Pepsi Vs Coca Cola
Pepsi Vs Coca Cola
Pepsi Vs Coca Cola
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PEPSI VS COCA-COLA
THE COLA WARS
Beginnings
To talk of this rivalry, we have to wind the time line as far back as the early 1900s,
when Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola were constantly using advertisements to criticize
each another over which drink had the most efficacious medicinal properties. Given
that Coca-Cola initially had cocaine in the recipe, Pepsi was clearly the healthier
option.
The Pepsi Challenge
Fast-forward to 1975, when Pepsi launched what at
that time became the definitive taste test: the Pepsi
Challenge. The tests, which took place at malls and
shopping centers, saw a Pepsi representative asking
members of the general public to blind-taste the two
cola drinks Pepsi, and Coke.
Perpetually, the consequence was that most
consumers favored the taste of Pepsi. The Pepsi
Challenge had been featured prominently in many of
Pepsis TV advertisements.
Coca-Cola later decided to out-play Pepsi at its own
game, when in the year 2009 it ran a promotion
reminiscent of the Pepsi Challenge, trying to encourage consumers that its Vault
drink was superior to its competitor's Mountain Dew.
As far as 1985, the rivalry saw Coke cause controversy when it altered the formula
of its core Coca-Cola drink and retitled it as New Coke," denoting the product as
the "new taste of Coca-Cola." Research had shown this product scored higher in
taste tests than both Coke and Pepsi.
Meanwhile, Pepsi executives had managed to obtain some samples prior to the
official launch. Upon trying the new formula, they were as unenthusiastic as
consumers turned out to be. Pepsi promptly declared that it had won the cola wars
and gave all its staff a week off.
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Coke eventually switched New Coke with the initial recipe and the name Coca-Cola
Classic.
Space the final frontier
Not at ease with keeping their enmity grounded on planet
Earth, in 1985 Coke and Pepsi truly blasted off into space
onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
But in spite of special cans for zero-G and various other
technological inventions devised to enable the crew to drink
cola in space, neither product impressed the astronauts.
World Cup hijacking
There are abundant instances of Pepsi
trying to takeover Coke's FIFA World
Cup sponsorship.
In 2006, Pepsi sought to demoralize
Coca-Colas official existence at the
2006 World Cup in Germany with its
"Pepsi Max World Challenge"
campaign.
Then, in 2010, the Pepsi set out to
hijack publicity surrounding the
tournament from Coke, which was an official sponsor. Pepsi launched a global
marketing campaign featuring a charity song, "Oh Africa" in January 2010, amid
football fever for the South Africa-hosted tournament.
Its a tactic that Pepsi has carried forward. For last years tournament, Pepsi and
Coke again went face-to-face in the build-up. Coca-Cola launched the "largest
marketing program" in its history, whereas Pepsi launched a global TV campaign in
more than 100 countries, with a digital version that viewers can interact with and
gain a closer look into the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
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OVERVIEW OF PEPSICO
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational company headquarter in Purchase, New
York, United States. It is involved in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution
of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in
1965 from the merger of the carbonated soft drink producers Pepsi-Cola and snack
foods giants Frito-Lay, Inc.. This led to expansion and portfolio diversification of
PepsiCo from its existing product Pepsi to a broader range of food and beverage
brands. The diversification has been a top priority of the organisation and they have
mainly adopted the route of acquisitions to achieve their target in this aspect. Some
of the most significant events include acquisition of Tropicana in 1998, Uncle Chipps
in 2000 and Quaker Oats in 2001. PepsiCo is the second largest food and beverage
business in the world and the largest food and beverage business within North
America by net revenue. It is placed at 43rd position in the current list of The Fortune
500s list.
PepsiCo initially entered into Indian market in around 1988-89 through a joint
venture with the Punjab government-owned Punjab Agro Industrial Corporation
(PAIC) and Voltas India Limited which it bought out in 1994 owing to the
globalisation and liberalization reforms in India. From then it has grown to become
one of the largest food and beverage businesses in India. PepsiCo India offers
consumers a wide-ranging portfolio of enjoyable and wholesome products. The
major investments of PepsiCo in India have been in the areas of product innovation,
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increasing manufacturing capacity, ramping up market infrastructure and
strengthening the supply chain. The company has built an expansive beverage and
snack food business supported by around 38 beverage plants and 3 food plants. In
the 26 years of its presence in India, it has been able to organically grow eight
brands each of which generate Rs. 1000 crores or more in estimated annual retail
sales.
PepsiCo's usage of water in India has been a controversial issue since the early
2000s because of its adverse impact in places where the availability of good quality
water is already troubling. In order to improve its brand image being affected from
such issues, PepsiCo launched "positive water balance" by 2009 and focused on
replenishing the water used. In 2009 itself, the company claimed to had replenished
nearly six billion litres of water within India which is more than the aggregate water
intake of approximately five billion litres by PepsiCo's India manufacturing facilities.
This was a significant milestone as it become the first business to achieve Positive
Water Balance in the beverage world, a fact verified by Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu
India Pvt. Ltd.
The company has thus included sustainability into its operations and globally aims
at sustainable growth which is evident from their catchphrase Performance with
Purpose. The steps taken in this campaign can be categorized in 4 basic
components which include replenishing water, partnering with farmers, waste
collection & treatment and initiatives for health of children. In this regard, the
company has implemented several programmes like 'Get Active' Programme for
Children implemented in schools in collaboration with prominent NGOs, Hriday,
Swashrit and the Indian Dietetic Association; Waste to Wealth concerning the
waste management; etc.
OVERVIEW OF COCA-COLA
The Coca-Cola Company is an American historical multinational beverage
corporation and manufacturer, retailer, and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage
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1970s. Though these events are over 30 years old, they continue to provide
timeless lessons of how to think about your customers. Furthermore, while most
retailers have applied the lessons from Pepsis experience competing with CocaCola, industrial companies still have not grasped the power of these findings and
their ability to transform their ability to deliver value to customers. At the time,
Pepsi executives were certain that Coca-Colas distinctive, hour glass shaped bottle
was Cokes most important competitive advantage. Trying to compete with Cokes
bottle, Pepsi spent millions of dollars and many years studying new bottle designs,
but the companys efforts never achieved the recognition of the Coke bottle. In
dealing with this John Sculley, better known as the former chairman of Apple
Computer and Pepsis vice president of marketing at the time, decided to take a
different Approach by asking what the customer really wanted. In addition, Sculley
realized that the company did not know enough about the consumers to identify
what they really wanted, and therefore it could not conduct its marketing decision
process properly. So before he even tried to assign the bottle question to a new task
force, Sculley launched a test to study how families actually consumed Pepsi and
other soft drinks in their homes. As a result of the study, Pepsi discovered what all
marketers now recognize as a key fact about snack foodshowever much you can
persuade people to buy, thats how much theyll consume.
This helped Sculley determine that Pepsi needed to design packages that made it
easier for people to get more soft drinks into the home. Pepsi began a new
intelligence gathering stage, decided to launch a new group of larger packages, and
established new systems to learn from feedback in the stores to refine the
packaging strategy still further. The results of Pepsis changes were dramatic: CocaCola couldnt convert its famed hourglass silhouette bottle into a larger container.
Pepsis market share not only expanded dramatically, it drove the long unassailable
Coke bottle into extinction in the U.S. market.
BRAND OVERVIEW
Pepsi:
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manufacturer of Pepsi went bankrupt because of high prices of sugar because of
WWI. Capital was sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the trademark. But
unfortunately this only works one time, Pepsi fell into bankruptcy in 1931. It was
then bought by G. Guth, president of the sugar company Condo Industries. During
the economic crisis from 1936 to 1938, Pepsi's profits doubled.
Pepsi is the first U.S. product to cross the Iron Curtain and to enter Soviet territory
(1965).
In 1975 Pepsi launched the first plastic bottle of history.
And it was in 1984 that Pepsi launched the first partnership with a music star
Michael Jackson. It was the beginning of a long series of associations with
personalities of music, sport and cinema. This drink is marketed by PepsiCo.
Coca cola:
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But in 1915 the Coca-Cola Company was sold to Ernest Woodruff's group for a total
of $ 25 million. And in 1923, The Coca-Cola Company will merge with the Delaware.
In 1933 the brand launched his first ATM (Automated teller machines).
Coca-Cola group has diversified his offer, starting again after 1945 the creation of
his German subsidiary, which had become Fanta.
Followed Sprite, Minute Maid, Bonaqua, Nestea and Nalu.
It also produces a range of variants of those same products, probably to avoid the
weariness of public.
Concerning other mergers and acquisitions group:
In 1982, the company buys "Columbia Pictures Industries Inc.
And in 1986, The Coca-Cola Company merged with the franchise territories of John
T. Lupton and BCI Holding Corporation to form Coca-Cola Enterprise Inc..
The IPO (Initial public offering) of Coca Cola Enterprises Inc. happened in November
1986.
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Coke series of ads, showing people from all over the globe joining together in Coke
and song.
Moreover, Coca-Cola is available in countries all across the world. As noticed before,
its even rumored to be the most recognizable brand, logo and even word on the
planet.
When Coca-Cola isnt targeting diversity, it still has a strong sense of community
through universal similarities such as a love for Coke.
The second way that Coke has leveraged the human experience is throughout
families.
Pepsi always stayed aimed right at children but Coke seems to know that Mom are
the buyers; they played on emotions and feeling moms know and are sensitive too.
Coca Cola communicates as the product desired by the whole family and as a daily
life product.
This is more an evidence during Christmas period where families are targeted,
through for example a polar bear family.
This occurs all over Coca-Colas advertising throughout the years but is never more
evident than in Cokes Christmas ads. Whether its an endearing scene of a father
and son watching the Santa Coke truck go by or a family of polar bears consistently
being brought together by Coke, the Christmas ads are aimed right at the hearts of
American consumers.
Pepsi has always had a young target audience. Their ads were historically targeted
at teens and even pre-teens and are injected with fun, sports and most often,
music. Pepsi has leveraged all manner of musical celebrities over the years, from
Ray Charles to Britney Spears.
Here is a commercial on YouTube featuring Michael Jackson and a group of kids that
are probably far too young to legally target for such a sugary product nowadays.
BRAND MANTRAS
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-the name
-physical elements: logo, color, shape
-its identity
It defines who you are, who you want to be as well as how you are perceived. It is
important to know exactly your market and your strategy to be successful.
Coke bottle for example is red, scripted Coca Cola and is known for its Old-style
bottle. The main identity of Coca corresponds to the message they vehicle, in other
words Coke makes you happy.
Brand image
It is an important factor influencing Coca Cola sales. The brand has the privilege to
be known all around the world as they have built their image on a universal value,
happiness. The brand is perceived by consumers as a part of daily life and of their
life style. Coke is this globalized product that has the same taste customers are
looking for, and which give the same pleasure of refreshment during break together.
Brand loyalty
The brand image conveyed, the visibility and availability of products and ads, and
also the expected quality everywhere make Coca Cola one of the most bought
brand in the world. It is the most sold one.
If we take purchasing frequency in the US, figures speak for themselves: 48% of
Americans drink a soda everyday with an average of 2.6 glasses per day. When we
know that coke represents almost 50% of Soda consumption, there is no doubt that
its customers are loyal. Around the world, more than 3% of beverages consumed
are Coca Cola, that is to say 1.7 billion serving/day.
As we have noticed, it is seen as part of daily life, and we can thus say that Coke
has achieved a high level of loyalty. A recent Coca-Cola annual report reported that
the second most recognized expression in the world after ok? is Coca-Cola.
Brand equity
Because of brand extension, Coca Cola equity is difficult to measure. People
do not distinguish all brands own by the company, and might even buy without
knowing they will be drinking or eating Coca Colas product. However, the brand
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promises the same experience around the world: refreshment, fun and good times,
American lifestyle.
Moreover, Coca-Cola is recognized as the most valuable in the world by the
respected inter brand corporation valued at above US $ 67 billion , coke has
become effectively a part of modern world culture though its advertising campaign
has changed over the years, THE REAL TASTE has always stood for a REAL COLA
DRINK with authenticity. There is legitimacy recognized and appreciated by
everyone.
The identity has been built with consistent values and differentiating elements
during a decade. Despite the competition, the brand continues to be a number one
position globally in brand equity rankings.
Success of Pepsi branding strategy
Customer Desired Benefits : Pepsi has been successful in capturing the Youth
Spirit.It has also ventured out to different customer segments with different offering
for e.g. Diet Pepsi was introduced to cater to the health conscious people. Pepsis
entire Product Portfolio caters to the different customer segments.
Relevance: Its considered to be a new generation drink, the drink has managed to
grab the imagination of Teens and young Adults alike. Pepsi through the
combination of innovative ideas (like Pepsi Blue even though a failure), effective
communication and aggressive advertising has been able to stay relevant to its
customers.
Pricing: based on consumers perception of Value and on the market. Pepsi isn't on
a price war with coke in order to keep its brand equity.
Brand positioning: The brand positioning is based on its sweet sugary taste suited
for its young consumers. Thus it was able to create a Point of difference from Coca
cola.
Consistency: Pepsi has maintained continuity in its brand image and has been
consistent in its brand promise of refreshing drink for Youth. It has always depicted a
defying attitude and continued to challenge the market leader. Its campaign have
been about making a mark and proving its real benefit among young people & cool
people.
Brand Portfolio and hierarchy: All Pepsi brands cater to different market
segments and rarely cannibalize each others sales. It also gives PepsiCo optimum
market coverage as its products are diversified.
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Repertoire of marketing Activity: Pepsis Brand Elements are distinctive and the
awareness is very high. It has an extensive distribution network. Promotional
campaign have also been innovative in the usage of social media like Facebook ore
twitter.
Internal Branding: Pepsis give it brand manager the liberty to experiment ideas
to capture customers at the bottom of the pyramid. Pepsi also has predefined set of
rules that brand manager should follow which is meant to develop a sense of
ownership for the brand.
Sustainable and support marketing programs: Pepsi marketing team is
probably the most innovative when it comes to determining go to market strategy
for its product. The companys marketing expenditures are very high.
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Pepsi
Foods
PepsiCos foods division Frito-Lay is the leader in the branded salty snack market. All
its products are free of trans-fat and MSG. It manufactures Lays potato chips,
Cheetos extruded snacks, Uncle Chipps and traditional snacks under the Kurkure
and Lehar brands. The companys high-fibre breakfast cereal, Quaker Oats and lowfat and roasted snack options like Aliva increase the number of healthy choices
available to consumers.
Cheetos
Kurkure
Lays
Lehar Namkeen
Quaker Oats
Uncle Chipps
Beverages
7UP
Aquafina
Duke's
Gatorade
Mirinda
Mountain Dew
Nimbooz
Pepsi
Slice
Tropicana
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Coca- Cola Products in India
Coke
Diet Coke
Thums Up
Sprite
Limca
Maaza
Fanta
Georgia (Coffee)
Kinley (Drinking Water)
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: PEPSI
Communication Objectives:
Campaigns: PepsiCo
Pepsi:
Pepsi began with the Yehi hai Right Choice Baby campaign, which has been
one of the most memorable campaigns of the brand, featuring celebrity endorsers
such as Shah Rukh Khan among others. The focus, as is clearly evident, is on the
product with the youth as its target segment.
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Yeh Dil Mange More and Yeh Pyaas Hai Badi were some of the later
campaigns. The latest campaign Yeh Hai Youngistan Meri Jaan also targets the
youth.
Yeh Dil Mange More campaign was again a great success, having balanced
the emotional as well as the functional appeal of the product. Featuring Sachin
Tendulkar and many other leading stars at that point of time, this was also one of
the longest campaigns carried out by Pepsi. The company however failed to
maintain the trend and leverage it. Instead of moving on to a complete emotional
appeal platform, the company decided on a product based promotion campaign.
Though there is still some amount of emotional appeal to its campaigns, the
principal focus is on the product - it being a preferred thirst quencher.
7 Up:
In its early days, 7 UP inherited the global Fido-Dido campaign for promotion in India
as well. However, with changing times and a contextual difference in India, a much
more focused campaign was required. This led to the Keep It Cool campaign, which
was targeted primarily at the youth and the teenager segment. Hence the appeal
was at a more subtle, emotional level, which was meant to convey a potential
lifestyle statement. The recent campaign of Bheja Fry essentially leverages on the
same emotional appeal where the Keep It Cool campaign has been somewhat
tweaked to have a local appeal.
Mountain Dew:
Mountain Dew is the latest entrant in the product portfolio. This product too
has the appeal of being the drink of a daredevil or the No Fear personality. The
campaigns launched include Do the Dew and Darr Ke Aagey Jeet Hai. The initial
campaign was unclear in terms of its appeal and the target segment, as a result of
which the brand suffered some jolts in the beginning. However, the latest campaign
captures the No Fear or the Mach o Man image. In this sense, the brand directly
competes with Thums Up from the Coca Cola Stable.
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2007: Yeh Pyaas Hai Badi
2009: Yeh Hai Youngistaan Meri Jaan
2010: Youngistan Ka Wow
Media Selection:
IMC: COCA-COLA
Coca cola uses IMC in order to communicate with its target. Its the pioneer
company in 360 degree communications as they rapidly understood they had to get
in touch with consumers to create links & to look for them wherever they are. The
communication plan is adapted regarding the market, the society, the potential, the
product positioning etc. Coca-cola is willing to be close to its consumers, to be part
of the daily life, to become a kind of rituals attached to specific moments; for that
they use social marketing to create emotions and affiliation with consumers, e.g.
they raise funds for social causes like earthquake or hurricane. Also it always
focuses on fun & entertainment as it is the main message they want to deliver. They
adopt their message to target market based on some values: sharing happiness,
fun, tradition of coke.
Advertising:
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Company introduces different themes and concepts to sell their product and
advertises mainly in electronic media and out of home advertising.
These advertisements build brand image and create awareness. Big names of
Indian film & cricket industry mainly become the brand ambassadors of the
Company, such as Amir Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai,
Salman Khan etc.
Mediums of Advertising:
T.V Commercials:
As everybody know that TV is a most common entertaining medium so TV
commercials is one of the most attractive way of doing advertisement. So, CocaCola Company does regular TV commercials on different channels. It focuses on
both the urban as well as the rural India with its advertisements. In the summer of
2011, Coca-Cola introduced the new Brrrrr!! Ad and featured Imran Khan as the
brand ambassador. Now, they have endorsed triplet of movie Student of the Year
for their new theme Haan Mein Crazy Hoon.
Outdoor Advertising:
Coca cola is very much conscious about their billboards and hoardings. They have
so many sites in different locations for their billboards. Billboards are usually found
at cross roads, buildings, shops etc. Also in India the Coca-Cola can be seen painted
on walls, bus stands, dhabas etc. focusing in rural areas of India. It is essential to
take a note that billboards & banners, cut-out, holdings play an important role in
promotion of coca cola. This is mostly because of its unique, eye-catching red
coloured brand logo. You would never miss it.
Direct Marketing:
Coca-Cola uses direct marketing in many ways. First, the company forms
partnership with various restaurants, movie theatres, hotels etc. to carry its product.
This way, when a customer orders a drink, the only brand they are offered is CocaCola, which forces them to buy a drink from that brand. By doing this, Coke forces
out other competition, and keeps the restaurants, or other businesses, purchasing
their product over and over again e.g. McDonalds. Coca Cola also sponsors various
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sporting events in India and around the world in events like Cricket, Football, and
Motor Racing etc.
Interactive/Internet Marketing:
Coca-Cola uses the internet to promote its products. The company has its own
website, which is quite simple to navigate through. The website allows customers to
become interactive through various games, contests, shopping, and through a
special section of the website that enables consumers to find out how they can help
their community. Also in the modern era of communication and networking, the
company uses various social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to
connect with the consumers. A dedicated section is created on YouTube to see its
videos. The internet marketing thus helps to reach to those consumers who cant
afford to spend time on T.V and are always online.
THE COCA-COLA COMPANYS DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
According to official statistics, an amazing 1.9 billion products of Coca-Cola are sold
around the world every day.
The Coca-Cola Company is a global business that operates on a local scale, in every
community where they do business. The term is second most well-known after okay,
making it recognisable in nearly all communities and cultures across the globe. The
Company is able to create a global a global reach with local focus because of the
strength of its system, which comprises the Coca-Cola Company and their more
than 250 bottling partners worldwide.
The system has numerous legal and managerial departments and sections, all
independent of each other, and it does not own or control all of it bottling partners
worldwide.
While it is generally perceived that Coca-Cola runs all its operations globally it, this
process it done through various local channels. The Company manufactures and
sells concentrates, beverage bases and syrups to bottling operators. It still however,
owns the brand and is responsible for consumer brand marketing initiative. The
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bottling partners manufacture, package and distribute the final branded beverages
to customers and vending partners, who then sell products to consumers.
All bottling partners work closely with suppliers- grocery stores, restaurants,
convenience stores, amongst many others- to execute localised strategies
developed in partnership with Coca-Cola. More precisely, although Coca-Cola is a
global company, its products never have to travel far to reach the final consumer,
making the product more local than you may think, the product is made local to the
market where it is sold.
Their business is a local business, typically products arent shipped more than a few
hundred miles; its all about being responsive to the customers needs and the local
tastes of the consumers in every market. The Coca-Cola Company sells its products
to bottling and canning operations, distributers, fountain wholesalers and some
fountain retailers. They then distribute them to retail outlets, corner stores,
restaurants, petrol stations and many more.
Arrays of points of sales that Coca-Cola products can roughly be categorised into
are:
Wholesalers/ distributers
Retail/ corner stores/ super markets
Restaurants/ cafes/ night clubs
Petrol stations
Automated teller machines (AMTs)
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The firms distribution system is one of the most well planned and executed
compared to all other drinks of the same category. It has such an impact on
consumers and is so successful that even wholesalers and distributers need the
product for their business success. Cokes position on consumers mind makes it
essential to retailers and wholesalers. They have achieved their goal due to this
high visibility, and to the availability of their products all over the world, even
remote places.
PEPSICOS THREE-CHANNEL DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
Three distribution channels
PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) is a leading food and beverage company with an impressive
global presence. The companys products reach the market through the following
three channels: direct store delivery (or DSD), customer warehouse, and third-party
distributor networks. PepsiCo chooses the relevant distribution channel based on
customer needs, product characteristics, and local trade practices.
Direct store delivery
Under the DSD system, PepsiCo delivers products directly to retail stores. Of the
three channels, DSD enables PepsiCo to merchandise with maximum visibility. Its
more suitable for products that are restocked often and are sensitive to promotions
and marketing.
Customer warehouse
The customer warehouse system is a less expensive distribution channel. Its ideal
for products that are less fragile and perishable, have lower turnover, and are not
purchased impulsively.
Third-party distributor networks
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