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Not mentioned in the article was the "market research gone wrong". New Coke was market tested in supermarkets with taste samples and questionnaires. New Coke was preferred in these taste tests.

But the context was wrong, a small sip in the supermarket under surveillance is not a bottle at home / cinema / picknik.

But: "almost ruined" is wrong, too. After this CocaCola basically got the status as USA national heritage.

So maybe it was the most successful marketing ploy in modern history. (CocaCola denies this).

Source: Some marketing books from the 90s and 00s.



“Some cynics say we planned the whole thing... ...The truth is we are not that dumb and we are not that smart.”


I use this quote often; it's the single greatest takeaway from the New Coke story for me.


I heard something about sweetness? If you're taking little sips you much prefer sweeter, but you wouldn't want an entire drink of that much sweetness.

I heard that's why Pepsi Cola (sweeter than Coke) wins in those blind taste tests... but everyone still drinks Coca-Cola instead.


There is something McDonald's level addicting with coke that you just don't get from a pepsi.

It's not the taste but the feeling afterwards.


Pepsi leaves a very nasty lingering sweetness at the back of my throat for hours after drinking it. There would be no contest if I was presented a blind tasting between the two and I could likely identify diet and zero varieties of each brand.


The position of insiders in Coca Cola is literally “we wish we were smart enough to have planned this as a marketing ploy, but it was dumb luck and mistakes”.




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