Misc: New Coke

I know this is old news and not the point of Luke's article, but I had not heard this explanation before.

Coke invested in “New Coke” on the results of one form of research: blind, small sample size taste tests which Pepsi repeatedly won. They did not consider the results of “home-use” tests, the associations of their brand, or what cola consumers prefer after drinking a whole can (a more realistic user scenario). As a result, they based their new product on its performance within a very small portion of the complete user experience. The first sip of cola, after all, is just one part of buying and enjoying Coke.