forget.
Pepsi's didn't quite have that for me, even though I
you know, there are things about it, the name and
(24:04):
that that right now commercial which is probably my top
individual effort of all this stuff, and maybe you know
it might even be on the all time top one
hundred commercials.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
It just works.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
But I just think overall, the Coke campaign worked a
little better for me. What about you, Where are you going?
Who's winning your thunderdown?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I don't even think there's a tick for me. I
think it's Pepsi wins this. And there's a multitude of reasons.
I think most of them I've mentioned, But let's just
use timeframe. Crystal Pepsi stuck on the shelves for two years,
seventy seven days. It wins there. Yeah, it's not related
to that's okay, but I think it is. I think
(24:43):
it is. And that's even with Coke kind of slamming
them with clear tab you know, I mean, they still
lasted two years. Outside of that, I think the marketing
was much better, in my opinion, advertising, commercial, all of that,
right now, I think it was better. In addition to that,
I think that this was set up to be an
(25:04):
easier sell for people. It wasn't replacing pepsi. It might
have tasted like pepsi, but they were introducing a new product,
and I think that was an easier pill for people
to swallow, you know what I mean. And so I
think overall it just it never had a chance to
fail like New Coke. I mean, New Coke just kind
of died and people hated it, you know, the least
(25:26):
the crystal pepsi. People were drinking it for a while.
Maybe they couldn't get over the fact that it's tasted
too much like regular pepsi. But that's not a bad thing.
Whereas Coke it was like, this is not like the
apparently it was a bad thing. Well, I mean they're
both failed attempts for sure, but I think that pepsis wins,
and that's hard for me to say, because I'm not
(25:47):
a Pepsi person, but I think that the marketing on
this one is definitely better, uh les bad, less of
a bad taste in my mouth. Valid points, valid points.
I guess Coke and Pepsi, you know, remain divided in
this thunderdome. Let me ask you this, though, do you
think we'll ever get something like this again? You mentioned,
(26:07):
you know, even how Coke does things. Now, you know,
they're constantly kind of releasing these new products, these new
like flavor profiles, just kind of like small test.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Outs, you know, little rollouts. Do you think we're ever
gonna get one of these big swings again where it's like,
guess what Coca Cola's gone, here's new Coke, or you know,
we got this new, completely innovative product with this giant rollout,
Get ready for it, world, It's gonna change everything. Are
we gonna ever have this again?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I really hope.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
So.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
A part of me always wants to see the chance takers,
you know, h but realistically maybe not because of history, unless,
of course we're doomed to repeat history. I mean, it's
very possible that people forget, you know, somewhere down the line,
there will be some Coca Cola executive or some Pepsi
(27:01):
executive who's like, let's try this, and they try it,
it's going to fail. But my gut tells me we
may not see that at least in our lifetime.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
I kind of feel the same way. I just feel
like there's not really an incentive to take like a
big swing anymore. You know, you're probably more likely to
fail or even the risk of failing is too great,
rather than these other methods of just kind of like, oh,
let's slow roll it, you know, and then if it works,
we'll make it bigger and then maybe phase something else
out down the line.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
You know, there's probably someone in accountings like we ran
the numbers and ran all the possible permutations here, and
so you're just not going to get somebody's like, well,
my gut tells me this is going to be the
greatest product of all time. Let's take everything else off
the shelf and put it on there. Which makes me
kind of sad though, because this was you know, this
(27:53):
was our viral before the Internet. Yeah, and it's just
a lot of fun in marketing to see people I'll
just kind of go for it in these ways.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
I mean, yeah, and to your point, you know, like
they're just not incentivized to do that at this point,
you know what I mean. And maybe that's because things
are just so big now, it's just safer. Here's a
good one. Here's an idea. Here's a mind thundering for you. Right,
we got legalization. Maybe they come out with smoke a
cola where you actually smoke the cola.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Or you'd open the can and the smoke. That could
be the commercial. You open the can and the smoke
just rises out of it.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Yeah, the effort vescence, it just comes out. You can
you smell it and drink it at the same time.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And they're like, no more coca cola.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, just smoke a cola. It's just smoke a cola.
We're replacing it, We're not. This isn't a test. Yeah, coke,
you can use that if you want.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
I mean, it's catchy.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I mean, come on, I feel like it's just they're
ripe for the taking.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
It's almost too easy.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Well, I think we've given you a lot today to
think about Pepsi versus coke. What do you think? Tell
us feedback at Speaking human dot com. But that's it.
For today's episode. You can find current past episodes of
the podcast on speaking human dot com.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
We'll be back in two weeks with another episode of
Speaking Human. Catch You then Humans
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Speaking Human
Speaking Human.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today. On Speaking Human, we chug back in time to
revisit the marketing campaigns of two legendary beverage busts to
see how they go down a few decades later.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Speaking Human.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Welcome to Speaking Human, where we simplify the world of
marketing for humans. I'm Shad Conley and with me is
my co host Patrick Jebber. Now, Patrick, do you remember
in the eighties when it seemed like Coke and Pepsi
really genuinely hated each other. You know, Pepsi came out
(00:50):
with the Pepsi Challenge, which was this marketing campaign where
they went around to places like malls giving people blind
taste tests of Pepsi and coke, and people always chose Pepsi. Now,
what I'm getting at here is do you think we
need to reignite the Coke and Pepsi rivalry? Is it
better for innovation, better for consumers, better for our entertainment,
(01:15):
and just better for the world in general when these
two brands hate each other? Do we need that back?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Before I answer that question, here's my question, A question
on a question. Yeah, a question to a question all
out due today's youth and the incoming generations want rivalries.
I feel like it seems that they've progressed past that point,
and that feuds and the hatred, right, even if it's
(01:44):
limited to brands, might be a thing of the past.
Maybe that's just me. Is it just me?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I think you're right. I think we've gotten past all
that stuff. But I think it's about to flip back.
You know how we only go so far away from
things before they come back. Like fashion, you get like
a couple generations removed, and then everything just kind of
retreads again. Yeah, we're coming back to the rivalry point.
I think people are like, ah, these things are pretty entertaining.
(02:12):
I mean, look at our world now. We kind of
live in a world where it's like, hey, let's everybody
take a side on this. You know, you got to
be here, you got to be here. That's kind of
our culture right now. I mean, aren't we primed for
coke pepsi?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah? So what you're saying is we're doomed to repeat history.
We're doomed to repeat ourselves.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I mean basically, so we might as well enjoy you know,
a good coke pepsi fis fight. It's got to be
better than Tyson versus you know, Paul.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Oh, for sure. Yeah. Do we need more brand rivalries
in general? Is that what you're basically saying?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yeah, I mean I think so. I mean I'm hesitant
again because, as I just mentioned, we got a lot
of division in our world already. But how much more
entertaining was it when these two were going at each other.
I really feel like they were kind of doing their
best work when they were working against each other. There's
(03:16):
something too having an enemy that just kind of sparks
people to kind of work together and get things really going.
You know, there's like a psychological thing to that, even
if it's a fake one. As we know, we've seen
used in politics maybe around a lot today. Every day
at work, employees, you know, they kind of when they
band together against the boss, that kind of bonds them.
(03:39):
You might see it at home the kids when they're
going against the parents. So I think we saw that
with Coke and PEPSI So, I don't know, I think
we need a little bit of little something like that
going again.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
To me, the rivalries that have good spirit or seem
to be in good fun, whether they're not really behind
closed doors, is preferable. That's the kind of rivalry I
would like to see, is like the ones that they're
really like having fun and poking a little bit, but
they're not like mean spirited. Since there are so many
real problems. You know, you don't want to see brands
(04:12):
being twisted, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
No you don't, But I agree it can being good
fun where you have these marketing campaigns where they're just
kind of poking each other and going at each other.
And we have that a little bit, but I don't
think you feel it, you know, where you do with
like a sports team where you're like, ah, these two
you know, when these two are really going at each other. Man,
they're really just going back and forth and I don't
(04:35):
know who's wearing this. It can be a lot of fun.
And I think we used to, you know, it used
to be like McDonald's and Burger King, or Nike and Adidas,
or Apple and Microsoft maybe you know some of.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Those PC, PC and Mac.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, and they were a lot of It was just
a lot of fun and a lot of conversation to
kind of watch those things unfold.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, And you're even starting to see it a little
bit now with PEPSI how they've got those on to
cover cups and the car where they're like chasing people
and like giving them Pepsi and swapping it out with
other brands. They don't really say coke in there, but
there's they're sort of implying. I think even in one
of the ads where like the guy's delivering coke to
(05:16):
the place, but he passes the pepsi people, you know,
like and he like kind of gives him a weird look.
So maybe they're bringing it back.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, I hope so, and I hope they, you know,
come a little harder. Let's take some shots, even just
just over the bow, right, Yeah, just see what happens.
Fire some shots. If you can get something going, stir
some things up, you know, Cola. I don't know where
it's at in our world right now, but I think
you need to get get a little something going, get
a little fizz.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That fizz leads us perfectly into the main event today
where we're talking about coke and Pepsi. Listeners, you clicked
on this or tapped doop you tapped on it. It's
new co versus Crystal Pepsi. It's a double marketing flashback,
as we're calling it a double Yeah, in nineteen eighty five,
(06:07):
we have new Coke. New Coke was reformulated at this
time by Coca Cola to replace its flagship. They called
it the flagship. It was Coke Coca Cola in the
hope of revitalizing the brand. You know, they were sort
of getting a little stale, maybe even losing a little ground.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Sales were dipping.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
In the beverage industry. So very long story, or maybe
it's not even that long. It was kind of short.
Actually it was short lived. They did that had a
huge backlash from the public. One might even say they
infuriated people. They lost millions. It only lasted for seventy
(06:50):
seven days, so you know, that's not very long, but
it might have seemed like an eternity inside of Coca
Cola because from what you read and how mad people
people were, the people in there were sweating, you know,
especially the decision makers. So it lasted seventy seven days,
and then they reintroduced the original formula of Coca Cola
(07:11):
as Coca Cola Classic. New Coke dead on the vine,
and that's.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Where we get our Coca Cola Classic. This is a
story that probably what most people have heard. It gets
taught in marketing classes. Now, you know, it's just a
really telling case. It's interesting though, because prior to the
launch of New Coke, you know, they tested this like
crazy and people were like, this tastes better to me.
I like New Coke more than coke. But when you
(07:38):
know what, on the market, it was a completely different story.
People saw this thing and just totally rejected it. It
was a case of I don't want this new thing.
I want that old thing that I liked. How dare
you take that from me? Yeah, So, you know you
kind of talk about psychology versus formulation. You know, it's
one thing to test something to see what people think
(08:00):
of the taste. It's completely another when you're putting it
on the market. What kind of really happens. The probably
like super big takeaway from this was in the end,
sales of original Coke or what became Coca Cola Classic
actually increased when it went.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Back on the market.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
You know, the brand got more love at the end
of this as kind of a result, because it reminded
people of like, ah, how much I actually like coke
once it was taken away from them, you know and
brought back. So just a weird and wild story that
you know, taught us a lot of lessons as marketers.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, the idea that people hated new coke so much
that it helped the original coke because people missed something
they didn't even know they would miss is insane to me. Yeah,
it's insane, right, Like, you weren't even thinking about it
before this moment in time. You may not even been
drinking coke possibly before this moment in time. And yet
(09:00):
I take it away. I was telling you before we
aired today that I was thinking about it. And a
part of me compares this to this customer backlash to
the very recent Jaguar rebranding. And Jaguar, as our listeners
may or may not know, is an automobile brand and
it has a lot of history. If you didn't know this,
(09:23):
you know, the carmaker is going to be making only
evs and it just released this new brand that is
supposed to reflect that. But people are irate at this
brand redesign. Would they even be thinking about it or
care about Jaguar without this rebranding effort, Probably not, right,
Like it would just be like, oh, another EV. Oh
(09:44):
they're going to do EV's okay. And the fact that
people feel so strongly, like a part of me is
like does it matter, you know what I mean? Like
even the Coca cola flavor. I could see being upset,
right the new coke tasted different, but after like you know,
either stop drinking it or drink it. And then after
a little while, would you even remember what the old
(10:04):
coke tasted? Like, I don't know, you know what I mean, Like,
you do it long enough and you'd be like, oh, yeah,
this is coke. I think they are the part of
the problem was that they called it new coke. Should
just call it coke.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, I think that it had almost nothing to do
with new coke. It was all about losing old coke.
And I think right now I don't even drink coke
call a classic anymore. But if they did take it away,
I might have a reaction. You might just the idea
that I couldn't have it anymore might hurt me a
little bit. So I get it in that sense. And
it does trigger something, you know, it does kind of
(10:38):
trigger some sort of like fear response, which is weird.
And I can also understand why as a marketer you
wouldn't completely think of that, especially at this time.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I think the way Coke does it now is probably
more in tune to what is a stronger approach, you know,
think about Coke and Oreo. It's like a new flavor
profile kind of thing, you know, but it's not saying
we're going to replace anything. This is just a limited edition.
I think this gives the brand more flexibility now to
lengthen the time for it.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
It's like baby steps.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, and if something becomes very successful, then you can
leave it on the shelves longer, or bring it back
periodically or whatever, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah, Well, I think they've you know, figured that out
over time, and this was kind of the gateway to that.
But let's talk a little bit about the marketing, you know,
for New Coke. You know, it's been a few decades,
almost four decades now since this came out. It's almost
been forty years next year. So looking back on some
of the marketing for New Coke, you know, with the
(11:38):
perspective we have now, what do you think about it?
Do you think they did a good job of selling
this product? You know, taking what we know aside, what
do you what do you think of the marketing when
you look at it now?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I've said this before. I'm a coke person versus PEPSI.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, me too little biased there.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I'll just be very transparent. Normally I would say my
bias would tell me a lot of positives about a brand,
and you probably have heard it. My opinions show through
things that should be objective. I'm being a little more subjective.
So like when I'm looking at these ads, here's what
I'll pull. If we're looking at an ad, the one
(12:17):
with the there's like coke and there's like a flame
of some sort. The new coke can is exploding through
another can.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
It's like a merging out of Yeah, it could be
like a rock or something, or it looks like aluminum.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It could be like another can, like maybe the old can,
or it could be a flaming pile of rubble. Either way,
it looks dirty. And in both the ads with the
messaging they use, which was change for the best and
the best just got better. You know, if I'm just
looking at the psychology of it, something implies that Coke
needed to improve. I mean, I do understand this might
(12:55):
have been the only approach to this campaign, but it
feels like it was set up to loose you know
what I mean, Like, because improving a product is understandable,
but this feels like they backed themselves into this corner.
Partially because they called it new Coke, but the other
part is because like they were sort of like in
their advertising talking about change in this like, well, you know,
(13:18):
it just got better. You're implying that it was not
good originally.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, they say the best just got better, which I
actually kind of liked that wordplay. They're talking about, you know,
we were great, we are great, and now we're even better.
We were at a high level and we've taken it
through the roof with this new product. I thought that
tagline actually kind of worked for me.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
The best just got better.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, the best just got better.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, the other ones changed for the best, which I
thought was really yeah, change for the best not great, Yeah,
but yeah, the best just got better.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
I thought worked pretty good for me. There were things
about this I liked it. I think I liked a
little more. When you talk about like the dirty feel, yeah,
I think I get that too, you know what I mean?
And that's might just be the time period, though, Yeah,
is that how things kind of look?
Speaker 2 (14:11):
I don't know, it just doesn't look refreshing at all,
does it?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
No, but neither.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I mean even the like the look of the cans, yeah,
back and then versus like the look of the cans
now it's very much just functional, no esthetic appeal or
anything to you know, it's just like a rectangle.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
But I did like about this marketing campaign is it
did feel like they tried to make it feel big
and like something was happening, you know, something momentous was happening. Yeah,
there's a commercial where they got like new addition promoting it.
It feels like this is a big deal. They got
this logo which is completely different from the coke logo.
I like the way in one of the commercials they
(14:49):
try to explain that it's a bold but familiar flavor.
So they do all these things to just kind of
like build up the changing of coke, which probably back
fired on the product in some way. But I think
as if you're looking at the marketing and taking all
that aside, I do think it was effective in you know,
we're going to get people's attention, We're going to make
(15:11):
them feel like something major is happening, something major is coming.
Get prepared for this thing. Yeah, I think it accomplished that.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, and maybe had the product tasted better, you know
that people loved it, it might have been okay, But.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I don't know if there was any taste that could
have could have changed the story on that one. Well,
from Coke, we fast forward a little bit in time
and move on to its rival, Pepsi. Talking about nineteen
ninety two with the launch of Crystal Pepsi. Now, this
is another one that had a huge marketing campaign behind it.
(15:48):
It was a big change difference here. Crystal Pepsi initially
a big success first year, captured one percent of the
soft drink market, a share worth four hundred and seventy
four million, but sales quickly fell off a cliff. The
biggest culprit said to be the taste of crystal pepsi.
(16:12):
So in this case, people said the taste, we don't
like it. Another factor to that. Now here's where we
talk about this heated rivalry. Coca Cola launched tab Clear
as a deliberate kamakazi to confuse consumers and sabotage Crystal Pepsi.
(16:32):
Crystal Pepsi was off the market by nineteen ninety four,
so basically Coca Cola brings out tab Clear, and they
had no intention of making that product successful. They just
wanted to blur things in consumers' minds. Have another clear
soda on the market, mix things up a little bit
bold and mean, moved by coke.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Mean.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
But this is what I'm talking about back in the day,
you know, when we had this blood rivalry. That's some
cold stuff right now. Yes, I'm releasing a product that
I don't even care about, just to sink the.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Other guy cold blooded?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Cold blooded? Do you remember crystal PEPSI Patrick, I do.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I don't remember ever drinking it, but I do remember it.
Here's what I do remember. I really, I really really
liked the tie in that they had in their commercials
with Van Halen's Right Now.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Which was a super popular Yeah video. I think that
was like Video Music Award winner of that year. Whenever
it came out. It was a huge video.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, it was super popular and one of the only
memorable things about this campaign, to be honest with you,
like everything else was kind of like whatever. But I
clearly remember those commercials and how they like piggybacked off
of the Van Halen's success, So that part of the
marketing was spot on pop culture and its finest right, Like,
(18:00):
these brands have traditionally done some good stuff like that,
where they figure out what's hot and what's right now
and they can just build some success from that, you know,
whether it's sales or an introduction of a new product
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
So yeah, Crystal Pepsi is an interesting one. I was
more marketing conscious for Crystal Pepsi than I was for
New Coke. I was, you know, too young for that
one to sink in. But when Crystal Pepsi came out,
I was like a you know, young teen hm. So
I remember some of this. I remember like some of
these ads. I remember when this first came out, like
(18:36):
getting some of this at our house and trying it
and being like, oh, that's weird. But like you it
was that commercial with the Van Halen, you know, just
doing the video. That's all they I mean, that's what
the marketing did. They just like said, hey, let's just
take this video completely, copy the concept and you know,
put this song in that's popular and just in search
(18:57):
you know, Pepsi blurbs in there for the part instead
of like right now this is happening in the world blurbs,
but it works.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Again, it kind of gives you that epic feel like,
right now, something's happening, this is a big deal, like
crystal Pepsi's coming out or something that doesn't have a color.
As for the rest of the marketing, you know, it's
very much of its time. Like you look at those
bottles of crystal Pepsi with the logo, which just looks
like water bottles. Now, I mean, this is basically before
(19:29):
we had mass market water bottles, but it looks like
a cheap water bottle.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It does not look good or.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Appealing to me in any way when I see a
shelf of those crystal Pepsi bottles, Yeah, you know, and
pure call up pure refreshment.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
This is the other thing.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
There was this kind of movement around this time where
clear was like to represent something more pure and healthier.
If you remember, zeema was another kind of popular beverage
around this time, an alcoholic beverage where it was it
was clear. So that's kind of what they're relying on here,
was just this clear purity. There's not much else going
(20:06):
on for me beyond the van haling of it. But
the van halein of it is is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, I think, you know, from the standpoint of the advertising,
like the pure Cola pure refreshment in the crystal pepsi
plastic bottle like being in a clear water splash. Here's
what it does, right comparatively to like the Coca Cola.
It looks fresh and clean and thirst quenching, whereas cokes
(20:33):
kind of felt dirty and it didn't look refreshing in
that way, you know what I mean, Like you want
your drink to have like if I'm not drinking fire
or like dirt, you know, which is a coke whe
felt dirty, you know, And the pure Cola pure refreshments
does speak to someone who is thirsty, So I guess
there's that to it. And to your point, like the
(20:55):
whole one hundred percent natural and the no preservatives, low
sodium messaging was kind of actually ahead of its time,
Like I think about all the all natural sparkling sodas
and how much those have caught on, and that's kind
of what they were tapping into, I think in those
original messages, like getting into that healthy side, but you
know it's obviously soda, it's just clear soda.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah. I think the creator of Crystal Pepsi, said it
was like the best idea I ever had, but the
worst execution, meaning the product was just not very good.
I don't know if it was because it tasted too
much like pepsi, but it was clear and that kind
of really threw people off. But it's a good name. Yeah,
Crystal pepsi is a good name. It does create an
(21:39):
image there and there's a lot of marketing potential around that.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, if we could rename that, what would you rename it?
If it couldn't be Crystal, because you know, Crystal, the
woman whose name Crystal trademarked that, So you can't use Crystal.
Let's just say, what else could you call that? And
make that make sense.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
About invisible pepsi?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Ooh, hollow pepsi like hollow man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Kevin Bacon could promote it.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah, see through pepsi. I agree with you. I think
the Crystal pepsi is a pretty good name. Does conjure
up some negative feelings today with the whole like drug
that's goot Crystal in it, but at the time, but
at the time, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Even still, I think it's a unique name.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yeah, And I mean honestly like I would try it today,
but I don't because I'm curious of what that tasted like.
I guess if it tasted like pepsi. I don't really
drink pepsi, so I'm even trying to remember what pepsi
tastes like.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
It does seem like a drink that would be around today,
so I get where you're coming from there, but it
wouldn't taste exactly like pepsi.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Well, maybe the people over at Pepsi will take some
cues from what we're telling them, Like, I think the
world needs crystal pepsi right now. What do you think
about if we were too Thunderdome these two marketing efforts,
who would win?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
For those who don't know Thunderdome.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Man, it's a verb we've made.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yeah, based on the movie you know, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
It's when you throw two things in to fight each
other to the death.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah, only one emerges, or.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
As we like to say, two men enter, one man leaves,
or in this case, two beverages enter, one beverage leads.
So I'm putting both these products and both these marketing
efforts in the ring to fight each other. Only one
can emerge. It's close for me. I know where you're going.
(23:42):
I'm probably going Coke by a tick. I just like
their I like their overall campaign a little better. I
feel like it's a little bigger. To me, it felt
like something more. As I mentioned momentous, you know, I
like that, it was like, this is earth changing, this
is a moment in time you're never going to forget.
Pepsi's didn't quite have that for me, even though I
you know, there are things about it, the name and
(24:04):
that that right now commercial which is probably my top
individual effort of all this stuff, and maybe you know
it might even be on the all time top one
hundred commercials.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
It just works.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
But I just think overall, the Coke campaign worked a
little better for me. What about you, Where are you going?
Who's winning your thunderdown?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I don't even think there's a tick for me. I
think it's Pepsi wins this. And there's a multitude of reasons.
I think most of them I've mentioned, But let's just
use timeframe. Crystal Pepsi stuck on the shelves for two years,
seventy seven days. It wins there. Yeah, it's not related
to that's okay, but I think it is. I think
(24:43):
it is. And that's even with Coke kind of slamming
them with clear tab you know, I mean, they still
lasted two years. Outside of that, I think the marketing
was much better, in my opinion, advertising, commercial, all of that,
right now, I think it was better. In addition to that,
I think that this was set up to be an
(25:04):
easier sell for people. It wasn't replacing pepsi. It might
have tasted like pepsi, but they were introducing a new product,
and I think that was an easier pill for people
to swallow, you know what I mean. And so I
think overall it just it never had a chance to
fail like New Coke. I mean, New Coke just kind
of died and people hated it, you know, the least
(25:26):
the crystal pepsi. People were drinking it for a while.
Maybe they couldn't get over the fact that it's tasted
too much like regular pepsi. But that's not a bad thing.
Whereas Coke it was like, this is not like the
apparently it was a bad thing. Well, I mean they're
both failed attempts for sure, but I think that pepsis wins,
and that's hard for me to say, because I'm not
(25:47):
a Pepsi person, but I think that the marketing on
this one is definitely better, uh les bad, less of
a bad taste in my mouth. Valid points, valid points.
I guess Coke and Pepsi, you know, remain divided in
this thunderdome. Let me ask you this, though, do you
think we'll ever get something like this again? You mentioned,
(26:07):
you know, even how Coke does things. Now, you know,
they're constantly kind of releasing these new products, these new
like flavor profiles, just kind of like small test.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Outs, you know, little rollouts. Do you think we're ever
gonna get one of these big swings again where it's like,
guess what Coca Cola's gone, here's new Coke, or you know,
we got this new, completely innovative product with this giant rollout,
Get ready for it, world, It's gonna change everything. Are
we gonna ever have this again?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I really hope.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
So.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
A part of me always wants to see the chance takers,
you know, h but realistically maybe not because of history, unless,
of course we're doomed to repeat history. I mean, it's
very possible that people forget, you know, somewhere down the line,
there will be some Coca Cola executive or some Pepsi
(27:01):
executive who's like, let's try this, and they try it,
it's going to fail. But my gut tells me we
may not see that at least in our lifetime.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
I kind of feel the same way. I just feel
like there's not really an incentive to take like a
big swing anymore. You know, you're probably more likely to
fail or even the risk of failing is too great,
rather than these other methods of just kind of like, oh,
let's slow roll it, you know, and then if it works,
we'll make it bigger and then maybe phase something else
out down the line.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
You know, there's probably someone in accountings like we ran
the numbers and ran all the possible permutations here, and
so you're just not going to get somebody's like, well,
my gut tells me this is going to be the
greatest product of all time. Let's take everything else off
the shelf and put it on there. Which makes me
kind of sad though, because this was you know, this
(27:53):
was our viral before the Internet. Yeah, and it's just
a lot of fun in marketing to see people I'll
just kind of go for it in these ways.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
I mean, yeah, and to your point, you know, like
they're just not incentivized to do that at this point,
you know what I mean. And maybe that's because things
are just so big now, it's just safer. Here's a
good one. Here's an idea. Here's a mind thundering for you. Right,
we got legalization. Maybe they come out with smoke a
cola where you actually smoke the cola.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Or you'd open the can and the smoke. That could
be the commercial. You open the can and the smoke
just rises out of it.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Yeah, the effort vescence, it just comes out. You can
you smell it and drink it at the same time.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And they're like, no more coca cola.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, just smoke a cola. It's just smoke a cola.
We're replacing it, We're not. This isn't a test. Yeah, coke,
you can use that if you want.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
I mean, it's catchy.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I mean, come on, I feel like it's just they're
ripe for the taking.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
It's almost too easy.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Well, I think we've given you a lot today to
think about Pepsi versus coke. What do you think? Tell
us feedback at Speaking human dot com. But that's it.
For today's episode. You can find current past episodes of
the podcast on speaking human dot com.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
We'll be back in two weeks with another episode of
Speaking Human. Catch You then Humans
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Speaking Human
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