Tucson gets first 'POP'

Adam F. Jarrold Arizona Daily Wildcat The new can

"Well Tucson is a pretty eclectic mix of people, you have to admit that," explains Jack Kemper of the Tucson Chamber of Commerce. "We've got a high Hispanic population - around 28%. A relatively interesting political makeup; it's a moderate to liberal type community. Add a large community college presence along with a large university presence, and you get a lot of everything here."

It should be noted that the Tucson Chamber of Commerce is a 3100- member business organization that does everything from political action to economic development.

Ironically, it's also Tucson's relative lack of size and prosperity that makes this town so attractive to marketers. With only a handful of television stations and two major newspapers, this is a cheap place to market things in - especially low-cost snack and beverage items like candy bars and sodas. To be sure, there are cheaper towns, but the combination of Tucson's low cost and diverse demographics often help accurately predict what will work on a national level.

The product itself will never change; the strong and violent reaction to New Coke ensures that. What has changed, however, is the marketing. Cigarette smokers can rarely tell their own brand in a blind test - the marketing, the consumer's identification with a corporate image, is what gives a particular brand name its meaning. Of course, it's a little different when you're discussing food - a pair of blue jeans is just a pair of jeans, but Coke and Pepsi don't taste the same. Still, in our media-dense world, it's hard to fight a pitched battle on taste alone.

"About three years ago we came out with the contour bottles, which was a great, great success," illustrates Jim Curry, general manager of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Tucson. "I mean, it's just flying out of the coolers and off the shelves. We realized then what a real equity we had in the contour bottle, then we got to thinking that if we could put the same thing in a can and get the same reaction, then we'd have a real winner."

But if you've seen the new cans you might be a little underwhelmed. For all his enthusiasm, even Mr. Kemper concedes, "They're not as different as I kinda thought they'd be, but they are different. You know, with the ridge around the middle and the bit of contour there, I think it sets them apart to some degree."

When it comes down to it, though, it's hard to play too much with the can design - not much has been altered since the introduction of the pop-top. "Well you've got to understand that the people who designed this can had to think of a lot of things," illuminates Mr. Curry. "You can't just sit and draw a contour bottle and say that's what I want - you had to go through all the gyrations of what will work in the vending machines, what'll work with the can fillers, what'll work with the can manufacturers and all that kind of stuff."

There's a certain logic at work here. The taste has to remain the same, or the consumers go bezerk. The logo can't change - it's "classic." And the color of the container can't change; Coca-Cola has spent a long time identifying their product with the color red. Their ads are tinted red, the boxes are red, and the familiar crimson cans stick out to consumers as they whisk down the supermarket aisle. The can just had to change... after all, they have Generation neXttm to contend with.