New Coke

Yeah, well, that brings us to one of the most famous disasters in the history of food marketing.

New Coke.

New Coke.

Knew we were going there.

So back in 1985, Coca-Cola decided to change its signature soda formula.

Yeah.

And that's a big challenge for food companies because just because a new recipe performs well in a taste test doesn't mean consumers will actually prefer it in their everyday lives.

And with New Coke, there was another

It was Coke's second biggest fountain customer behind only McDonald's.

And the lore is that in 1985, Coke launched New Coke.

It failed.

And then Coca-Cola Classic was launched, and it was so popular that Pepsi brought Kentucky Fried Chicken just to give Pepsi a chance to compete with it.

But if it ain't broke, why fix it? And yet, in 1985, seeing Pepsi nipping on their heels with 18% of the market share, the powers that be at Coca-Cola decided to change the recipe for their flagship drink.

And New Coke was introduced to the public.

It cost them $4 million in research to figure out if there was an appetite for it.

But here's the thing.

Just 79 days after launching and millions of complaints to the company hotline, New Coke was scrapped.

Classic Coke was back for good.

It's estimated the company got stuck with $30 million in unsold new Coke inventory.

Fortunately for Coke, they could go back on their colossal blunder.

You can decide if you think it applies.

And that is the new college football playoff expansion is as popular as New Coke.

You can decide if you think that's a good comparison.

But wait, what's New Coke, Jeff? New Coke, for those that don't know the story, but I got to believe that I know of, every marketing major since 1985 has studied this.

In April of 1985, a brand that owned, absolutely owned the soft drink market decided after about 100 years of domination to change to a sweeter drink.

And the reason Coke became New Coke in April of 1985 is that Pepsi was starting to cut into some of their markets.

And it wasn't just that.

And a focus group said they liked sweeter soft drinks.

Not even close to the same.

You would think after the debacle that was New Coke.

that these companies would know that we're going to notice that stuff has been changed, that stuff is different.

But I actually think, Jeremy, that this is less a willful effort at deception or a, hey, new and improved.

She's calling it Woke 2.0.

I would offer New Woke, you know, like New Coke.

Although I would say that Woke Classic wasn't any good either.

But Anthony points to three controversies to make her argument.