How Coke & Pepsi sales help you understand your relationship

Moving from power struggles to Power Snuggles…

Coke has always led Pepsi by considerable sales. However, in 1985, to maintain their sales lead, Coke conducted blind taste tests to improve the taste. Lo and behold, Coke found more people liked the taste of Pepsi!

So the company modified the Coke formula to make it a little sweeter, like Pepsi. After an extravagant advertising campaign, they announced tah-dah — New Coke! But New Coke was a flop. Quickly they reintroduced the old formula and called it “Classic Coke.” Their sales lead resumed.

What does this have to do with your relationship? Read on…
If taste tests showed people liked Pepsi better, similar to New Coke, why did they want the old Coke back? Because as they drank more and more, they found the slightly tarter, less sweet Coke better in the long run.

During the sweet romantic stage of your relationship your heart thumped with moonlit dinners, continual emails and phone calls, exhaustive intimacy and sipping beverages together. But lasting love requires nurturing some of the tartness and accepting the challenges of a long-term relationship.

The Road to Power Snuggling
True love means living together through thick or thin, from dish washing to diapering; from dealing with bills to dealing with relatives. Your love will thrive only when you accept each other’s sweetness and tartness. A fulfilling relationship is the satisfaction from helping each other overcome problems. Yes, plan to maintain your “Coke relationship” to keep your love alive.

Your weekly homework
Think of five ways your partner has been sweet to you over the years. Think of five ways you have accepted each other when things have gone amiss. With your partner, discuss how your relationship is better off having both the sweetness and the tartness.