One of the greatest marketing lessons of all time can be found in the launch of “New Coke." For those of you who remember, I need say no more. For the rest of you: the details can be found almost anywhere, but the bottom line is that Coca-Cola, already the #1 brand in 1985, had its secret formula “improved” in April of that year, in an attempt to keep growing, and fend off an ever-aggressive Pepsi-Cola brand. And, of course, during this attempt to grab more, they began to lose the market share they had, by alienating much of their core user base. You can plug in a comparison to your favorite tale from Greek Mythology right here.
And today you can plug in CBS-101. New Yorkers of a certain age (but who’s counting?) are rejoicing this week because CBS has, with much bravado, announced a return of its beloved oldies station to the airwaves in the Apple. After being summarily dumped, without warning two years ago, in favor of a new format that held the promise of growth, the oldies are back. Why? Seems that the new format successfully halved the station’s audience ranking; it alienated their core user base. CBS wasn’t happy with the stranglehold it had on the older-demo audience, and didn’t have the patience for the huge bubble of baby-boomers to move through and organically increase its numbers. So out went the old, and in came the New. Turned out the suits didn’t really know Jack at all …
But, whether it’s New Coke or Jack-FM, the marketing story is still the same: development of a brand, and loyal users is very, very hard, and once attained, should be handled with great care and much caution. Customers have not merely given their money, they’ve given their trust. Try buying that back.
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