[Rick TYler]

A couple of posters have suggested that Coke doesn't know how to create new brands. Here's a list of current Coke brands, of which only a couple existed when I was the age of most of you:

Coca-Cola classic
caffeine free Coca-Cola classic
Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla
Coca-Cola Blak
Coca-Cola C2
Coca-Cola with Lime
Coca-Cola Zero
Diet Coke
caffeine free Diet Coke
Diet Coke Black Cherry Vanilla
Diet Coke Sweetened with Splenda
Diet Coke with Lime
cherry Coke
diet cherry Coke
Fresca
Fresca Black Cherry
Fresca Peach
Inca Kola
diet Inca Kola
Manzana Mia
Pibb Xtra
diet Mr. Pibb
Pibb Zero
Red Flash
Sprite
Sprite ReMix Aruba Jam
Diet Sprite Zero
TAB
vanilla Coke
diet vanilla Coke
Barq’s root beer
Barq’s Floatz
diet Barq’s root beer
Barq’s Red Crème soda
diet Barq’s Red Crème soda
Barq’s French Vanilla Crème soda
diet Barq’s French Vanilla Crème soda
Fanta Apple
Fanta Berry
Fanta Citrus
Fanta Grape
Fanta Lemon
Fanta Orange
Fanta Zero Orange
Fanta Peach
Fanta Pineapple
Fanta Pink Grapefruit
Fanta Red Tangerine
Fanta Strawberry
Fanta black cherry
Mello Yello
diet Mello Yello
Mello Yello Cherry
Mello Yello Melon
Northern Neck Ginger Ale
Diet Northern Neck Ginger Ale
Carver’s Ginger Ale

I suspect that Coke does OK when managing its brand extensions (new products). You'll notice that this list doesn't include the mostly-successful PowerAde, MinuteMaid, Fruitopia, Full Throttle, Nestea, Vault, and Dasani non-carbonated drink brands.