U.S. pollsters got quite a surprise in the early morning hours of November 9, 2016.
That’s when it became apparent that their sophisticated voter research had completely failed to predict the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election. Longtime Republican political strategist Mike Murphy went so far as to assert that “data died” that night.
Yes, the 2016 U.S. Presidential election was a highly visible casualty for data-driven research, but far from the only one.
In 1985, Coca-Cola announced the rollout of “New Coke,” an updated formulation of the venerable soft drink, designed to appeal to changing consumer tastes.
More of the Customer Think article from Jon Picoult
