• Marketplace, Friday, April 23, 2010 12 PM

Today is the 25th anniversary of the introduction of New Coke, Kai Ryssdal reports, which "like Max Headroom ... faded mercifully into obscurity as one of the biggest product launch disasters ever."

Headroom, for those who may have missed his brief career as a spokesandroid for the beverage, gets a sound clip in the piece ("Now when you first tried Coke, I bet you said, 'Uh-uh. Not for me.' But hey, let's not let first impressions sway us....') Bottom line: First impressions did sway most consumers, and it wasn't long before "Coke Classic" was back on the shelf. And not long after that, New Coke was gone and Coke became just plain Coke again.

In honor of the anniversary, Ryssdal talks with BevNET.com president John Craven about the lessons the beverage industry learned. One takeaway: It's even harder today to "build cool intentionally," as Craven puts it. "Right now in the beverage business we've got a ton of small brands, but there isn't one that is the breakout of the year," he says.

Read the whole story at Marketplace »