Mikes Cigars loses Oliva.

Originally Posted by Texan in Mexico

I don't mean to get off topic but a big part of what I do is market research, campaigns and the New Coke idea is generally recognized as one of the greatest marketing coups of all time. Easily one of the Top 10.

According to Snopes and the folks at Coke and other sources http://www.google.com/search?q=New+C...x=&startPage=1, this was not a marketing ploy.
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp

one more
Windows Vista: The 'New Coke' of the PC age | csmonitor.com