Is New Google like the New Coke?

Good post by Helen Brown about how “New Google” search integrates Google+ content in results. Oh, and that’s an awesome illustration, too. An excerpt:

In 1985, in a moment no consumer could figure out (and no major company should ignore), Coca-Cola decided they would ditch their cash cow and make an entirely different product. The venerable “Old Coke” was gone overnight and “New Coke” was the Coke to beat Pepsi. There was just one problem. Nobody liked it. There were practically riots in the streets. People started hoarding “old” Coke when they could find it.

If you weren’t around then (and I suspect most of the Google decision-makers weren’t) I know it’s hard to believe that consumers actually rose up and made such a stink that a mega company completely reversed course about something, but they did.

You should read the whole post. There are some nice utility nuggets in the section labeled “FIXING WHAT’S NOW BROKEN”. And then, there is this nice quote about comparing Google to Bing: “There’s no Coke vs. Pepsi thing going on here.  It’s Coke vs. Shasta.”