In the discussion section of the previous post, skapusniak cited as example of self-destructive corporate behavior the Star Wars: Galaxies MMORPG saga
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I was under the impression that New Coke was never intended to succeed AS ITSELF. Instead, it was meant to temporarily replace the tried-and-true formula, so that Coke could seem responsive by "bringing back" the "classic" formula, when in fact what they were doing was changing the classic formula from real sugar to HFCS, and hoping that the hiatus would prevent people from NOTICING that the HFCS version tasted markedly worse than the cane sugar variety.
Or is that merely a tinfoil hat theory I've mistaken for truth, because it sounds so plausible? After all, nearly twenty years ago, it was possible to bribe entire (SCA) armies with kosher-for-Passover (cane sugar) Coke.
Weird as this may sound, I've actually heard that that theory is Coke's own cover-up for the astonishing failure of their marketing research. Either seems possible to me.
PS. If you live in the American southwest, you can get your hands on honest to goodness glass bottled, sugar sweetened Coke in some convenience stores. They're for/from the Mexican market.
I will have to ask the manager of our taqueria downtown if they can get it, since they carry other cane-sugar-only imported fruit sodas. It could be a good PR thing for them, too!
It's apparently an urban myth with little or no truth to it - basically coke spent too much money seriously trying to sell New Coke as Coke for it to make much sense as a reverse double bluff - it also requires them having far too good a grasp on how to manipulate the public, which if they had they could use in far better ways.
According to the chapterbellatrysOctober 8 2008, 11:27:41 UTC
in "You Did What?" based in part on the book "The Real Coke, The Real Story", what was going on was basically the same thing as the Sony games division's disatisfaction only swap out "WoW for "Pepsi" over a course of many years' frustrating rivalry w/r/t the numbers, and instead of just ignoring what customers said, they listened to the customer surveys that told them that people wouldn't mind, instead of the focus groups that said, We do like the new flavor but don't you dare replace our tradition!
Hence the uproar, and egg on Coca-Cola faces - no wonder people would rather think it was A Cunning Plan instead. But there's a line in the book from a Coke spokesman in re charges of conspiracy, "The truth is we are not that dumb, and we are not that smart."
(Also note the line, "At its peak, Coca-Cola executives blamed the media for turning this into a bigger issue than it should have been" --!)
They didn't actually lose any money in the end, because so many people were hoarding Old Coke and so nobody got fired for this, btw.
I was under the impression that New Coke was never intended to succeed AS ITSELF. Instead, it was meant to temporarily replace the tried-and-true formula, so that Coke could seem responsive by "bringing back" the "classic" formula, when in fact what they were doing was changing the classic formula from real sugar to HFCS, and hoping that the hiatus would prevent people from NOTICING that the HFCS version tasted markedly worse than the cane sugar variety.
Or is that merely a tinfoil hat theory I've mistaken for truth, because it sounds so plausible? After all, nearly twenty years ago, it was possible to bribe entire (SCA) armies with kosher-for-Passover (cane sugar) Coke.
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PS. If you live in the American southwest, you can get your hands on honest to goodness glass bottled, sugar sweetened Coke in some convenience stores. They're for/from the Mexican market.
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Or there's Boylan's Cane Cola, which is local and very, very good.
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I think Snopes has a page on it actually
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based in part on the book "The Real Coke, The Real Story", what was going on was basically the same thing as the Sony games division's disatisfaction only swap out "WoW for "Pepsi" over a course of many years' frustrating rivalry w/r/t the numbers, and instead of just ignoring what customers said, they listened to the customer surveys that told them that people wouldn't mind, instead of the focus groups that said, We do like the new flavor but don't you dare replace our tradition!
Hence the uproar, and egg on Coca-Cola faces - no wonder people would rather think it was A Cunning Plan instead. But there's a line in the book from a Coke spokesman in re charges of conspiracy, "The truth is we are not that dumb, and we are not that smart."
(Also note the line, "At its peak, Coca-Cola executives blamed the media for turning this into a bigger issue than it should have been" --!)
They didn't actually lose any money in the end, because so many people were hoarding Old Coke and so nobody got fired for this, btw.
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