Rob T Maguire
I would somewhat disagree with the Coke issue. I think it was a bloody marvelous marketing technique.Z
Sure, there were surveys that showed that people liked the sweeter taste of Pepsi, and perhaps Coke should have changed the formula, as they did.
But in doing so, in announcing ahead of time that New Coke was coming out, how much air time was generated? CBS, NBC, ABC, networks around the world were commenting almost daily about the count-down to new Coke. There were 'local interest' stories about people who were cleaning out shelves of the old Coke at supermarkets... guys with basements full of the stuff.
Then came the New Coke - and the inevitable negative reaction... and THAT got reported in newspapers and the national and local evening news... even MORE press and publicity....
Nobody could have afforded all those minutes if they were running commercials....
Hell, in 2015, CBS ran a four and a half minute story on the 3th anniversary of the 'Coke' disaster...
New Coke lasted 77 days.... about enough time for Coke to implement the 'Coke Classic' campaign and get the bottles and cans ready and have the trucks repainted.
Don't tell me that they weren't prepared.....
I submit that they knew it was going to flop, and flop badly, they were prepared for it to flop, they had everything in place and ready to roll when it did flop....
What they 'lost' in sales when they brought out New Coke, they gained in media hype, people talking to their friends about Coke, and the press they got when they 'capitulated' and came out with Coke Classic.
Sorry, as opposed to being one of the major marketing disasters, I believe that this was an absolute marketing coup... Try getting Walter Cronkite or Mike Douglas or Harry Shaeffer talking about Pepsi? (Yes, I know they are all long gone now, but replace those names with the latest national anchors - same thing.)
