‘New Coke’ and the marketing blunder of the century

In 1985, Coca-Cola changed its flavour.

You probably know that this was a complete failure.

‘New Coke’ was discontinued after just 79 days.

But you probably don’t know the true reason why New Coke failed.

Many claim it was due to poor market research, but today’s guest on Nudge, leading consumer behaviour expert Philip Graves, disagrees.

Philip says New Coke failed not because the research was poor, but because market research is inherently flawed.

Want to understand the biggest marketing blunder of the century? Listen to today’s Nudge.

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Phil’s book: https://shorturl.at/kzAta

Phil’s consultancy: https://www.philipgraves.net/consultancy/

Subscribe to the (free) Nudge Newsletter: https://nudge.ck.page/profile 

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew-22213187/ 

Watch Nudge on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nudgepodcast/

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Today’s sources:

Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30(4), 510–517.

Graves, P. (2010). Consumer.ology: The market research myth, the truth about consumers and the psychology of shopping. Nicholas Brealey.

Hasel, L.E. & Kassin, S.M. (2009). On the presumption of evidentiary independence: Can confessions corrupt eyewitness identifications? Psychological Science, 20(1), 122.

McClure, S. M., Li, J., Tomlin, D., Cypert, K. S., Montague, L. M., & Montague, P. R. (2004). Neural correlates of behavioral preference for culturally familiar drinks. Neuron, 44(2), 379–387.

Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84(3), 231–259.