What does a television news institution and a soft drink have in common? More than you’d think.
In 1985, Coca-Cola made one of the most famous brand blunders in history. They’d been watching the data. Blind taste tests showed that people preferred Pepsi. So they did something that seemed completely rational — they changed the formula. They ignored nearly a hundred years of brand dominance and changed a product people loved, without telling them why. The backlash was immediate and ferocious. Within months, they brought the original back under the name Coca-Cola Classic. The whole episode became a Harvard Business School case study in what not to do.
Now look at what’s happening at 60 Minutes.
