1. Pepsi’s Challenge, the Fog of War, and a Revolution in Classical Music

2. A Second Look at First Impressions
Pepsi’s Challenge and “New Coke”
- “The story of New Coke is a really good illustration
of how complicated it is to find out what people really
think.” How and why?
- Why were blind taste-tests not very predictive of
purchasing behavior?
- Why did Pepsi “win” most taste-tests, but never took
over Coke’s market-share?
- What, then, was the mistake that Coke made?
The role of “emotional branding”
- (human beings’ inherent “tribalism”)
- “brand experiences” and “loyalty beyond reason”

3. Listening with Your Eyes: The Lessons of Blink
The limits of conventional decision-making:
screened auditions, women (Abbie Conant) and training our rapid cognition