It’s that time of year to stock up on the beloved Coca-Cola holiday cans. A collection of all different varieties; from the polar bears to old Saint Nick tipping back a bottle of his favorite carbonated beverage, the purposefully designed cans have become an icon of the holiday season.
This year, however, The Coca-Cola Company gave consumers a special edition holiday can. Out went the famous electric red can as it was replaced by a crisp white and silver combination with a splash of holiday imagery. A new strategy, a fresh identity, and appealing graphic design helped this product invite millions of consumers to introduce the new holiday tradition into their homes.
I, along with millions of other consumers welcomed the new product packaging, but that was not the case for all. The Coca-Cola Company, an organization comprised of dedicated, life-long customers is not a stranger to change, nor are they a stranger to self-destructive marketing. This season, in an attempt to give loyal customers a re-energized look to their holiday branding package, The Coca-Cola Company found themselves in the midst of another major marketing blunder.
Thousands of lifelong customers expressed outrage over the abandonment of the classic red can. Some customers’ dismay even went as far to say that drinking out of the white can altered the taste of the world’s leading soft drink. A growing and vocal demand to rid stores of the white packaging and for the return of the classic holiday branding caught the attention of the marketing execs, who took swift action to resolve the issue.
The resolution came at a cost however. The beverage giant has now shelled out millions of dollars to remove and dispose of the product deemed inferior by customers and has begun replacing the controversial packaging with the traditional look and feel that the public has grown to love.
For those who enjoyed the new branding, run out to the stores and stock up on what you can. This limited time can – will be especially short lived. This is not Coca-Cola’s first rodeo when it comes to repairing a company image, and if history is a sign then it probably won’t be their last. It’s a fair guess to say that the famously loved branding strategy will become fairly conservative over the next several months.