112 • 100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS
Focusing exclusively on the threat from competing businesses
can leave clients feeling alienated and neglected.
The idea
In the early 1980s, soft drinks giant Coca-Cola was concerned by
its decreasing market share and rivalry with the soda multinational
PepsiCo. The 1980s was a decade that saw a “taste explosion” in the
soft drinks market, with the introduction of a wide range of new
citrus, diet, and caffeine-free colas. Coke was being outperformed
by Pepsi in a series of “blind taste tests.”
Rather than focusing on the overall issue of declining popularity,
Coca-Cola zeroed in on the issue of losing in the taste tests, ignoring
the signifi cance of its image, and consumer attachment to its brand.
It launched “New Coke” with a new and improved taste. Although
the launch technically went well, Coca-Cola soon found itself facing
an angry and emotional reaction to its new formula and image.
Thousands of calls were received from people wanting a return to
Coke’s classic product. Some of the calls were not even from Coke
drinkers, but simply Americans wanting a return to a classic cultural
symbol. The original Coke was brought back, Coke apologized, and
the lessons were learned. Focusing on the threat from an increased
number of rivals and on Pepsi’s superiority in taste tests meant Coca-
Cola had lost sight of the arbiter of competition: the customer.
Making decisions based solely on the actions of competitors, without
fi rst researching what matters most to customers, can lead to serious
corporate blunders.