> Does anyone else get the feeling of deja vu? It reminds me of all that furor
> not too long ago when some boneheads at Coca-Cola decided that what the public
> needed was "NewCoke" and that they will like it because, hey, they'll buy
> anything. The wisdom of foisting a product on an unresponsive consumer
> market should have been fairly obvious.
Sorry to digress so far from Traveller but:
Are you kidding? the Coca-Cola Corporation made a killing on that one! You
see, they brought out this new product, and 'discontinued' the old. Almost
everyone bought a New Coke at least once, just to see what it was like. Many
of these people were never Coke drinkers before. Some of these people
actually started drinking New Coke regularly! The result? an increased
market share.
Then, around a year (I think) later, they brought out 'Coke Classic'! Not
only did this appease most of the old, die-heard Coke drinkers, but it also
had exactly the same effect as New Coke: many people who never drank Coke
regulary before tried it, decided they liked it, and switched.
Coca Cola increased their market share appreciably with this marketing coup.
It's considered a classic in most marketing and advertising courses now.
Of course, GDW doesn't have the kind of advertising power that the Coca Cola
Corporation has... :-)
- --
C. Harald Koch VE3TLA Alias Research, Inc., Toronto ON Canada
Internet: [email removed] [email removed] [email removed]
"I think you curdled my Pepsi!"-Gerry Smit, in response to sickening cuteness