Keller’s Brand Equity Model

Based on the Keller’s Brand Equity Model where it is stated that “in order to build a strong brand, you must shape how customers think and feel about your product. You have to build the right type of experiences around your brand, so that customers have specific, positive thoughts, feelings, beliefs, opinions, and perceptions about it”.

According to this, and thanks to the strong brand equity of these two brands, it is easy to identify the most important adjectives related to the brand, as seen in the Keller’s Pyramid shown below:

 

 

Posted by: Carolina Castellanos S., Quentin Fruy, Charlotte Fernet, Alexandre Quéméré, Alya Marrakchi

Sources:

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/keller-brand-equity-model.htm

http://www.slideshare.net/skparyani/coca-cola-brand-audit

http://202.120.148.199/files/Custome%2BrBased%2Bbrand%2BEquity%2BModel.pdf

Brand Extension

Brand Extension:

The Brand extension is commonly used by well-known brands that use their image to launch new varieties of their products in order to satisfy different needs of their current consumers as well as to gain new ones. This strategy is also implemented when a new trend is being developed in the market and to enlarge the brand’s awareness.

In the Cola market, Coca Cola and Pepsi have both been very active in this matter. They have taken advantage of their brand equity and launched several variations of their regular products in terms of flavors and ingredients. The brand stretching with not only the highest impact in sales but also the oldest attempt of widen the brand’s portfolio has been diet or light products, that still today continues to be updated with new versions thanks to the health concerns both brands have acquired as seen previously in the blog and trying to respond to an ever increasing demand of consumers for healthier products.

The rivalry between Coca Cola and Pepsi is evident as well in this field, where being the first to develop an idea is very important and usually the other brand responds to this initiatives by launching a similar product.

Let’s take a look to the most important examples of brand extension for Coca Cola and Pepsi!

Coca Cola:

–         Coca Cola Light/Diet Coke: are both the same product but with different names because in some countries the word “Diet” doesn’t mean low-calorie. It is a sugar and calorie free soft drink that was developed in the United States in 1982, and was the first brand extension of Coca-Cola. It was launched as a respond to the Diet Pepsi that was launched in 1964 and was acquiring great relevance in the market. The sweetener mix used for the product changes among countries due to different consumer preferences

–         Coca Cola Zero: introduced in 2005 within the low calories segment and its main target are men, because they tend to link Diet and Light to women. It is intended to be the same taste as the Coca Cola Classic, while Coca Cola Light/Diet Coke has a different formula. Is sweetened with a blend of low-calorie sweeteners, while Diet Coke is sweetened with aspartame

–         Coca-Cola Cherry, Diet Cherry and Zero Cherry: it was launched in 1985 and was the third variation of the brand. Then, in 1986 thanks to a successful performance Diet Cherry Coke was introduced and in 2007 was added Coca-Cola Cherry Zero

–         Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla and Diet: it was launched in 2006 but due to low sales it was then discontinued in 2007

–         Coca Cola with Lime: released in 2005 as a respond to the consumer’s request but it hasn’t been very successful in several countries where it was discontinued. Has been a limited edition in many countries but in others like Singapore and Netherlands is a regular product

–        Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet and Zero: introduced in 1983 as a response to Pepsi Free that was having notorious results. The diet version was the first extension of the Diet Coke

–         Vanilla Coke: released in 2002 to compete with Pepsi Vanilla but it didn’t have a good performance. In 2007 it was relaunched in the US and in the UK in 2013, where it was supposed to be a limited edition but thanks to a better sales behavior it stood as a regular product

–         Coca Cola Life: Launched in 2013 in Argentina as a pilot test, has 108 calories per bottle which is less than the half of calories of a Classic Coke, using Stevia as a sugar substitute. This innovative product claims to be green and natural as sold in a recyclable bottle that is made from 30% plant-based materials

Pepsi:

–         Diet / Light Pepsi: Introduced in 1964 to attack the current competitor Tab produced by The Coca Cola Company that was an innovative Cola in the Low Calories segment. Nowadays it is one of the main products of the Pepsi Portfolio

–         Pepsi Next:  launched in 2013 with 30% less sugar than regular Pepsi and no artificial sweeteners. Is specially created for people who don’t like Diet Pepsi’s taste

–         Pepsi Wild Cherry: Introduced in 1988 in order to compete against Cherry Coke that was developed two years earlier

–         Pepsi Free: Developed in 1982 and it is a Caffeine-Free that is today known as Caffeine-Free Pepsi and Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi

–         Pepsi Max:  is a low-calorie and sugar-free product and contains more caffeine than Diet Pepsi

–         Pepsi Lime: Introduced in 2005 with lime flavor added to the regular Pepsi

–         Pepsi Raw/Natural: Released in 2008 and contains naturally sourced ingredients with no artificial flavouring, colourings, preservatives and sweeteners. In countries like Mexico and United States is distributed as Pepsi Natural à so Pepsi had the idea of develop a “natural” product that is now improved by Coca Cola Life

–         Pepsi Vanilla: Released in Canada and the U.S. in 2003 in order to attack Vanilla Coke. Today this product is no longer available but Diet Pepsi Vanilla keeps standing in the market

 

–        Cherry Vanilla Pepsi: was a relaunch of the Vanilla Pepsi in 2010 with the addition of natural cherry flavor

–         Some Limited Editions: Pepsi Mojito, Tropical Chill and Pepsi Strawberry Burst

–         Pepsi AM: Was launched in 1989 and it had more caffeine than a regular Pepsi, was meant to be a morning drink but it was discontinued in 1990

Posted by: Carolina Castellanos S.

Sources:

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/brands/the-coca-cola-company/

http://www.siegelgale.com/blog/coca-cola-life-a-healthy-brand-extension-but-will-it-succeed/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pepsi_variations

http://business.time.com/2012/03/14/the-10-best-brand-extensions-ever-according-to-me/slide/diet-coke/.

Feeling cold? Coke zero is here to warm you up!

Christmas is coming and so is the cold.

To promote again one of its products, Coke has launched recently a special website about a Coke Zero sweater generator.

The contest started on November 15th and just ended this last Monday; on December the first. The wining list will be known soon on this website: http://winlists.eprize.com/223953.pdf

This website allows the people from to 50 states of the US you to create their own Christmas sweater customized through the Coke Zero colors.

Then you need to promote you sweater through facebook and other social Medias to get the biggest amount of votes. The 100 top biggest votes ‘numbers will received for free by the 25^th of December their customized sweater that has a commercial value around 100$ !

As Alex explained it before, Coke is a lovemark through many angles. Once again, the brand uses its positioning as a lovemark to promote one of its product! And it works.

Indeed, since the website has been created, the first winner has won about 3000 votes . An easy way to keep its customer supporting and belong to its brand!! And a nice gift under the tree on the 25^th of December!

Merry Christmas to the 100 winners then!

https://www.sweatergenerator.com/#/main/landing

http://iletaitunepub.fr/2013/11/19/coca-cola-zero-vous-invite-creer-votre-propre-pull-de-noel/

 

Written by ChachaF

How Pepsi and Coke are perceived by consumers.

From a survey we made during these last weeks, we have been able to understand how Coke and Pepsi are perceived by consumers according to different criteria. We only compared the 2 brands so following perceptual maps will only be about the 2 brands.

Let’s just remind the perception of consumers, for the global market in the US, about soft drinks:

 

Let’s identified how both brands are perceived around 4 main topics:

The brand as a product: What do people prefer about the taste and which of the 2 is the most qualitative one, the most reliable one?

 

 

Coke is much more tasty than Pepsi, or at least people clearly prefer the taste of Coke vs Pepsi’s.

 

The brand as a person: what do people prefer regarding the value and identity of both brands? Which of the 2 brands makes people dream the most?  What are the best perceived values and which one of the 2 brands make people feel passion?

 

 

Both brands’culture are not realy clear in people’s mind. 

The brand as an organization: what is the culture of the brand, the universe of the brand,  its engagement through other topics.

 

 

Coke is perceived to be a better brand in term of engagement through social or environnemental concerns for example, with a strong brand universe, whereas Pepsi doesn’t seem to have a specific universe that make people dream.

The brand as a symbol:: What brand is a myth and a symbol in people’s mind? Which logo do they remind first?

 

 

 Once again, Coke’s logo is much more known than Pepsi’s, as well as regarding the fact that the brand is quite a myth in people’s mind!

As these 4 maps shows up, Coke is clearly better in each topics as a brand in people’s mind. Only the culture of the brand seems not to be really clear for consumers, who might not have understood well the values of both brands, even if these last ones car still make people dream and belong to .

Once again, Coke is the top ranked brand, unfortunately for Pepsi!

 

Written by: ChachaF

Brand Identity Prism

To well analyse the dimensions of Brand identity for both companies, we worked on a Kapferer’s Brand-Identity Prism model in order to develop six aspects: physique, personality, culture, relationship, reflection and self-image.

Find below the Coca-Cola Model with some explanation:

Physique: Coca-Cola’s bottle is easily recognized even eyes closed. One legend design with a typical colour: RED.

Personality: Open a Coca-Cola is “open Happiness” which is the main slogan of the brand. It means to share good times with people and this everywhere. They have the willingness to bring people sharing moments between each other with the strategy of happiness we can find all around the world.

Culture: Coca-Cola represents a lifestyle, being social when you are drinking a coke. It means to be modern by drinking a model, a leader. Coca-Cola is sharing American values and the American dream.

Self-Image: Coca-Cola is communicating all the time, via all kind of medias. The company always wants to increase its community and push all boundaries.

Reflection: Coca-Cola describes the consumer base as young generation (15-25 years old) with values such as fun, sport or friendship whereas the group target is far broader. It’s a brand for everyone as has to be a TOP brand.

Relationship: When you drink Coca-Cola, you take part of a team. You enter in a specific community and you share values. Coca-Cola is sharing an atmosphere for free and doesn’t need any return.

Find below the Pepsi Model with some explanation: 

Physique: Famous logo sphere with 3 different colours aids brand recall

Personality: Pepsi is always doing things with humour and derision. The part of fun is big.

Culture: The brand is using many celebrities to create buzz. As said before, there is a joke culture and the brand is very dynamic and adaptable.

Self-Image: The brand is reaching a cool image via a good communication process. Pepsi is always innovating and adapting its strategy to resist face to Coca-Cola.

Reflection: Via a communication sometimes weird and becoming absurd, Pepsi cheats its public and its community.  But via this way, the company keeps attractiveness. We always think Coca-Cola when we see Pepsi that is a bad true story for the brand.

Relationship: Pepsi is like a “gamer” and offers a young image to the public and its community. By sharing humorist values, the company is sometimes misunderstood but also attractive.

Compare to Coca-Cola, Pepsi is looking for a return from the community. This is the main difference between a LOVEMARK and a follower that is in this case Pepsi, our famous JESTER.

Quentin F.

Sources:

http://www.eurib.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Documenten/PDF/Identiteit_en_Imago_ENGELS/v_-_Het_Brand-Identity_Prism_model_van_Kapferer__EN_.pdf

http://www.pepsi.fr/

http://www.coca-cola.fr/

French People Vision about those soldiers -_-

In order to have a better understanding about how are perceived Coke and Pepsi brands, we have established a survey regarding the notoriety and quality people can attribute to these brands.

This survey was spread through social networks and 41 people kindly accepted to give their opinions.

Below are our observations.

First of all, we wanted to know if Coke and Pepsi were two automatic quoted brands when people think about Sodas. Guess what. Pepsi is not. Indeed, Coke was quoted in 100% of the case compare to 70% for Pepsi.

Then, we wanted to know if their logo were well known by the audience; they are. Everybody had the good answer so we can say, even with the new Pepsi logo, that Coke and Pepsi don’t meet any confusion or plagiarism issues regarding their logos.

The next and last step was made to better understand what are the main values and what do think people about those two brands. In order do have concrete results and to be able to compare, we ask people to rank some criterion from 0 to 2 and here is what happened:

Concerning Coke, here are the best criteria meeting the higher scores:

No surprises regarding these results.

Quality of products is linked to the taste, sight is here thanks to advertising we can observe everywhere and timelessness represents the importance of Coke for everybody since we are born. Indeed, Coke was already here and will be here after our death and, moreover, myth and symbols are well recognized because we have grown with them during our life (e.g. Red Santa Claus and Polar Bear).

Now let’s have a look to Pepsi higher results:

Well, when you have a look on these results, what can we observe? Coca-Cola is way ahead in a favourable position. Indeed, we have summed up the best results those two brands have regarding the best grade interrogated people could give.

Exclusively French people answered this survey and this criterion can explain the results. As a matter of fact, The Coca-Cole Company is better implanted into the octagonal country than Pepsi. What do you think this survey would look like if it had been done in the U.S?

We are pretty convinced results should be quite different.

Lovemark, Jester.. see you soon!

Alya – Carolina – Charlotte – Alexandre and Quentin

Sources:

https://fr.surveymonkey.com/analyze/B2_2FPw4n3hZLang9BIL7OW8oUePLuJF2Kg_2BhALB02yQQ_3D

An endless war is running

We have previously seen how good are those two brands regarding their own global strategy; Being a Lovemark for the Red brand and a Jester for the Blue one. Even if they are strongly playing with different advertising campaigns, sometimes we can feel a bit of irony and fun regarding “war” campaigns.

I am not going to say we can analyse this war as a boxing game because it is obvious that they are not responding to each other every time. Yet, we can tell the Jester is a bit more aggressive regarding this battlefield trend.

As Charlotte has shown in its “Halloween article”, the war is still running.

And this is running for a long moment.

Here is a communication campaign from the 1^st April by Pepsi:

Below an example of Coke responding to Pepsi printed campaign:

More than printed campaigns, the best way to explain this endless war is to find street marketing example, where the fight is really happening:

Above you can observe some clever campaigns all coming from Pepsi. All of them are making fun of Coke explaining how Pepsi is needed, demanded and available everywhere. You can also notice that their sense of humour can reach the top by removing Coke distributing machine from the street.

As I told you, Pepsi is really more aggressive and Coke just answers back. Then, Pepsi go further by using symbols and archetypes that Coke is using for a long time:

The Polar Bear:

And even Santa Claus:

http://live.wsj.com/video/pepsi-cola-new-ad-ummer-time-is-pepsi-time/223315E4-AC09-49A2-B761-9F84A5F17DB0.html#!223315E4-AC09-49A2-B761-9F84A5F17DB0

Speaking about videos, below you can watch some funny and famous videos that Pepsi did regarding this war:

Here is a boy who starts buying a coke, then another one in order to reach the Pepsi button.

Two trucks drivers are meeting and trying to share a moment not thinking about rivalry. (Of course it last only for a few minutes)

Here is a parody of the godfather.

Most of these videos became quickly viral and the two companies don’t need to keep this war running anymore, communities do it for them. As a matter of fact, you can find a lot of videos, pictures, graffiti, drawing, etc… illustrating this war and made by people from all around the world.

Thanks to all these campaigns, we can tell that even being on the same market with different marketing strategies such as being a Lovemark or a Jester, the endless market shares war is still running and all means are good to reach objectives.

Fortunately, sometimes they are making the peace and can show people they can live in harmony:

Alexandre QUEMERE

Sources:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/battle-of-the-brands-pepsi-vs-coke-advertisements/

http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/index.php?s=pepsi

Coca Cola and Pepsi: Brand Mantra, POP and POD.

Since the competition between the two brands has become increasingly stronger, we decided to use one of the brand positioning techniques to progress in our research about this field and to gather more material in order to make a better analysis of the situation.

Brand Mantra is a step of this study, it will allow us to collect some information about how are seen Pepsi and Coca Cola by the consumers.

So we asked people to tell us through 3 to 5 independant words, what the two brands inspires to them.

The most repeted and relevant words for Coca Cola are :

-Sharing

-Hapiness

-Tasty

For pepsi it was :

-young

-Celebrities

-Fresh

-Sport

The point of parity is that they are two very famous fresh soft drinks.

The point of difference is the image that they reflect : pepsi is more trendy and cool with an image of young people and celebrities while coca cola is an emotional brand. This is due to the advertising campaigns they both spread.

Sources:

http://darkmattermatters.com/2009/07/21/brand-positioning-tip-3-the-brand-mantra/

Posted by Alya M

OPEN HAPPINESS ! TOP 10 COUNTRIES!

To follow the post regarding the addiction, let’s show some figures !

Although the movie “Super Size Me” in 2004 has shown the 3L Coca-Cola bucket that McDonald’s used to sell few years ago, US is not the N°1 country of consumption per inhabitant. The most famous soda is drinking all around the world and sometimes too much.

Find below the 2010 Consumption Snapshot:

	Countries	Per Capita Consumption (Based on U.S. 8 fluid ounces of a finished beverage)
1	Mexico	675
2	Malta	606
3	Chile	445
4	US	394
5	Australia	319
6	Argentina	318
7	Spain	284
8	Panama	258
9	Austria	255
10	South Africa	254
21	France	143
25	Worldwide	89

Mexico as NUMBER 1?

Actually not a surprise! Any COINCIDENCE with the highest percentage of obese people in the world? LOVELY SUGAR…

OPEN HAPPINESS with moderation…

Quentin F.

Sources

http://www.topito.com/top-10-des-pays-qui-boivent-le-plus-de-coca-cola-par-habitant

Coca-Cola Company: Key Figures 2010
http://assets.coca-colacompany.com/ba/22/39fae0564dcda20c694be368b8cf/TCCC_2010_Annual_Review_Per_Capita_Consumption.pdf

http://www.statista.com/topics/1392/coca-cola-company/

PORTER FORCES for Coke and Pepsi

Industry Rivalry:

It is obvious that rivalry speaking, Coke and Pepsi are the main French competitors on the Cola market but, because their portfolio is not only composed by Colas, we can tell Sodas companies are competitors as well. Then, the main French competitor is Orangina Schweppes, which is a member of the huge Japanese company since 2009: Suntory.

Regarding figures, the non-alcohol beverages market in France represents around 3 billion euros and is mainly detained by Coke, followed by Orangina and PepsiCo is well behind.

 Bargaining power of suppliers/distributors:

In this part, we have to mix suppliers with distributors because the two companies are producing their own products and using just a few suppliers regarding raw materials.

Then, as far as I know, PepsiCo and Coke are working on 3 distributions channels: “Alimentaire – Hors-Foyer and Clients chainés”. It means they are differentiating Hyper/Supermarket, nomad consumption and companies selling their products such as fast food and cinemas. Speaking about their bargaining power, all those distributors don’t really have the choice. Indeed, regarding the added value those products represent, all these distributors need to possess at least one reference but most of the time they can propose both of them.

So, we can tell their bargaining power is quite low regarding the huge demand they have to face.

Bargaining power of Consumers:

What power does have the final consumer regarding Colas’ companies? Well: NO POWER. Indeed, the consumer just has the choice consuming or not consuming this kind of product. What can say that the average customer can boycott Colas and there is an anecdotal experience we can use regarding boycott and the Coca-Cola Company. In January 2013, a France Television Journalist did a TV show about the Coca-Cola Company and explained how dangerous it is to drink this kind of beverage. Then, this TV show became viral on Internet and we can imagine the Soda’s volume consumption could have suffered for a while.

 Threat of substitutes:

The Soda market is really threatened by a lot of other products. Indeed, in term of beverages, we can all imagine how many different products consumers can drink: water, sparkling water, fruit juices, alcohol, energy drinks, milk, coffees, teas and so on…

This non-exhaustive list still remains the main threat for Soda’s companies.

 

Threats of new entrants:

Speaking about new entrants, we can observe in France a strong trend: identity colas. The first one that I really do like because we are coming from the same region: Brittany, is Breizh Cola. This Cola is now representing 15% of market share in its own region and Pepsi is today well behind. Then, the French market has seen a lot of new identity colas appeared for the past few years: Chti Colas (North of France), Elsass Cola (Alsace), Fada Cola (Marseille), Vendée Cola (Vendée), Bougnat Cola and Auvergnat Cola (Auvergne), Meuh Cola (Normandie) and last but not least: Corsica Cola (Corse).

We can observe this new identity trend is really well spread in France and maybe this is due to a kind of anti-Americanism or a willingness to show that people are fed up about monopolies. 

Political force:

A last force, which is not represented on the scheme above, is the political one. As a matter of fact, in January 2012, the government, represented by Mr. Fillon, has settle down a new law about sweeties products: the sugar tax. The main objective of this regulation was to promote less sugar products compare to sugar-based ones in order to reduce the obesity issue that is increasing in the country.

Alexandre QUEMERE

Sources:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangina_Schweppes

http://www.pepsico.fr/

http://www.coca-cola-entreprise.fr/

http://www.lemonde.fr/vous/article/2013/04/15/les-sodas-identitaires-un-marche-petillant_3159741_3238.html

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxe_soda

SODAS Addiction? Why? And Consequences!

Following the article of Alya and the obesity, let’s talk about the addiction of coke and what could be the consequences.

Even if the Coca-Cola and the Pepsi Cola are classified as “soft drinks”, the chemical make up composition of those drinks are toxic to the human body. Energy drinks as Red Bull can be added to this group of dangers.

We all know that the body needs only water to sustain itself. But most of the time, soft drinks are introduced early in our life by parents, friends, or in school. Because it’s fun, cool, fresh or with a non-common taste, it’s sold like a product that you need and that can be the start of the addiction. Plus, if your entourage is an addict, sodas damage you faster as you could imagine.

The real and serious problems with the Coca-Cola or the Pepsi are the combination of acids (caffeine) and sugar (artificial sweeteners) and the fact that a body have to work extra hard to expel toxins from the beverage. The digestive tract, teeth, heart or other parts of the body can suffer with an overconsumption and everyone should be very carefull about sodas. An addiction can lead big damages, even if nothing is medically demonstrated to 100%.

Trues stories of damages where Coca-Cola and Pepsi could play a main role

1) New Zealand 2010: a 30 years old woman died following a heart attack (8 to 10L of Coke per day).

Article linked: http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/sante/l-addiction-au-coca-cola-peut-elle-etre-mortelle_1107507.html

2) UK 2010: A 45 years old woman kicked the habit after decades where she used to drink 24 cans of Pepsi per day.  Before that, results to her body were:

• Lank hair
• Flaky skin
• Severe dehydration

Article linked: http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/01/mother-of-four-owns-up-over-coke-addiction-i-drank-24-cans-of-pepsi-a-day-for-decades-4209361/

3) Australia 2013: a 25 years old man lost all his teeth because of overconsumption of Coca-Cola (6 to 8L per day).

Article linked: http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2013/02/08/1556316-a-25-ans-il-perd-toutes-ses-dents-suite-a-une-addiction-au-coca.html

Quentin F.

Sources:

http://www.lalibre.be/culture/medias-tele/coca-une-addiction-dangereuse-51b8f71be4b0de6db9c92f2c
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/addictions/soda-addiction
http://www.sott.net/article/262161-Cola-depression-and-addiction

Obesity, the new angle for Coca cola

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the last year, Pepsi chose to use a classic strategy of hiring the famous american singer Beyoncé to represent their brand and to stimulate their sales.

While Pepsi continues to promote its products conventionally, Coca Cola is in the progress of reversing the trend.

Indeed, for years, Coca Cola has made colossal campaigns about hapiness (positive attitude) and sports events … (etc). But starting from 2013 the brand has made a major change in its marketing strategy. Coca Cola followed the current wave and made a whole campaign based on the growing obesity rate to show people its implication.

This way, Coca Cola wanted to be a part of the awareness against obesity. The campaign encouraged people to take care of their nutritional diets and to practice physical activities.

Coca Cola projected awareness videos to show that it supports programs like »boys and girls clubs of America » that enable young people to get active and to start healthy habits early. The American firm also planned to reduce sugar and started promoting the other Coca Cola products which are more healthy.

33% of adults are obese in America and soft drinks are stigmatised. There was a law in New York that banned the sale of XXL size in some stores.

Although, Coca Cola made a good impression through this campaign, opinions remain reserved. Some people still blame the brand and accuse it of being partly responsible for obesity. People suspects the brand to only aim to promote the products and to save its image facing the current situation.

It was a nice try for Coca Cola to take advantage of the situation and to adapt its strategy.

Sources:

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/coke-and-pepsi-face-diabetes-backlash-153613

http://www.terrafemina.com/forme/nutrition/articles/21511-coca-cola-entre-officiellement-en-campagne-contre-lobesite.html

 

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/01/21/How-Coke-Beat-Pepsi-in-the-New-Cola-Ad-War

 

… While PepsiCo is having fun

Thanks to Charlotte, we have just seen that PepsiCo is making fun of Coke (When Pepsi tackles Coke for Halloween). This funny strategy is not only about the main competitor; it is really part of the Global strategy.  Instead of being a Lovemark, PepsiCo seems to be a funny brand using exaggerated advertising campaigns and thus, be perceived as the comic of the band: the Jester.

Below, you can observe old printed advertising campaigns illustrating how old the “Funny” strategy of Pepsi is:

“Jovial, Joy, Enjoy, Enjoyment” are recurrent words used all over the world by PepsiCo in order to win market shares and to build a strong identity. Below, you can observe this strategy is still running in current printed advertising campaigns:

More than using humour, the Pepsi Company is also enjoying famous partnership in order to increase their popularity and establish a strong relationship regarding its community.

We can strongly illustrate his strategy thanks to the Uncle Drew advertising campaign released in 2012 and still running today.

A famous NBA Basket-Ball player, Kyrie Irving, is disguised as an old guy and pretending not to know how to play Basket Ball. After few exchanges, he gets better and better until the final demonstration.

First video – creating a viral interrogation about this campaign (February 2012 – 1 million views)

Uncle Drew – Chapter 1 (May 2012 – around 30 million views)

Uncle Drew – Chapter 2 (October 2012 – around 10 million views)

Uncle Drew – Chapter 3 (October 2013 – around 5.5 million views) 

Successful, this well thought campaign illustrates how a brand can be creative, long-term thinking and able to use media tools. Indeed, the company took advantages of the viral effect but knew how to do it. Becoming viral is today vital for companies with such a big reputation and partnership extension (Dime Magazine), media interviews (ESPN) or playing with current news (Halloween) are tools that can be used:

Uncle Drew – Dime Magazine

Uncle Drew – Halloween

Uncle Drew joins the debate – ESPN

PepsiCo also drives car with Jeff Gordon (famous US Nascar pilot), sings with Elton John or dances with Beyonce. Even if one of these campaigns has been judged as a fake, we still can tell PepsiCo wants to make fun creating unforgettable moment during which people are sharing joy. Talking about the campaign, making some noise and trying to overshadow competitors are desired objectives.

Once in a while, PepsiCo tries to share happiness like its main competitor: The Like Machine.

Hugging a machine or give a “like” on Facebook… Let’s say PepsiCo is not good sharing happiness… but better having fun of Coke.

Alexandre QUEMERE

Sources:

http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/page/2/?s=pepsi

http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2013/11/04/pepsi-won-halloween-thanks-to-this-clever-ad/

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/pepsi_max_lonely_calory_noose

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/40-cool-and-creative-pepsi-advertisements/

http://www.desiznworld.com/2013/06/retro-pepsi-cola-ads.html

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/06/14/Pepsi-Max-Uncle-Drew-061412.aspx

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/06/14/Pepsi-Max-Uncle-Drew-061412.aspx

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2013/03/15/jeff-gordons-test-drive-viral-video-for-pepsi-is-fake/

Pepsi in France, new real challenger ?

Before 2013, we thought that the battle was over for Pepsi in France. With more than 60% of market share with its classic Coke followed by its two lights versions (Light and Zero), Coca- Cola was on the top position.

From 2000, Pepsi lost lot of ground compare to Coca-Cola. With a share market of 12% fifteen years ago, they get around 5% today with its Pepsi Classic and Pepsi Max. We could think that Pepsi was lost, especially when another competitive brand, Virgin Cola, is almost dead.  The market is moving and Coca-Cola did bad sales in 2012 because of a bad weather, a new sodas tax and the crisis where people are consuming more tap water than sodas.

On the beginning of the year, Pepsi was looking for taking advantage of the situation to gain new market share. By launching a new product, Pepsi Next, with 30% less of sugar and without granulated, the brand did a big commercial bet. New in the market with this product containing « stevia », a sugar substitute, Pepsi is trying to satisfy French people attentive to limit sugar and chemical ingredient.

Pepsi Next is a huge attack against Coca-Cola. Firstly because the taste is pretty good and secondly because Pepsi is the only brand offering a natural product.  In the current situation of obesity where brands have to take care of the world health, Pepsi is taking advantage.

Coca-Cola had one step ahead with the “stevia” including in some drinks of the group as Nestea, Sprite or Fanta but never integrated in the cola. Too dangerous for the taste where the sales issues are big.

Pepsi as a « new » challenger tried something without taking any risk for sales. The Pepsi Next could become the new fashionable recipe and the singer Beyonce as new world ambassador for the brand could be the good bet to explode sales.

Quentin F.

Source: http://www.challenges.fr/entreprise/20130228.CHA6844/pepsi-relance-la-guerre-avec-coca-en-france-en-troquant-l-aspartame-contre-la-stevia-et-une-pub-avec-beyonce.html

When Pepsi tackles Coke for Halloween

At the occasion of Halloween, Pepsi decided to remain to people its positioning on the soda’s market and especially compared to its main competitor: Coke.

Therefore, the brand made the Buzz by posting on its facebook page the following ad…!

This small buzz shows quite well how Pepsi currently tries to maintain its position over the soda’s market and how it meets the 4C’s of positioning:

First C: Competitiveness -> Pepsi has clearly managed to show who was its main competitor on the soda’s market (everybody would have understood),  Coke.

Second C: Credibility -> By managing to do the Buzz on the social networks, Pepsi has then also achieved to install a real credibility over its consumers and fans by showing than its brand is better and more powerful than its competitor’s.

Third C: Consistency -> By using a worldwide known event, Halloween, to promote its brand, Pepsi met the consistency factor required for a good positioning.

Last C: Clarity -> By making fun of its main competitor and showing that Coke is going to scare people for Halloween, when Pepsi is not, the brand is really clear about its positioning and its place compared to Coke.

This advertising campaign was a real good idea to promote its brand……..

……….however, Coke followers/ fans have made much better by responding to this ad and making much more humor than Pepsi.

Indeed, a Belgian company has used the same image but the following slogan: “Everybody wants to become a hero!” in response to Pepsi attack.    

      

Clearly, even if it is not the official publicists of Coke who made this ad, it well shows that Coke has such a success as a lovemarks that its customers fight for it at the first occasion.

Coke then remains the main actor on the Soda war and especially the more powerful actor versus Pepsi!!

http://www.sudinfo.be/852731/article/fun/tendances/2013-11-06/pepsi-attaque-coca-cola-a-l-occasion-de-halloween-la-replique-de-coca-etait-un-f

Written by : ChachaF

Coke is sharing Happiness…

Coke recently launched a huge campaign in France: Share a Coke. Present on TV, radio, print, social networks and activated through all the partnerships, this 360° campaign is also the longer one. Coming from a successful idea by Ogilvy in Australia, this campaign follows the Coke’s DNA: sharing a moment of happiness.

Definition of Happiness for the Coca-Cole Company is: “anything that can bring a smile to someone’s face”, then being creative and innovative to push people sharing a moment of happiness, this is the mission of The Coca-Cola Company advertising departments all over the world and, thanks to examples below; we can tell they are quite successful.

Indeed, proposing a screen only turning on when the crowd is noisy (South America, 2013), surprising people with free samples and gifts by pushing a “magic” button on a Coca-Cola truck (Brazil, 2013), making the world sing happy birthday to you (USA, 2013), gathering people around a meal because it is not part of the culture (Romania, 2013), explaining how the world can be small thanks to beautiful printed campaign (Australia, 2013) or sharing a coke with friends, neighbours or family (Australia, 2012 – France, 2013 – UK, 2013 – Benelux, 2013 – Sweden, 2013) is a non-exhaustive list of different campaign we can observe around the world.

All videos are available if you click on websites links at the end of the article.

–        No noise, no match! (South-America, 2011)

–        Share a Coke (Australia, 2012)

–        Share a Coke (France, 2013)

–        Happiness army mission (Brazil, 2013)

–        Happiness truck & store (Brazil, 2013)

–        Open birthday happiness (USA, 2013)

–        The social robot (Israel, 2013)

–        #LetsEatTogether (Romania, 2013)

–        Small World (Australia, 2013)

–        Coca zero in the plane (Spain, 2013)

That is why; Coke is the 9^th best lovemark brand behind Apple, Google, Moleskine or even Vin Diesel according to lovemarks.com.  Thanks to its heavy past, this company has built a strong network and owns a huge community of fans, followers, likers, YouTube subscribers and so on…

You probably think the mission of Coca-Cola is completely fulfilled when you observe those few creative and well-known campaign. But do you know that Coke is going further by taking care of human health. Even if this company is frequently accused of taking part in the obesity process, we also can observe they are trying to warn people about health issues:

–        Cigarette addiction (Bulgaria: 2013):

–        Weight problems (Brazil, 2013):

Then Coke is the brand of happiness, the brand bringing lights and smiles to faces. But what about the competitors, what are they doing to counter this huge and worldwide strategy? To be continued…

Alex Q

http://www.lovemarks.com/index.php?pageID=20015&additions=1&require=200

https://www.facebook.com/cocacola?fref=ts

http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/index.php?s=coca-cola

http://us.coca-cola.com/happiness/how-to-be-happy/

http://publigeekaire.com/2011/02/coca-cola-happiness-truck-store/

http://www.marketing-alternatif.com/?s=coca-cola

When Coke reinvents the image of Santa Claus

Coke has clearly managed successfully to hit people in their emotions by using a strong symbol that everybody knows: Santa Claus!

Indeed, by using a new image of Santa Claus for one of its Christmas advertising campaign in 1931, Coke has reinvented the image of Santa Claus, which is now the main image in people’s mind and therefore, used everywhere in other marketing concepts ( clothes, Christmas events, movies, books, etc)!!

Coke managed to show, by associating its brand to Santa Claus, that its product can be drunk in all seasons and that fresh drinks are not only made to be drunk during hot weather. People now surely associate the “live positively” slogan of Coke in their mind by thinking to Santa Claus. A quite big marketing strategy has been implemented by the brand about this Christmas concept, and Coke has also launched specific Christmas bottles to promote its brand.

To fight this huge and great advertising concept, Pepsi has launched the Summer Santa Claus, that you will see drinking a can of PEPSI  in a flower shirt , on a sunny beach, symbol of vacations. This strategy must have been quite useful to put in people’s mind the “new generation” slogan of the brand and to fight the classical vision of Coke.

Then, who is your favorite Santa Claus?

War score:

Coke=+1

Pepsi=0

Sources:

http://mthollywood.blogspot.fr/2012/12/yes-virginia-coca-cola-had-hand-in.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2009931/Pepsis-new-advert-steals-Santa-Coca-Cola-cola-wars-hot-up.html

Written by ChachaF

Coca Cola and Pepsi History:

Over a century, this Cola war has been a scenario of different strategies that developed a very interesting case of study for marketing experts, due to a constant innovation and sometimes aggressive behavior towards brand building. Pepsi, a brand that suffered twice a bankruptcy but has made enormous efforts to keep standing, making some important decisions such as expanding their portfolio in the food industry allying with Frito Lay, has become Coca Cola’s main competitor and is now positioned as the world’s fourth-largest food and beverage company[1]. Both brands have established a differentiated brand image that is well-known around the world but making evident their rivalry.

Between 1910 and 1930, Pepsi suffers two bankruptcies but keeps on the game, while Coke keeps gaining market and spreading to new horizons. Both brands change owners. In 1916 Coca Cola designed its famous bottle to keep it save from copies[2]

Coca Cola keeps growing, entering to new continents. Both brands expand their media investments and try to enforce their link with consumers through a national spirit after the WWII.

Coke enlarges his portfolio by acquiring Minute Maid and launching Sprite. Pepsi gets more active in terms of campaigns, obtaining a more notorious positioning.

Pepsi and Coke incursion in the Diet Drinks market. Pepsi buys Mountain Dew and merges with Frito Lay, bringing up a new diverse company, acquiring more strength opening operations in Eastern Europe and Japan. Coca‑Cola’ advertising was consolidated in 1970, giving the image of a brand related to fun, friends and good time[3].

After this, numerous campaigns have been done by both brands. Most of the time Pepsi appears to attack Coca Cola in their commercials and Coca Cola started to respond at him, making more interesting this Cola War. Usually their advertising is supported by famous people. One campaign that had a big impact was The Pepsi Challenge in 1975, where two cups with no brand were presented to people to taste them and tell which one they preferred. At the end it showed that most of the people liked better Pepsi. This move brought a positive impact in Pepsi’s Market Share, affecting Coke[4].

In 1981 Coca Cola Company had a new CEO named Roberto Goizueta, who developed Diet Coke and it was an immediate hit. However, in 1985 he decided to bring a new taste to the regular Coke, it was commonly called the New Coke that was very successful in taste tests but in the reality it was a failure and they were forced to bring again their original recipe as Coca Cola Classic[5].

Since the 90’s, their story has been framed in developing new markets and brands, most of the time through merges and strengthening their different concepts: Pepsi as a “New Generation” and Coca Cola as “Live Positively”.

Source: http://www.cnntees.com/infographics/coke-vs-pepsi-the-cola-wars/, retrieved on November 12^th 2013

Posted by: Carolina Castellanos

---

[1] PepsiCo, 2005. The Pepsi-Cola Story. http://www.pepsi.com/PepsiLegacy_Book.pdf. Retrieved 12th of November 2013

[2] The Coca Cola Company, 2010. History of Coca‑Cola: 1905-1918, Safeguarding the Brand. http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/history-of-coca-cola-1905-1918.html

[3] The Coca Cola Company, 2010. History of Coca‑Cola: 1960-1981, A world of customers. http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/history-of-coca-cola-1960-1981.html

[4] Buckland, J. 2011. World’s Best Ad Campaigns: The Pepsi Challenge. http://money.ca.msn.com/investing/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=27797509&page=3, retrieved on November 12^th 2013

[5] The Coca Cola Company, 2010. History of Coca‑Cola: 1982-1989 – Diet Coke and New Coke. http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/history-of-coca-cola-1982-1989.html

Let’s fight !

In the darkness, a war is running. The Cola’s market shares war.
Let’s try to identify attacks from the main enemies : Coke & Pepsi.