Does anyone have links that would be relative to the following topic for a business 101 paper?

For my business topic paper I would like to write about the failure of New Coke, and also why new drinks from Pepsi and Coke often have very short life Spans. Have you ever heard of Josta, Surge, Orbitz or Red Fusion? All of those were RTD beverages from major beverage companies. In my paper I will explore why these drinks rarely succeed, and what goes into creating a new beverage before it is released into the mass market. If I am able to I will also try figure out the market behind having these old soda’s, such as E-bay resale value.


Thanks SOOOO much! Any help will be great!

You'll find a lot of information about New Coke and other drinks here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fusion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SURGE_Soda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josta

Originally posted by mxzebrax:
Does anyone have links that would be relative to the following topic for a business 101 paper?

For my business topic paper I would like to write about the failure of New Coke, and also why new drinks from Pepsi and Coke often have very short life Spans. Have you ever heard of Josta, Surge, Orbitz or Red Fusion? All of those were RTD beverages from major beverage companies. In my paper I will explore why these drinks rarely succeed, and what goes into creating a new beverage before it is released into the mass market. If I am able to I will also try figure out the market behind having these old soda’s, such as E-bay resale value.


Thanks SOOOO much! Any help will be great!

One reason they fail....In My opinion, is that the companies who make these drinks apply taste values and spend marketing dollars towards the EXACT same demographics that buy their original branded flavors. The product will test well but then after a while the consumer goes back to the original. All they are doing is cannibalizing their brand. You saw it with Mtn Dew Code Red, and Live Wire.
Again, IMO, Pepsi should have marketed Live wire as an orange drink that gave you that caffiene boost instead of a Mtn Dew that was orange flavored.( but still keep the Mtn Dew brand on it) It was a good drink. I switched from my Sunkist to it because I liked the flavor better.

If you have time, this book takes a painfully long detour into the development of new Coke.

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Thing-Tru...e=UTF8&s=books

Originally posted by golee1:
If you have time, this book takes a painfully long detour into the development of new Coke.

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Thing-Tru...e=UTF8&s=books

Was it a long painful detour or an extremely calculated high risk marketing campaign?!?!?!?!?

IMO....It was a product of "group think" (look up the term for those that have not heard of it.) Some hot shot executive in product development brainless idea to tap in to Pepsi's core drinkers.

I believe it was a brilliant move in marketing on the new coke.

As far as the other drinks, well, they just kinda weren't worth the bottles they were put in. Meaning that the sales didn't justify the cost of producing and marketing them. Another reason they do not last is the fact that people as a whole do not like change, they drink what they drink and while they may try something new they will not continue to purchase it.

Originally posted by greg:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by golee1:
If you have time, this book takes a painfully long detour into the development of new Coke.

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Thing-Tru...e=UTF8&s=books

Was it a long painful detour or an extremely calculated high risk marketing campaign?!?!?!?!?
</font>[/QUOTE]I was referring to the way the event is told in the book, not what actually happened. Any road, I don't buy into the theory it happened on purpose. I think it was Don Keough of Coca-Cola who said at the time "we're not that dumb and we're not that smart."

The best information on SURGE soda is found at www.savesurge.org