New York If you’ve had a sip of Coke Zero Sugar recently and thought that it tastes a little different, you’re not crazy.
But when they make changes, they run the risk of upsetting loyal customers and chasing them away from the brand.
New Coke was supposed to solve a big problem for the company: In the years leading up to the announcement, the iconic drink was losing share to Pepsi.
The New York Times reported in a 1985 story that one man wrote a song called, simply, “You Changed the Taste.” The song’s message was clear: “Our feelings are very strong, after 99 years of being right, you did your country wrong,” the lyrics read.
According to a New York Times story from July 1985, executives began to seriously consider bringing the old version back in June, just a few months after unveiling the new product.
The backlash to the new recipe and rallying around the old ended up “reaffirming to people that this classic, traditional brand has meaning to them beyond a search for a particular kind of taste,” said Amanda Ciafone, author of “Counter-Cola: A Multinational History of the Global Corporation,” which looks at social movements and culture surrounding the company.
Bringing New Coke back was a way for Coca-Cola to “not take ourselves too seriously,” Stuart Kronauge, then president of Coke’s sparkling business unit and senior vice president of marketing for Coca-Cola North America, told CNN Business at the time.
Coca-Cola has been rolling out its new version of Coke Zero Sugar, which is designed to taste more like regular Coke, internationally for months.
Around the time that Coca-Cola announced the rollout in the United States, Rafael Prandini, category lead of Coca-Cola Trademark in North America, told CNN Business that the company was confident in how the beverage would be received.
The last time the company changed the formula and packaging for the drink, in 2017, some consumers were also disappointed.
Creating “a little controversy online with social media users” can be a good thing for the brand, as long as dedicated customers don’t turn on Coke Zero, said Stanford.
While both Coke Zero and Diet Coke are zero-calorie drinks, Diet Coke has its own flavor and following while Coke Zero is designed to mimic the taste of regular Coke.