BUSINESSES whose reaction to the economic downturn is to consolidate their client base, rather than seek to invigorate it, may wish to consider the daddy of all cautionary tales. It concerns the American soft drink brand Moxie, who gifted Coca Cola the chance of global domination in the 1930s depression.
Moxie had everything going for it in the pre-depression era – history, brand awareness and market share. At that time, Coca Cola was a distant second in the popularity stakes.
Moxie was founded in 1876 by Dr Augustin Thompson, a chancer who sold it from town to town, peddling it as an elixir to remedy “paralysis, softening of the brain, nervousness and insomnia". Complete bunkum, naturally.
Over the years Thompson ditched the medical pitch and took the sugary, fizzy route, trumpeting it as “a delicious drink to satisfy everyone's taste".
Moxiie had a 10-year head start on Coca Cola, and by the early part of the century it was being brilliantly merchandised using every promotional gimmick of the time, including endorsements from silent film stars such as Ed Wynn and George M. Cohan.
Moxie became strongly associated with amusement parks, dance halls and east coast resorts, and in the late 20s, the ‘Moxieland’ manufacturing facility was established, and successfully promoted as a tourist attraction (see image, right).
But then came the depression. Moxie executives felt that advertising in such a climate would be distasteful, and elected to increase spending on its sugar reserves, while cutting back on its popular advertising campaigns.
Coca Cola had no such qualms, and repositioned itself as the perfect Depression-era pick-me-up. The rest is history.
Today. Moxie still exists as a brand, but its popularity is confined to the Boston area, its spiritual home.
The moral? If you cease to seek new clients, you will find yourself losing market share to your more aggressive competitors – perhaps disastrously so. Don’t do a Moxie.
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2 Oct 2009
‘Moxieland’ (Moxie’s feted HQ) in 1922.
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