Karl Treacher in a blog at Marketingmag.com.au raises one of our favourite topics. The Mother energy drink. In the blog he comments that, unlike what occurs in the latest TVC, which shows those responsible for the taste being terminated by a SWAT team, the CEO should be terminating the marketing team.

However, I think the CEO should be torching the consulting firm who convinced them it was the right thing to do, not the marketing department.
It surprises me that everyone, even Coke, is buying the “it failed because of the taste” line.
It is so not about Taste. Never was.
The reason Mother failed was because the Strategy was wrong. Nothing more to it. Nothing to do with advertising, or taste or anything else for that matter.

But let’s go through the rationale that got them there to begin with.

Coke, having been scarred by the recent failures such as Lift Plus, Burn, Sprite recharge and Vault sought the help of a large US consulting firm.

As this firm is prone to do, they then presented Coke with a pretty compelling argument.
Energy drinks market are growing at 25% plus per year. They are not a player but need to be.
Recent failures have all tried the me too approach - More energy, more buzz etc etc. All cliched strategies and all owned lock stock and barrel by Red Bull and V.

So rightly, they went looking for a new strategy, one that would clearly differentiate Coke in a crowded market.
Using the deductive powers for which they are so well known, the Consulting firm hit upon the mega trend toward ‘natural’ ingredients.
The thinking that was recommended was that Coke’s new energy drink should combine the trend for energy drinks with the trend towards natural ingredients. The result?
Mother, the only 100% natural energy drink.

This was the positioning and the strategy. And it has nothing to do with taste.

It was just plain wrong. Why?
Simple.
Target audience? Males 18-24. Usage? Nightclubs and social activities.
Anyone who has anything to do with this market would know that natural ingredients would rate down the bottom within this context.

So in essence they couldn’t have picked a worse strategy. 100% natural. Good lord.
The only chance Mother had and probably still has is if they went the 100% chemical strategy.
Then their advertising campaign may well have had some cut through with the audience.
Mother. It’s just not natural