Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Kenna wrote and performed unusual rock music that inspired musicians and record producers; rock band U2’s manager, Paul McGuinness, heard him and said, “he’s going to change the world” (262-63)—yet consumer research companies found that the listening public didn’t much care for Kenna.

In the early 1980s, Coca-Cola's market share dipped as Pepsi made inroads. Coca-Cola researchers developed "New Coke," which did better than Pepsi in extensive market testing. When New Coke was launched, it was a disaster; consumers stage protests and the old recipe is quickly reintroduced as Classic Coke. New Coke fades away.

New Coke was based on sip-tests, but these can mislead. Sweetness, for example, tends to win with sip testers but becomes overpowering when someone drinks an entire can of something too sweet. Home-use tests—where tasters try out a case of the drinks in real-life conditions—are more reliable.

In the late 1940s, marketer Louis Cheskin discovered that people tend to confuse packaging with their feelings about the product inside. Margarine is naturally white and unpopular; when Cheskin has the margarine colored yellow, wrapped in foil—which connotes high quality—and put in a carton with a crown image and the name “Imperial Margarine,” sales take off. Cheskin’s firm later added yellow to the green Seven-Up cartons, and consumers reported the taste now had too much lemon and lime.