One of the things about working on a brand like Nike is you're always coming across marketing or business books which tell you precisely what made Nike great, or what they're doing wrong or how they achieved success or how they're ensuring failure. And they're books that you really want to like or that are making some sense and then they start to talk about something you know a little about and you realise they're just making stuff up.
People who worked on the launch of New Coke must feel a similar thing. It must be one of the most cited marketing thingy's ever. And not everyone's theory about its failings can be right.
Here, though are two audio presentations which shed light on the New Coke fiasco. The first - a talk at PopTech by Malcolm Gladwell is the most convincing. He talks about the stupidity/limitations of the taste-testing research Coke did to convince themselves they needed to change formulation. (This one is free). The second is a presentation at audible.com about influence by Dr. Robert Cialdini. He only touches on the Coke thing, but it's worth listening to anyway. (This one is $3).
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