Hi, guys today we will be discussing about the biggest marketing rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the History of Softdrinks.
There’s competition in every industry. In fast food industry we have McDonald’s vs Burger King and in tech industry we have Apple and Samsung have faced off for years but when it comes to soft drinks, there’s no greater rivals than Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Both brands are extremely successful and household names.
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by The Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton
and was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler,
whose marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
In the past, Coke was known as the original innovator. It set the tone for the advertising of soft drinks.
Pepsi never really stood a chance until the 60s when it started to grow in popularity. Pepsi finally made themselves a firm contender when they created a taste test highlighting that people actually preferred the taste of Pepsi over Coke. The two are now constantly fighting for soft drinks dominance, and have some of the biggest marketing campaigns within the food and drinks sector.
Logo
Like most logos Coca-Cola’s has evolved over time, but since the 40s its font and style has stayed fairly consistent. The bright red colour has never changed and has helped make red synonymous with Coca-Cola. The curly font paired with the red has helped make Coca-Cola’s logo one of the most established and well known logos there is.
Pepsi’s logo has been through a lot more changes than Coke. It has definitely taken a while to establish itself with changing fonts, images, and styles. The font for Pepsi’s logo was originally more curly and similar to Coke’s but in the 50’s it began to modernise and stray away from the curly classic font. The 50s was also when their classic red white and blue colour scheme was introduced. Although the logo has been changed and refreshed a lot to get to where it is today, it is still undeniably distinctive, being easily identifiable with just the coloured circle.
Marketing Campaigns and Advertisement
When it comes to big flashy marketing campaigns, both brands do an excellent job and are constantly marketing new innovative flavours of their drinks. They have both figured out that new generations, especially the millennial generation, want more. They want a new experience rather than the same old and Coke especially has tried to create new zesty flavours. Regardless of how the drink goes down in the long run, the flavours create a hype and an exciting conversation.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has always created brilliant campaigns that get people talking. One of their most successful was
“Share a Coke with…” where they printed people’s names on Coke bottles.
This campaign got a good response from the people who started talking about Coke, it actually made the people to travel to supermarkets across the country to physically find a bottle with their name on. This was a massive campaign that helped young adult consumption of Coke grew by 7%. People wanted to get their hands on the Coke in which their name was written and once they did they wanted to show it off, which is why this campaign worked so well for social media that increased their traffic significantly in 2011.
Aside from fun and interactive campaigns like Share a Coke with, the brand has perfected the nostalgia factor. Coke’s recent campaign “Taste the feeling” really does sum it up perfectly. They create advertisements showing ice cold bottles of Coke being drunk by friends - creating a feeling and making people want to go and buy a coke to relive the good memories and simple pleasure of drinking a Coke.
This type of campaign is what Coke does brilliantly. The brand is built on the idea of community and feeling. It’s about bringing people together with an enjoyable nostalgia filled drink.
Coca-Cola’s “Holidays are Coming” campaign.
This campaign shows exactly how firmly rooted Coke is into people's psyche and how it has associated itself not only with fun summer evenings drinking Coke, but also the lead up to Christmas. The “Holidays are Coming” campaign is, for many, the thing that signifies Christmas is around the corner. Coke has managed to tap into an entire season and provide people with a sense of familiarity. Though Coca-Cola had tried to change the coke recipe but it was a complete disaster. So, they returned back to the original flavour of Coca-Cola.
Pepsi
Pepsi also has a long history of successful marketing campaigns, and because of how long it has been around people also have their own associations with the drink. Pepsi’s marketing is a lot less about nostalgia and community and more about humour and what’s new and perceived as ‘cool’.
Pepsi is well known for their advertisement with very famous people including Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears, and most recently Cardi B.
They know how to appeal to the masses but also tap in to what’s popular with the new generation. Their advertisement with Cardi B specifically aimed to reach Gen Z.
Rather than the brand being associated with a feeling, it’s often associated with a generation and is perhaps considered a bit more ‘cool’ than Coke is using celebrities to stay relevant and create iconic campaigns.
Pepsi uses humour to appeal to their audience, especially at the expense of their nemesis. In an old advert we can see a young boy standing on two Coke cans in order to reach a Pepsi can.
https://youtu.be/GyY15Jkkg2A
This type of back and forth humour with a lot of brands but it works great for a brand like Pepsi who has shown themselves to have a sense of humour.
Although Pepsi definitely has a stellar marketing strategy, their humour can sometimes backfire when they do, then try and speak about more serious issues. Coca-Cola is a brand about community and can get away with speaking about issues of social consciousness, but this isn’t something synonymous with Pepsi’s brand. In the past they have attempted to create discussion about serious topics but their campaigns have not always hit the mark like with Kendall Jenner gate in which Kendall Jenner ditches a photo shoot to join a cute boy at a protest and give a police officer a soda. In fact sometimes straying too far away from what the brand is good at causes more harm to their reputation than good.
I love both of these brands and admire that they both create brilliant and unique marketing campaigns but if I was choose a winner I would choose Coca-Cola. The sense of nostalgia and deep familiarity that they have instilled in their marketing, alongside their consistency has made the brand as one of the biggest and most well known in the world. Pepsi is undoubtedly incredibly well known, but the feeling and sense of self Coke has as a brand is something different. Pepsi would have a more difficult time in the future if it cannot cope up with the changing environment.
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S.Merchant
Well explained 👍👍
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