Yes, they gained it back only after losing it, then making the people happy by admitting they blew it and switching back. Remember “We heard you America - Original Coke is BACK!” A lot of credit was given to how they handled the outcry from the people.
At the time, I worked for a market research company that handled all the telephone surveys for CocaCola. I watched the whole thing very closely from start to finish and found it all extremely fascinating. I was able to identify at least 5 or 6 different formulations that were being tested out nationwide. It wasn't just one "New Coke". You should have seen some of the surveys they had for when they finally switched back and they were trying to figure out what name to settle on for 'old' coke. One had this really long paragraph of really confusing names proffered. Then, you had to actually say, "I realize that might have been somewhat confusing, so I'd like to read it to you again". You had to do it, while at the same time praying the poor folks on the phone didn't hang up on you. The thing I found most interesting about the studies near the end of it all, was that you'd open the call asking for what exactly had been purchased in the past week. You'd get people on the phone who would answer, coke, coke, coke to those questions, then when you got to the part asking about New Coke, they'd tell you how much they hated it. ... but they were still buying it. Like I said, it was really neat to be involved. I was a supervisor at the time, but still spent plenty of time on the phone, especially when it got later in the evening and you had quotas to fill.
Afterwards, I saw almost nothing but really disparaging comments about the whole ordeal, but I've had a different view, personally.