Although some people believed that Coca-Cola intended all along to reintroduce the old Coke and that the whole thing was part of a shrewd marketing strategy, most marketing experts are convinced that Coca-Cola had underestimated consumers’ loyalty to the old Coke.
This did not come up in the extensive taste tests conducted by Coca-Cola because the consumers tested were never informed that the company intended to replace the old Coke with the new Coke rather than sell them side by side. This example clearly shows that even a well- conceived strategy is risky and can lead to results estimated to have a small probability of occurrence. Although Coca-Cola recuperated from the fiasco, most companies are not so lucky! In the meantime, the perennial cola battle for market supremacy between Coke and Pepsi rages on.