Let us pause (a pause that refreshes, if you will) to remember that this spring marks the 20th anniversary of the introduction of New Coke, one of the most studied marketing blunders of all time.
I lived in Atlanta back then, and it wasn’t pretty. But the whole episode taught us a couple of things: All the market research and blind taste tests in the world can’t predict human behavior, and that marketers don’t control their brands: consumers do.
20 years, later, Coke is still struggling with how to keep its flagship brand relevant and growing despite its maturity. Just last week, the company decided to relace senior marketing exec Randy Ransom, whose major accomplishment seemed to be changing Coke’s tagline “Real” to “Make It Real.
