Answer the questions at the end of the case study. Please Number and fully answer each of the questions in the attached photo.

COKE ZERO CHAPTER 8 D0 REAL MEN DRINK DIET COKE? '5' When a couple of marketing managers for CocaCola told E attorney Elizabeth Finn Johnson that they wanted to sue Etheir Coke Zero colleagues for \"taste infringement," she a? was bafed. She tried to talk them out of it, but they were EdeterminedThey argued that Coca-Cola Classic should be 3 protected from the age discrimination it would suffer with fig-the introduction of a newer, younger soft drink that tasted E exactly the same as the original. Frustrated, Finn Johnson it held up the Coke can and shouted, "It's not a person! Title 3 VII doesn't cover these things!\" What she didn't know was thatthe marketing manag- ers were actors. Hidden cameras had been planted around the meeting room to capture the reactions of several un- suspecting attorneys who had been asked to consider the case, including an immigration lawyer who was asked if he could get the Coke Zero marketing head deported back to Canada. The short videos were strategically placed on Web sites such as wwwyoutubecom to promote Coke Zero as the hip, new alternative to Diet Coke for men. The CocaCola Company knows it has to be creative if it's going to sell more soda after sales dropped two years in a row in 2005 and 2006. Morgan Stanley analyst Bill Pecoriello explains, "Consumers are becoming ever more health-conscious, and the image of regular carbonated soft drinks is deteriorating rapidly."|n an attempt to appeal to consumers concerned with nutrition, Coke introduced Diet Coke Plus in 2007, a sweeter version of Diet Coke fortied with vitamins and minerals. But what they really needed was a way to reach young male consumers, and Diet Coke Plus, marketed with the tagline\"Your Best Friend Just Got Friendlier!"wasn't going to do it. A few new products appealed to certain male demo- graphics, such as Coca-Cola Blak, a cola with coffee essence created for older, more sophisticated consumers who are willing to pay more, and Full Throttle Blue Demon, an en ergy drink with an agave azule avor (think margaritas) designed to appeal to Hispanic men. However, research showed that there was still a big demographic hole to ll as young men between the ages of i8 and 34 were aban- doning the Coca-Cola brand altogether. They didn't want all the calories of regular Coke, but neither were they will- ing to make the move to Diet Coke, which hastraditionally been marketed to women who want to lose weight. Katie Bayne, chief marketing ofcer for Coca-Cola North America, says that the men who weren't put off by the "feminine stigma"of Diet Coke often rejected it anyway because of its aspartamesweetened aftertaste. "What we were seeing before Zero launched was that more and more younger people were interested in no-calorie beverages but weren't going to sacrice taste," Bayne said. \"So when they got interested in no-calorie, they were like, 'Forget it, l'm not going to Diet Coke."'Testing showed that the name "Coke Zero" would be an effective way to sell a lowcalorie cola to men without using the word "diet." And advances in articial sweeteners made it possible for Coke to nally create a product that tasted more like the real thing. So expectations were high when Coke Zero was introduced in 2005 with a big marketing push, including a commer cial that remade the famous i97i "Hilltop/I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"adthis time with rapper G. Love on a rooftop singing that he'd like to teach the world to \"chill." Unfortunately, the commercial didn't catch on, and neither did the product it was selling. Despite disappointing sales in the United States, how- ever, Coke Zero was an immediate hit in Australia, selling more than three times the number of cases expected dur- ing its rst year on the market. In the United States, the packaging was white and silver, making it difcult for con- sumers to see the difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke. In Australia, the bottles and cans were black, making the product stand out on the shelves and look more like the"bloke's Coke"it was intended to be. The US. marketing team took notice and reintroduced Coke Zero with a black and silver label in 2007. CocaCola CASE STUDIES 1 is now investing more money in Coke Zero than any other 2. Some industry analysts think soft drink companies orand its size, hoping it will someday be a megabrand for should develop products that will bring new custom- the company alongside Coca-cola Classic and Diet Coke. ers into the market rather than just creating variants Chief marketing officer Bayne is enthusiastic about the im- on the old. They warn that products such as Coke Zero pact it may have on the company. "We do see this as po- will cannibalize lost market share from other soft tentially a bit of a white knight. There's huge opportunity drink categories instead of increasing the number of to grow here." consumers overall. Which Coca-cola products are most likely to lose customers to Coke Zero? Sources: Jerry Adler, "Attack of the Diet Cokes," Newsweek, May 14, 2007;"Coke's New'Coke Zero'Faces Tough Going", UPI NewsTrack, June 13, 2005; D. D. Stanford, "0: That's Zero. As in No Calories,"Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 20, 2007;"Coca-cola Co." October 30, 2006; www.cocacolazero.com. QUESTIONS 1. Describe the specific type of consumer that the Coca- Cola Company is targeting with each of the following products: Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Coke Plus, Coca- Cola Blak, and Full Throttle Blue Demon. What types of 3. Why do you think that the hidden-camera videos used demographic segmentation is each product's market- to promote Coke Zero were an effective way to reach ing most likely to include? its target market? Do you think a similar strategy with a viral marketing campaign on the Internet would ap- peal to the target market for Diet Coke Plus? 4. Do you think Diet Coke could have been repositioned to change consumers' perceptions of it enough to be considered a drink equally appealing to men? Why or why not? 2 CASE STUDIES