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"New Coke was a lesson in humility, a reminder that sometimes even the greatest of intentions can lead to missteps. We learned the true value of our loyal customers, and that our original formula was more than just a taste, it was a cherished symbol of tradition." - Roberto Goizueta, Former Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, 1985
In 1985, the Cola Wars were raging and Coca-Cola faced a stark reality: Pepsi was winning taste tests and gaining soda market share.
The company's response?
Change the 99-year-old formula of America's most popular soft drink.
Coca-Cola's market research showed a clear pattern.
In blind taste tests, consumers preferred Pepsi's sweeter flavor.
Each quarter brought new sales reports showing Pepsi's steady advance, especially in supermarkets where shoppers could directly compare prices.
The company's leadership, led by CEO Roberto Goizueta, made a huge gamble.
They developed a sweeter formula, tested it on 200,000 consumers, and prepared to replace the original Coke entirely.
The new recipe used corn syrup instead of sugar and altered the mix of flavoring oils.
On April 23, they announced the new formulation.
Coca-Cola was changing its century-old recipe, replacing every can and bottle of Coke with what they called "New Coke."
On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola replaced its 99-year-old formula with "New Coke."
The reformulated drink contained more corn syrup and less phosphoric acid, creating a sweeter taste that matched Pepsi's flavor profile.
At the time, Pepsi commanded 58.4% of supermarket sales, while Coke held 41.6%.
Coca-Cola spent $4 million on television commercials featuring CEO Roberto Goizueta and President Donald Keough explaining the change.
The company distributed 8 million cans and bottles of New Coke to retailers nationwide.
Billboards across America proclaimed: "The Best Just Got Better!"
Initial sales data showed promise.
In the first week, New Coke orders surpassed Coca-Cola's production capacity of 9 million cases per day.
Blind taste tests among 200,000 consumers indicated that 61% preferred the new formula to both original Coke and Pepsi.
However, the good times wouldn’t last.
New Coke failed within months of its launch.
When customers tasted the reformulated drink in 1985, they rejected it immediately.
Coca-Cola had underestimated their customers' attachment to the original recipe—a mistake that cost them millions.
Angry phone calls flooded the company's headquarters in Atlanta.
Customers cleared grocery store shelves of remaining original Coke cans, hoarding them in garages and basements.
Letters to newspaper editors condemned the change, while TV news covered protests outside Coca-Cola bottling plants.
Americans wanted their old Coke back.
Sales dropped 20% in the first two months after New Coke's release, while thousands of angry letters and phone calls flooded Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters.
CEO Roberto Goizueta called an emergency board meeting on July 11, 1985.
That same day, Coca-Cola announced the return of its original formula under the name "Coca-Cola Classic."
Within 48 hours of the announcement, bottlers had ordered 24 million cases of Coca-Cola Classic.
Store shelves emptied as customers stockpiled their preferred version.
Local news stations broadcast footage of people filling shopping carts with the returned product.
A man in Florida told reporters he had driven 100 miles to buy the first available cases of Classic Coke.
This 79-day product launch and reversal cost Coca-Cola $4 million in development and $30 million in unsold New Coke inventory.
The company had focused on taste metrics while ignoring how their product had become part of customers' daily rituals.
Customers saw Coca-Cola not just as a beverage, but as a constant in their lives, like a familiar piece of furniture or a family recipe.
This mistake cost Coca-Cola millions in production and marketing expenses.
Customers cared deeply about the product, enough to protest its change.
When Coca-Cola Classic returned to shelves, sales surged beyond pre-New Coke numbers, as customers rushed to buy the drink they had feared losing forever.
When the company reintroduced the original recipe as "Coca-Cola Classic," sales jumped 20% in the first six months.
However, a small group of consumers, roughly 10-13% of the market, continued buying New Coke, which the company later rebranded as Coke II.
The product remained on shelves until 2002, selling alongside Coca-Cola Classic in grocery stores and vending machines across America.
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