COKE OR PEPSI: WHAT’S YOUR CHOICE?
COKE OR PEPSI: WHAT’S YOUR CHOICE?
A refreshing, exhilarating and invigorating slurp of that delicious cold drink.
Coca-cola has manifested its expedition in the cola industry over 130 years now.
The world’s most valuable non-technology brand that has built its way from making soft drinks to bottled water, milk, juices and ice-tea coffee.
Established in 1886, currently, this conglomerate has the highest hold in the cola industry.
Ah! One needs to take a deep breath before knowing this 21 different billion-dollar brand.
In the 130-billion juices vend, Coca-cola has a market share of 31.4%
But was it easy to get Coca-cola at the customer’s tongue tip preference!
Indeed, it took Coca-cola over a decade to convert into a gigantic cola amalgam. But how did they grow to be this massive! Let’s discover the initiation phase of this beverage delicacy today. Coca-cola was invented by Dr John Pemberton, an Atlanta Pharmacist in 1885.
Mistakes often lead to masterminding and failure leads as a stepping stone towards success.
Trying to create an e-tonic, he combined the coca leaf (cocaine) along with the African cola nut, some sugar and water. Boosting the caffeine content, he aimed at selling this drink as a remedy for headache. But after research, he figured out the drink to be a source to relieve exhaustion. But as it is said, “taste matters!” The alluring taste of the drink put Dr John in an interrogative situation with respect to the mode of sales.
Sceptical about selling it as a drink or medicine, Dr John decided to sell it in both the forms. Coca-cola then got launched as a brain tonic and a cure for all nervous affections with a captivating taste with a tagline: TIRED? THEN DRINK COCA-COLA.
Customer is the king: How did they reach out to the consumers?
Coca-cola began to reach it’s consumers by their taglines, “Drink Coca-cola and enjoy it” to “Taste the feeling” from 1886 to 2020. Did maintaining consistency in sales become a barrier for Coca-cola? Coke was first sold as a syrup to pharmacies and soda fountains.
Soda Fountains back then was a hotspot from meet and greets. Apart from these, it was necessary to make the drink available to laymen as a beverage. Dr Pemberton and his partners then spent $74 on an advertisement which resulted in slow response and sales slowed down to $5o in the first year.
Seeing the situation of the product, he sold the company to Asa Candler. After Dr Pemberton’s death, Asa Candler became the sole owner of Coca-cola for $2300 dollars.
Millennials to Generation Z: Is there a change?
Candler’s promotional campaign started giving free coupons for tasting which was a break-even point which then led to boosting the sale of Coca-cola. A free sample resulted in a strong come back asking for even more cola bottles to buy. With this successful advertising campaign, it just took 3 years for Coca-cola to enter every state in The United States and later crossed the north boundaries stepping in Canada.
The Cocaine issue: What happened exactly? -
People’s perspective towards cocaine changed. But removing cocaine from the drink would create the necessity to change the name “Coca-cola.” Asa Candler decided to change the recipe wherein the smallest trace of cocaine remained. The indecisiveness still prevailed. Candler then sold the cola to companies who misused the drink and sold it under new sarcastic names. This mistake cost Asa Candler the value existence of Coca-cola.
The fixation to this issue was the creation of a trademark registered bottle structure which was a key association to the people for Coca-cola. The famous curvy glass then became the face of Coca-cola.
After the campaign, the world war phase sprouted which was an excellent opportunity for Coca-cola which Asa Candler grabbed indeed! Coca-cola was sold to the military officers for 5 cents where the company was ready to bare how much ever it costed them to sell it at a much lesser price. The sale of Coca-cola then spread from Germany to Northern Africa.
A beverage made from apple: The story of FANTA.
The world war situation prevailed in Germany. Coca-cola set up plants for production in Germany. But later on, after the war started it became difficult for the procurement of the production materials. Coca-cola then thought of bringing a new drink which could be made from the available raw materials. Was it possible?
Coca-cola introduced Fanta, the new drink made from apple leftovers and leftover liquid from milk production. After the war, coke then became the national identity of the USA.
The brand extension of Coca-cola tapped most of Europe.
Coca-cola: Monarch of the beverage industry.
Coca-cola is headed by James Quincey (Chairman & CEO) and Brian Smith (President & COO). Coca-cola has a grossing revenue of $31.85 billion dollars in 2018. The red and white Coca-cola logo is recognized by 94% of the world’s population. It is the second most recognized brand in the world after Nike.
Coca-cola is the monarch of the beverage industry and continues its supremacy by its popular cola drink.
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