My advice to Danny is to be very careful about what you use as a metaphor. One of the reasons that the Coke bottle has those timeless characteristics is because it has remain virtually unchanged since its creation in 1915. Not a point which supports Danny's "change is good" message.It is also worth noting that one of the most damaging periods in Coca-Cola's history was when it changed its flavour to conform more closely to the increasingly successful and sweeter Pepsi Cola. All of Coke's research told them that people wanted change and that they liked the sweeter taste but when the new recipe Coke was launched it bombed. Coca-Cola suffered huge loss of market share and reputational damage, which led the CEO of Pepsi to say "we had been in a staring competition for the last hundred years and suddenly the other guy blinked".
There is a need for political parties to change, to remain in tune with the world as it is and not how it was. It is,however, worth looking at all the lessons that history (even business history) teaches us, not just the ones that conform to our prejudices.
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Nice - although there's a reason Coke has been getting into fruit and flat drinks, too. Consumer habits do change. Note also that Coke has been buying back bottling plants to help it live up to the corporate ethics messages it wants to project. All good lessons for political parties, too - the core product can be much the same, but you need to adapt to make sure you're meeting a diversifying market and delivering on brand values... http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/03/keeping-coke-out-of-kids-tummies-its-sort-of-working/37187/
It is not just New Coke that tried to be more like their main competitor by promising extra sweetness but delivering a bitter after-taste....
Ditto Richard Young
A very simple rule that everyone should remember when you stop “growing”* you begin “contracting”* and eventually wither and die.
*insert relevant adjective…
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