New Coke is coming back this week as part of a Stranger Things tie-in
The return of New Coke? Stranger things have happened.
Coca-Cola is bringing back the infamous and widely-hated drink for a limited time as part of a partnership with the Netflix series Stranger Things, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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About 500,000 cans of New Coke will be made available, Variety reports, after a six-month process that involved digging up the old formula and faithfully recreating the can design. Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of the show, evidently brought up the idea of a New Coke return as a joke during a meeting with Netflix — but everyone else legitimately thought it was a good idea.
Barry Smyth, Netflix’s head of partnership marketing, told The New York Times that at a 2017 meeting, "We asked the question, ‘What would really blow it out of the water for this campaign?’ They jokingly said, 'Bring back New Coke.' They thought it was a joke. We took it as a brief." Netflix approached Coke with the idea.
Beyond this Thursday, Stranger Things-themed vending machines will give out free cans of New Coke in some select cities, beginning in New York on May 23. Stranger Things's third season hits Netflix on July 4.
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