Ben Gilbert

It's just pure bragging rights.

There's a lot of people that probably aren't terribly familiar with New Coke and what actually happened.

And they've all tasted it, as has 200,000 people?

So poetic.

The formula was never changed while Robert was alive.

After 87 years of going at it eyeball to eyeball, the other guy just blinked.

And they gave all their employees the day off to celebrate.

Which, by the way, this couldn't have been sequenced any worse because Pepsi does that.

Pepsi starts giving interviews to everyone they can in the press before the announcement actually happens.

And so the press all comes in.

No one's tried it yet.

So the executives can't even get their message out about it because everyone's just preloaded with like, how bad are you losing that this is the case?

Does it taste like Pepsi?

Because Pepsi sort of seeded, hey, you should ask them, like, is it meant to copy Pepsi?

And the message that the Coke executives have is that they're trying not to say too much.

They're trying not to describe the flavor.

They're trying not to compare it to Pepsi.

So they're up there just looking like complete idiots with no answers that are substantive while everyone is just attacking them.

The two crazy quotes to double down on that.

Gossueta says, some choose to call this the boldest single marketing move in the history of the packaged goods business.