Thanks, interesting inside info. The question (fact?) remains that the Coca-Cola Company fully intended for New Coke to be a permanent replacement. IIRC, Coke was losing ground in the perpetual market share battle with Pepsi, which triggered the reformulation attempt. I don’t think they had a Dr. Evil plan to purposefully introduce a flop, then bring back the classic and thereby realize a big market share win. That was a happy accident, or as Pee-Wee Herman disingenuously said, “I meant to do that!”
Actually, I think they intended to reintroduce the (more or less) original Coke all along. They were looking for something to up the ante in the battle against Pepsi. The final formulation of New Coke was eventually a sweeter and more carbonated version. As I said, there were at least 6 versions out there in different regions, and what they were looking for was some new ammo for the ‘rock and roller cola wars’. My main point is that ultimately, it wasn’t nearly as catastrophic for Coke as people generally think. What I thought was most fascinating about the whole thing was that people would swear up and down that they hated New Coke, but ended up buying it anyway. Habits are a hard thing to break. It was also a way for them to make a major change to Coke without admitting it, which is essentially what the change from sugar to HFCS was. I’m glad that some soft drink companies are starting to move back to sugar. The Dr. Pepper bottler in Dublin, Tx made quite a name for itself by doing so.