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.
Beginning this Thursday, cans of New Coke will be available in a Stranger Things package sold on the Coca-Cola website. Stranger Things' upcoming third season is set during 1985, the year when Coke rolled out its unpopular new formula that was discontinued after only 79 days. New Coke will evidently appear in several episodes of Stranger Things, and Coca-Cola says it invited Netflix to visit its archives "to study New Coke packaging, memorabilia, advertising."
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. The Duffer Brothers 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 subsequently approached Coke with the idea.
Beyond this Thursday, vending machines themed after Stranger Things 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.