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Great companies can overcome Marketing mistakes. Coca-Cola was one of the world's great marketers. How else can they get you to pay so much for water + sugar

Great companies can overcome Marketing mistakes. Coca-Cola was one of the world's great marketers. How else can they get you to pay so much for water + sugar + a jolt? (And how do they charge more for water than Exxon charges for gasoline?) They made a huge blunder in the 80s abandoning the classic formula, with a New Coke that was better by all objective measures. Despite all their market research telling them how good it would be (blind tests, etc) their customers revolted. Shortly thereafter, they backed out of the decision. The Chief Marketing Officer (Sergio Zyman) even turned lemons into lemonade, making a career as, "What we learned when we got New Coke wrong." Netflix made an awful decision. If they were a large static company (or government!) they would have had a hard time backing out of the decision. I'm sure there was plenty of research and consulting powerpoints explaining why it was a good idea, so everyone was covered. Unfortunately, it was a decision that could have destroyed the company. Bravo for Netflix acting decisively and correcting it's course! They likely saved the company.

yalogin 15y ago
It did reverse its decision but it did a lot of damage in the few weeks. First it kind of jolted people into rethinking their DVD subscription and more importantly gave people a reason to look at their competition in streaming. Amazon delivered the killer blow in my opinion. Their kindle bundled with media made Netflix reconsider quickly since now many people will see they are getting a better deal with Amazon even in the streaming realm (even they have no idea what Amazon's content will look like).
- mathattack 15y ago
  If you are getting mocked by the Onion - then yes indeed, there was some damage. :-) http://www.theonion.com/articles/netflix-switches-over-to-convenient-new-physical-l,19271/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/netflix-switches-over-to-co...
  - chc 15y ago
    That's from February. Nothing to do with recent events.
TheAmazingIdiot 15y ago
Ahem. New Coke was a known bad transition. Why would I say that? All you need do is to look on a Coke can ingredients list from before New Coke and after New Coke. There will be one change: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Or if you wish to try the classic formula, try the Mexican version of Coca Cola. They still use the old formula using cane sugar. There is also a Kosher version of Coca Cola that uses the older recipe.
- vailripper 15y ago
  From what I've read, New Coke also had more salt, in an effort to make people more thirsty, and thus drink more Coke.
- harryh 15y ago
  That's an urban legend. http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp (Not the primary focus of the snopes page, but they cover this sweetener change and debunk the myth surrounding it.)

yalogin 15y ago

It did reverse its decision but it did a lot of damage in the few weeks. First it kind of jolted people into rethinking their DVD subscription and more importantly gave people a reason to look at their competition in streaming. Amazon delivered the killer blow in my opinion. Their kindle bundled with media made Netflix reconsider quickly since now many people will see they are getting a better deal with Amazon even in the streaming realm (even they have no idea what Amazon's content will look like).

mathattack 15y ago
If you are getting mocked by the Onion - then yes indeed, there was some damage. :-) http://www.theonion.com/articles/netflix-switches-over-to-convenient-new-physical-l,19271/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/netflix-switches-over-to-co...
- chc 15y ago
  That's from February. Nothing to do with recent events.

TheAmazingIdiot 15y ago

Ahem. New Coke was a known bad transition. Why would I say that? All you need do is to look on a Coke can ingredients list from before New Coke and after New Coke. There will be one change: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Or if you wish to try the classic formula, try the Mexican version of Coca Cola. They still use the old formula using cane sugar. There is also a Kosher version of Coca Cola that uses the older recipe.

vailripper 15y ago
From what I've read, New Coke also had more salt, in an effort to make people more thirsty, and thus drink more Coke.
harryh 15y ago
That's an urban legend. http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp (Not the primary focus of the snopes page, but they cover this sweetener change and debunk the myth surrounding it.)