Everyday Life · Consumer brandsApril 1985
Change the Coke formula?
Coca-Cola’s flagship has been losing share in its core market. Blind taste tests favor a new formula, but the company must decide whether product preference is the same thing as permission to replace a cultural habit.
- Company research involved nearly 200,000 consumers.
- The new formula performs well in taste tests.
- Those tests are better at measuring a sip than the emotional cost of taking the familiar product away.
What happened next
The taste test missed the relationship.
New Coke launched on April 23. After consumer protest, the original formula returned as Coca-Cola classic on July 11—79 days later—while the reformulated product remained alongside it for a time.
~200kConsumers in company research
79 daysUntil original returned
July 11Coca-Cola classic announced
The principal source is Coca-Cola’s own archive and reflects the company’s retrospective framing. The episode cannot be reduced to a precise dollar loss or a conspiracy to boost demand.
Visitor percentages appear after 25 distinct responses. We will not invent an audience.