The Real Lesson of New Coke : The Value of Focus Groups for Predicting the Effects of Social Influence

n April 1985, the management of Coca-Cola Co. announced its decision to change the flavor of the cotnpany's flagship brand. The events that followed from this decision, as well as the faetors which led up to it, have been reviewed, discussed, and extensively analyzed in the popular press, the trade press, and in marketing textbooks. Two books and at least two marketing cases have been written on the events surrounding the flavor change decision. Also, a well-known, but somewhat older Harvard Business School marketing case deals with some of the key events which led up to the decision. Despite the extent of this attention, more can be learned from this dramatic pieee of marketing history.