Things are going to be OK

"What's the point of OK? Well, what's the point of anything?" OK Soda slogan.

In 1993, The Coca-Cola Company wanted to try something different. They launched a brand new soft drink, ostensibly marketed directly at members of Generation X and Y, with an offbeat and controversial advertising campaign. The drink was called OK Soda (or just OK), and was mainly sold using a variety of unusual techniques, including sarcasm, reverse-psychology and even outright negative publicity. Ultimately, OK Soda wasn't a success and never went into full-scale production, and consequently it was discontinued in 1995 shortly after distribution testing had ended. The tale of the brief life of OK Soda isn't simply the story of the failure to market a brand of soft drink: It can be viewed as an analogy for the state of consumerism today, where we are not told simply what to buy, but also how to feel, think and act. OK Soda was the brainchild of Sergio Zyman; the man responsible for the New Coke fiasco of the mid-1980's, where Coca-Cola changed formula, and then abandoned their new version after a huge public outcry. Zyman was rehired to The Coca-Cola Company, and because of his successful marketing of Diet Coke, was given a new lease to design a new drink which captured the one demographic which Coca-Cola felt it was missing out on; Those misanthropic, confused, yet ever so hip Gen Xers. The company had done some research during the 1980's which suggested that "Coke" was the second most commonly recognisable word in the world, behind "OK", a word of acknowledgement or mediocrity. Zyman believed that OK had brand potential, and decided to market a drink towards the very people who were openly sceptical of advertising.

Thus, OK Soda was born. Zyman's initial predictions were that OK Soda would be a resounding success, and could quickly secure at least 4% of the US national beverage market. OK Soda was launched on a test marketing basis; being delivered to specific areas of the United States where the take up in different population demographics could be recorded. An unusual aspect of the testing was that four different can designs were also launched, and each location where OK Soda was available could compare and contrast the designs for themselves. Unlike the bright red of Coke can designs, OK Soda cans were uniformly grey and black, with intermittent splashes of red around the logo and in pictures. Text on the cans encouraged drinkers to call an 800 number where they could record their various thoughts about the drink, including a warning which stated that "Your comments may be used in advertising or exploited in some other way we haven't figured out yet". They also assured the drinker that it was good to think that "Things are going to be OK" (OK Soda's main slogan). TV and print adverts openly stated that the flavour of the drink wasn't important but was nonetheless "fruity", and that they were really just marketing the 'feeling' of the drink. The idea behind this campaign was that Gen Xers knew that they were being manipulated by mass-marketing, and so in order to counteract this, OK Soda would simply be cool and upfront about it.

Some of the television adverts featured messages apparently left at the 800 number's answering machine, even if they were entirely negative. One famous example included an angry woman stating "You don't know what I've been through in the last month. I really resent it. I'm tired of you people trying to tell me things that you don't have any idea about. I resent it." before hanging up. In the end though these interesting advertising techniques backfired. Nobody, not even the Gen Xers seemed to 'get' OK Soda. In the test markets it sold poorly, and it was officially pulled from production before it was rolled out nationwide. Furthermore, it apparently it didn't really taste very nice (a mixture of a dull orange soft drink and flat Coca-Cola), which has to be factored into its failure. But perhaps it was something more than that. Any product which states on it's side "There is no real secret to feeling OK" isn't going to particularly motivate anyone to ever purchase it. People might feel OK, but that's no reason to triumph it, or use it as a product statement. Overall, OK Soda was an OK idea, borne of an OK premise, and it met an OK demise.