Topics
brand management, new products, brand sets, repositioning, inept, inert, evoked
Review the activity below or download the PDF student worksheet
- Student Worksheet: Inept to the Evoked Brand Set (Video Case Study)
- Instructor Solutions (Members Only): Inept to the Evoked Brand Set = Solutions
Instructor Notes: This is a video-based case study. The video runs around 17 minutes. And the overall discussion activity would require another 20-30 minutes, followed by any in-class discussion = around an hour in total for the full activity.
Note: There is a variation of this activity, with a dedicated video case study, on this website as well at Coke Repositions their Energy Drink
Student Discussion Activity
Introduction
This is a video-based case study for the original launch of Mother Energy drinks into the Australian market around 2006-2007. The Mother Energy is a Coca-Cola brand.
Unfortunately, the initial launch generated many first-time sales but only gained limited repeat purchases, primarily due to the poor taste of the product. As a result, the brand was placed into the inept set by the majority of target market consumers.
As a result, Coca-Cola had to decide what to do with this poor performing brand in the large and growing energy drink product category.
Please review the video below and then answer the questions.
Mother Energy Video Case Study
Student Discussion Questions
- Are you surprised that the initial taste of the product was perceived so poorly? What should have Coca-Cola have done in the new product process to avoid this potential situation?
- The video refers to a “double hurdle” challenge when repositioning a brand from the inept set. What is meant by this?
- Do you agree with the decision to redesign and relaunch the same brand? Or do you think that withdrawing the brand and introducing another new brand would be more effective? In other words, what would you have done in this situation?
- Do you think that larger firms should conduct regular market research to identify which “brand set” that their brands primarily sit in, from the viewpoint of consumers – or do you think that this information can be assumed from the sales trend of the brand. That is, increasing sales = the brand sits in the evoked brand set, and decreasing sales = the brand sits in the inert brand set.
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