Move over, “New Coke” there’s a new standard for marketing suicide.
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As a company, Coke actually did pretty well after that.
“New Coke” energized Coca Cola sales like nothing else in the history of the beverage industry before or since.
Fans of the brand bought stockpiles of the original formula cases and 2 liter bottles thinking it would disappear forever. The protest and outrage was organic in an age 30 years before social media became well known.
The “New” Coke never completely filled the sales pipeline. What it showed was that millions of people loved the old product but it was so ubiquitous in their lives that they were the silent majority in marketing studies and taste tests. Underrepresented or not representative.
Marketing companies were out there over sampling young people and Pepsi drinkers in the same way Hillary won in a landslide.
You may view the reversal as a colossal failure of “New Coke” but for the Coca Cola company it was a tremendous success and after that Pepsi was put on the back burner and has had to change their logo and advertising more times than we can count.
It cemented Coca Cola as the number 1 player.
If I recall correctly, when all was said and done, when the dust finally settled, they gained 6% market share. Not bad for a "failed campaign".