I tweeted this a week or 2 ago and a bunch of people responded on Twitter saying that it had happened to them.
And then Coca-Cola decided to pull the cans citing consumer confusion and that.
All well and good in the age of very low latency consumer feedback, especially about iconic packaging.
But I didn't notice, until my mate Matt pinged it to me, that part of the consumer issue with the cans was not that they were confusing it with Diet Coke but that COKE CLASSIC TASTED DIFFERENT IN WHITE CANS.
This WSJ article mentions it in passing, The Atlantic calls it out a little more:
consumers "felt that regular Coke tasted different in the white cans".
Coke officials deny tweaking the taste, and say they only changed the can.
But, see, it's not that consumers are confused in this scenario, rather that the understanding of what 'taste' actually is, is – because when you change the can too much, you change the taste.
Taste happens in the mind, so it's more complex than just chemicals – it happens at the intersection of lots of different things, including of course the chemicals and your tongue, but also including less obvious things, like expectation [you will love this] and concepts of value [this wine is very expensive] and where you are [anchoring/priming] and memories associated with it and such.
Here's a post I wrote a few years back about this [it was anchored to a stealth focus group ad where consumers claimed taste preference for diamond shape shreddies, as opposed to square ones…]:
I've been reading Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. It illustrates the fact, that we intuitively know but that classical economics refuses to accept, that we aren't rational beings. We make decisions that are seemingly irrational, in the same way over and over again, because of how our brains are hardwired: anchors and priming, emotions and social context all interact to change how we choose.
One of the things he highlights is the power of expectation to alter experience. He describes a replication of the famous Coke/Pepsi taste tests, done with the subjects in an MRI to record how their brain is processing the experience of tasting the drinks.
We all know how it works – in blind taste tests, Pepsi usually wins, but when the brands are revealed, people prefer The Real Thing [TM].
And, according the experiment, it's because that the experience of consuming branded sugar water is different – the Coke brand activates different associations in the memory and emotional parts of the brain, which contribute to the consumption experience.
Which means that, when you drink a Coke, a part of what you are tasting is the brand.
As Coca-Cola just found out.
And, in there, somewhere, is the magic bit of good branding.
Or something.
10 responses to “The Taste of Branding”
Ha – I bought one of these over the weekend, and the girl at the store was like “Just so you know, that’s not Diet Coke. People have been really confused”. If it ain’t broke – don’t fix it! It’s kind of amazing to me that no one at Coke could have predicted that this would happen.
It’s like the placebo effect – you think it’s Diet Coke, it is Diet Coke,
Silly Idea Coke! What next? White Santa suits?
Cherry Coke definitely tastes better from a can than bottle! True story.
The power of branding is so impressive, and this is a great example. A brand like Coca Cola to me connotes words like leader, wealth, and power and when we taste the product we subconsciously also taste these connotations.
Similarly I find brands like Kellogg’s, Cadburys and even technology brands like Apple all have the same effect. There products always taste or work better because of the connotations not necessarily the ingredients/components.
http://i-adstalk.blogspot.com/
i still really liked the white cans….
sad day 🙁
that’s amazing!
there were pretty 😉
Interesting! I always find teas tastes different in black/white mugs too… never sure if it’s just perception or a real thing!
This just proves that Coca Cola is best known for its trademark color red. The color has a psychological effect on the consumer, and drinking from a white can which people are used to seeing as red can cause a person to think that the drink has an unusual taste. I have actually bought a can of Coke in white, and the taste is good, but I would still prefer drinking from the trademark red can of Coca Cola.
<div>Hvilke iPhone OS 4 betyder for dig</div>
<div>Måske hoopla over iPad sætte en krepning i tidsplanen, men nike free Danmark Apple fik endelig begynde beskød iPhone tromlen. Det betyder i dette tilfælde Apples iPhone OS 4, den næste version af virksomhedens mobile operativsystem, som var forhåndsvisning i går til journalister, nike free billig bloggere, analytikere og industrien overv├Ñgere. Apples et par uger sent–de sidste to år det har udråbt den nye iPhone OS i midten af marts–, men det er ikke så sent, franklin marshall at det bringer en mid-summer udgivelse i fare. Virksomhedens omfattende netværk af udviklere stadig har masser af tid at begynde at opbygge apps, der vil drage fordel af den nye før Apple udfører sin sædvanlige afsløre af en ny iPhone. Så hvad er i iPhone OS 4? En masse af computeroplevelser, siger nogle, en hel masse godhed, sige mest. Det er alligevel, hurtig analyse, den næste generation software, der vil tilføje en masse funktioner, herunder et par, ligesom multitasking, at brugere har yapping om i år, at den voksende samling af Apples mobile enheder. iPhone OS 4, ligesom sine sidste to forgængere, har mere end en enkelt FAQ kan dække; Dette vil spille fra nu af og indtil juni, formodede skibet datoen for den næste iPhone, og lange efter. Men vi ønskede svar på spørgsmål, off bat højre væk. Når få iPhone OS 4? Vanen, Apple blev ikke mere specifik end “denne sommer” for Opgraderingens udgivelse, selvom udviklere fik deres hænder på en beta og SDK (software udviklere kit) i går. Men kun iPhone og iPod Touch brugere få det nye OS denne sommer. iPad ejere nødt til at vente. Vent? Vente indtil hvornår? iPhone OS 4 ikke nå iPad før “fall,” sagde arbejdspladser i dag. Men han sige ikke hvorfor. Ezra Gottheil, analytiker med Technology Business Research, spekulerede på om forsinkelsen var at give Apple tid at angive nogle hardware ænder i en række. “Jeg ville gerne kunne scanne [billeder] til iPad,” han sagde, og bemærkede at andre har bedt om direkte udskrivning fra iPad, snarere end at kræve brugere til e-mail-filer til eller synkronisere filer med en PC eller Mac. Faktisk sagde Apple kan allerede behandlingen hardwareleverandører, Aaron Vronko, CEO for hurtig reparation, ekspert iPhone reparation fast og erfarne teardown. Der er en USB-controller inde iPad, siger Vrnoko, hvem demonteret en iPad sidste lørdag. Beviset er Apple’s online butik, hvor selskabets sælger et kit, der forbinder s kameraets USB-port til Ipad’s synkronisering og opladning havn. Vronkos væddemål? Apple vil tillade Vælg hardwareproducenter adgang til registeransvarlige–igen Apples kontrol af iPhone/iPad økosystemet–til, sige, udskrivning.</div>