I always presumed ‘new coke’ was just a gimmick to a) introduce a new product with the intent of retaining the old one, b) a low cost way to create ‘buzz’ and advertising.
No, they stuck with it a year or more. Nobody liked it and their sales plummeted.
They hurt the overall brand badly. Many executives lost their Jobs, and a lot more when some bottlers closed shop. I had a friend who worked for a Coke bottler and lost his job for sure.
I don’t think Classic Coke came out for at least a year after New Coke replaced it.
I think that “New Coke” was the way they disguised the switch from real cane sugar to HFCS.
The product was similar enough they called it Coke, but it was just a ruse to aid in forgetting how original Coke tasted. Then they “brought back by popular demand” Coca-Cola Classic (note, not just Coca-Cola, even though New Coke was a different brand).
Coca-Cola Classic is the original recipe with HFCS substituted for real cane sugar.
If you want to taste what Coke is supposed to taste like, buy a bottle of Mexican Coke. Really, it tastes just like it did when we were kids.