OK Soda
Type | Soft drink |
---|---|
Manufacturer | The Coca-Cola Company |
Distributor | Coca-Cola Enterprises, others |
Country of origin | United States |
Introduced | 1993 |
Discontinued | 1995 |
Flavor | Cola |
Related products | Coca-Cola |
OK Soda is a discontinued
History
In 1993, Coca-Cola CEO
International market research done by The Coca-Cola Company in the late 1980s revealed that "
Testing
Despite a US-wide advertising campaign and intense media attention, OK Soda was
- Atlantic Canada
- Austin, Texas
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Denver, Colorado
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Detroit, Michigan
- Fargo, North Dakota
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- Little Rock, Arkansas
- Lynden, Washington
- Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
- Northern Wisconsin
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Omaha, Nebraska
- Portland, Oregon
- Providence, Rhode Island
- Sacramento, California
- Seattle, Washington
OK Soda never captured more than 3% of the beverage market in any of the target locations, failing to match Zyman's hype. The project was canceled by Coca-Cola just seven months after its kickoff, and the soft drink was never widely released to the public.[6]
Marketing
OK Soda has been remembered more for its unique
The general public did not respond to the offbeat campaign, and most critics point out that the campaigning was too overt in its courting of the youth and teen market.[9]
Can design
Both the cans and the print advertisements for the soft drink, created by Wieden+Kennedy creative director Charlotte Moore, conceptual artist Peter Wegner, and designer Todd Waterbury,[10] featured work by popular "alternative" cartoonists Daniel Clowes (Eightball, Ghost World)[11] and Charles Burns (Black Hole, The Believer),[5] as well as work from illustrator Calef Brown.[12] Though skeptical of the campaign, Clowes took the job because his work illustrating a couple of cans and a few posters paid more than publishing five books of comics. In an act of subverting OK Soda's already subversive marketing scheme, Clowes gave his OK Soda mascot the facial features of Charles Manson, saying that none of the contracts he signed said, "Don't put a mass murderer on the can."[13]
Unlike the brightly colored Coca-Cola cans, they were decorated in drab shades of gray, with occasional red text. In addition to the primarily two-tone illustrations, the cans featured a special code that could be entered at the
Prize can
Randomly included with OK Soda selections in vending machines was an OK Soda "prize can". Similar to a can of instant soup, the top could be peeled completely off revealing the prize inside. Prizes included some form of OK Soda merchandise rolled to fit (usually a hat) and an additional two quarters to purchase another can of OK Soda. The design of the prize can was different from the others and represented a fifth design overall. It was also more cylindrical in shape, considerably lighter (without soda inside) and included a light-blue banner, the only such design to include this color. This program was similar to Coke's previous MagiCan campaign.
Manifesto
Excerpts from the OK Soda manifesto, written by associate creative director Peter Wegner, were printed on the cans, and were also available for a short while on OK Soda's website.[5] Some of the sayings were:
- What's the point of OK? Well, what's the point of anything?[14]
- OK Soda emphatically rejects anything that is not OK, and fully supports anything that is.
- The better you understand something, the more OK it turns out to be.
- OK Soda says, "Don't be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything."[14]
- OK Soda reveals the surprising truth about people and situations.
- OK Soda does not subscribe to any religion, or endorse any political party, or do anything other than feel OK.
- There is no real secret to feeling OK.
- OK Soda may be the preferred drink of other people such as yourself.
- Never overestimate the remarkable abilities of "OK" brand soda.
- Please wake up every morning knowing that things are going to be OK.
Composition and taste
OK Soda had a more "
Ingredients
Legacy
After its production ceased, OK Soda enjoyed a
While OK Soda appears on retrospective lists of failed soft drinks and fluke ad campaigns, Analyst Thomas Flight posits that OK Soda may have been "ahead of its time" in its attempts at "brand disillusionment” through its subversion of traditional marketing.[15] Meanwhile OK Soda's original merchandise, cans and advertising material can still be found readily on eBay with asking prices sometimes in hundreds of U.S. dollars.[16]
See also
References
- ^ Ross, Michael E. (22 April 2005). "It seemed like a good idea at the time: New Coke, 20 years later, and other marketing fiascoes". NBC News. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ISBN 9780471345947.
- ISBN 9780887309830.
- ^ a b Galindo, Brian (February 25, 2013). "The Strange Story Of "OK Soda"". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
- ^ ISBN 9781940450889.
- ISBN 9780465054688.
- National Public Radio. 27 May 1994. Archived from the originalon 16 October 2004. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ "Top 10 Bad Beverage Ideas". Time. 23 April 2010.
- Hornblower, Margot (9 June 1997). "Great Xpectations of So-Called Slackers". TIME. Archived from the originalon 1 April 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ Moore, Charlotte (1994). "PORTFOLIO 3 (OK Soda)". Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- Foundation for National Progress. p. 2. Archived from the originalon 18 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ "OK Soda". Calef Brown. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
- ^ "https://www.thebeliever.net/everything-is-going-to-be-ok/"
- ^ a b Greenwald, John; Calabresi, Massimo; Van Tassel, Jane (30 May 1994). "Will Teens Buy It?". TIME. Vol. 143, no. 22. pp. 50–52. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ Ifeanyi, K. C. (11 July 2017). "How Coca-Cola's Doomed "OK Soda" Can Lead To Your Next Great Ad Idea". Fast Company. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
- ^ Mistercola. "Vintage soda cans COCA COLA OK bank tops Project X 4-20-94 Set of 4 Very Rare". eBay. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
External links
- "Will Teens Buy It? Coke's new OK soda uses irony and understatement to woo a skeptical market" — A critical business perspective from Time Magazine on OK Soda as a case study for marketing to Generation X(May 30, 1994)
- OK Marketing — A retrospective of the OK marketing campaign by suck.com (February 14, 1996)
- OK Soda at Curlie
- The OK Soda Page — an unofficial site with comprehensive information (from web archives)
- Austin TX 10th Anniversary OK Soda Page observations from a test market.
- OK Soda Letter A letter from Coca-Cola explaining the end of OK Soda