Donald Keough | Coca-Cola president, 88
Donald Keough, 88, who as president of Coca-Cola Co. led the world's largest soft-drink maker during one of its most successful eras and one of its worst with the failed introduction of New Coke, died Tuesday at an Atlanta hospital. He had pneumonia.
Donald Keough, 88, who as president of Coca-Cola Co. led the world's largest soft-drink maker during one of its most successful eras and one of its worst with the failed introduction of New Coke, died Tuesday at an Atlanta hospital. He had pneumonia.
As Coca-Cola's president from 1981 to 1993, Mr. Keough and then-CEO Roberto Goizueta were credited with steering the business to a golden age of global growth. During that period, revenue rose to $14 billion from $5.9 billion.
They also had setbacks, most notably reformulated Coke, which was their response to rival Pepsi.
In 1985, Goizueta announced that Coca-Cola had changed the formula of its flagship soda for the first time in its 99-year history. He called New Coke "smoother, rounder, yet bolder" and "the boldest marketing move in the history of the consumer goods business."
Consumers didn't agree. They rejected the drink, demanding a return to old Coke.
Less than three months later, Mr. Keough and Goizueta announced they were pulling New Coke from shelves and reintroducing the original, rebranded as Coca-Cola Classic. - Bloomberg