Majik1387 said:
What exactly was different about it?
While it is widely believed today that the new drink failed almost instantly, at the time that was not the case. The company, as it had planned, introduced the new formula with big marketing pushes in New York (workers renovating the
Statue of Liberty were symbolically the first Americans given cans to take home
[17]) and Washington, D.C. (where thousands of free cans were given away in
Lafayette Park). Sales figures from those cities, and other regions where it had been introduced, showed a reaction that went as the market research had predicted. In fact, Coke's sales were up 8% over the same period the year before.
[18]
Most Coke drinkers resumed buying the new drink at much the same level as they had the old one. Surveys indicated, in fact, that a majority liked the new flavoring.
[19] Three-quarters of the respondents said they would buy New Coke again.
[18] The big test, however, remained in the
Southeast, where Coke was first bottled and tasted and has always been such a market leader and cultural institution that "coke" is a colloquial term for all colas, or even all soft drinks, regardless of brand.
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp
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