The Inside History of the 'New Coke' Debacle
Coca-Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta, left; New Coke, center; and President Don Keough, right.
Source: Bettmann, via Getty ImagesLast month, the giant public relations firm Burson Marsteller threw a party at the Gramercy Tavern for its founder, Harold Burson. The occasion was the publication of his first book, entitled "The Business of Persuasion," which is partly a memoir of his life in public relations and partly a "lessons I've learned" book.
Burson, who is 97, started the firm in 1946, after being discharged from the Army, where he had covered the Nuremberg trials for Armed Forced Network. As he notes in the book, hundreds of soldiers returning from the war dove into the burgeoning business of P.R. There were over 700 small firms in New York City alone. Burson Marsteller was one of the handful that not only survived but even thrived; today it is part of the WPP empire run by Martin Sorrell.