That’s sort of true: Coke Zero is, more or less, New Diet Coke—same thing with a different taste and different marketing, but is actually succeeding; last week, I asked for a Diet Coke on an airplane and was handed a Coke Zero (which I handed back). I think Coke learned from experience, which is not a thing Musk seems willing or able to do.
Coke? They were taking full advantage of their branding before Musk was even born, much less by the time New Coke came around. They’ve forgotten more about brand standards than he’ll ever learn.
I’m sure if he inherited Coke, he would have tried rebranding it X-Cola or Xola or some equally shitty name
Just a note, Coke Zero doesn’t exist anymore, it was rebranded as “Coke Zero Sugar” back in 2017 (six years ago). The same way that Pepsi Max is now Pepsi Zero Sugar.
One exception; in New Zealand, “Coke Zero” was sold alongside “Coke Zero Sugar” until a year ago.
I guess the previous names were too ambiguous for consumers. Also, at least with Coke, it wasn’t just a rebrand of the name, they also changed the formula. Oh, and changed the formula again in 2021 (though this time the name didn’t change, it’s still just “Zero Sugar”).
I like both Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar. They are different enough that I prefer one or the other at different times. Diet Coke is less sweet.
Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell opined that X must have been the name of his childhood sled.
X/Twitter have unveiled a new logo:
The new logo may soon be obsolete:
Christ.
Was the new logo NOT approved by him before the ahem …“launch”???
or is this a case of “I liked it yesterday, but I don’t like it anymore today, so we (Elon and Musk) are debating calling us ‘Y’ as of tomorrow” …
Why, I do believe he’s live-trialing different options and waiting for one that is not immediately and ruthlessly mocked by the public!
It might even be considered endearing if it was not so pathetic
World: Everyone’s laughing, Elon. Not with you, at you.
Elon: But they’re laughing at me.
Two things about that. Coke Zero is not in any way the “new Diet Coke”. The New Coke tasted like horse piss, whereas Coke Zero is actually quite good and is my soft drink of choice. And the huge blunder with the New Coke was that it replaced the old stuff rather than living alongside it, like the two diet versions do. As for learning from experience, it doesn’t seem that they have. After Coke Zero was launched, it became very successful, so what did Coke do? They changed the formula! And, in my opinion, they degraded it. I’m used to it now and still drink it, but I preferred the original formulation.
But you’re right about Elmo, who seems constitutionally incapable of learning anything.
I do like the idea that all of this is a way to bury the results that used to come up when you google “Elon Musk Ex”
Honestly, I think he should consider changing his name to Exxon Musk. It would attract attention and controversy, which he seems to enjoy. If copyright issues get in the way again, well, there is always Zaxxon Musk…
It’s astounding the level of impulsiveness he’s showing in his decision making process. There’s no reason that the implementation of his ideas need to be made so quickly. Whether or not X is the right rebranding name for Twitter, it doesn’t need to happen right at this moment. It’s not like he’s in race with some other corporation to name their company X. Take some time and flesh it out. Get a proper logo rather than picking X from a random font. Do some research as to trademarks. Get permits to change the signs on the buildings. Regardless of whether his ideas are good or not, the fact that he feels the need to implement his non-critical ideas in the spur of the moment is bad business.
Is this where we reply with a poop emoji?
Only if it includes one for X Lax?
As I understand it, New Coke was an attempt to make a sugar version of Diet Coke. And that Diet Coke was specifically designed not to try and taste like original Coke, because they knew that they couldn’t actually match that flavor at the time.
And I’d say that Coke Zero is Coca-Cola learning from their mistakes with New Coke. It is essentially a new attempt to make a sugar-free Coke, but they avoided even implying that it would replace Diet Coke.
Coke figured that out with Tab and Diet Coke back in the 80s, though Tab was finally killed off by the COVID pandemic
He’s always been like this. For some history, here is a Mastodon thread giving the background on how Musk’s buffoonery got him fired from Paypal.
If this story is new to you, prepare to be amazed.
(Stuff like this is why some of us were skeptical of his “genius” long before the current debacle.)