Sajeel Ahmed

MBA
02-322201-027
Marketing Management
‘Cola Wars’ is a term which emerged in the US in the early 1980s. It
was coined to describe the advertising and marketing tactics of
The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo against each other.
Coca-Cola has been the dominant cola in a majority of countries, followed
by Pepsi. Both have continued to place their respective communication on
positions initially formed during their respective inceptions.
For example, Coke’s advertising has traditionally focused on
wholesomeness, nostalgia and the family as a nourishing unit.
Pepsi on the other hand, has been positioning itself as a youthful brand
that keeps up with the aesthetic and social shifts which take place with the
emergence of every new generation of young people.
COCACOLA BRANDING AND MARKETING STATEGiES:
Coca-Cola was first introduced in 1886 in the US. Its original recipe
included cocoa leaves and a small amount of cocaine. Its early
advertising claimed that the cola cured headaches and gave the
consumer a ‘slight buzz.’ It was described as a ‘brain and nerve tonic.’
In the early 1900s, when alcoholism started to emerge as a serious
problem in the US and various social groups began demanding a ban on
alcoholic beverages, Coca-Cola decided to side with the anti-alcohol lobby
(the ‘Temperance movement’).
Consequently, in 1903, Coca -Cola removed cocaine from its formula,
substituting it with caffeine. It then positioned itself as ‘The Great
National Temperance Beverage.’
During World War: II, Coca-Cola ran a series of ads which expressed
Coca-Cola as a patriotic brand which greeted Americans wherever they
went, ‘reminding them of home’.
Coca Cola’s logo largely remained the same till the 1950s when a new
fishtail logo was introduced. The logo went along for about a decade and
was later given up to adopt the new logo in the 1960s, much similar to the
modern logo. Also, Coca Cola’s much recognized red and white colour
combination was also introduced in the 1950s. In the 1960s logo, the wave
was also introduced, which stayed around for quite a while and had
become a major part of recognition for the brand.
BPEPSI BRANDING AND MARKETING STRATEGIES:
Pepsi has been positioning itself as a youthful brand that keeps up with
the aesthetic and social shifts which take place with the emergence of
every new generation of young people.
Pepsi arrived seven years later in 1893. Its recipe contained a digestive
enzyme called pepsin and kola nuts. Early Pepsi ads claimed that it
cured indigestion and was ‘healthful.’
As Coca-Cola continued to build on its wholesome image and America’s
largest-selling cola, Pepsi tried to stay in the race by keeping its price low
and offering more cola in bigger bottles. It also began to offer straws (a
new invention) with every bottle of Pepsi.
During World War: II, Pepsi claimed it provided energy to the American
war effort (because it had more calories).
Pepsi broke the taboo of directly addressing to and showing Black
Americans in it ads. Black Americans were still called Negros and
hardly had any political or civil rights
Pepsi hired American Vice-President, Richard Nixon (second-left), as its
international brand ambassador. Pepsi had asked him to somehow get
the Soviet Communist leader, Nikita Khrushchev (first-left), to take a sip
of Pepsi. Nixon managed to make Khrushchev take a sip during Nixon’s
1959 visit to Moscow. Pepsi flaunted the photo of the occasion as a
marketing coup: making a communist taste Pepsi.
When the media began to define the young people of the era as part of a
more willful generation (the We Generation), Pepsi claimed ownership
of this generation. It called it the Pepsi Generation.
Compared to Coca Cola, Pepsi went through more changes in their logo
design and their final logo looks completely different than what they had
started with. The first logo of Pepsi was introduced two years after Coca
Cola, with the name Pepsi Cola and had a very strange font in red colour.
Similar to Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola too adapted the more fun fonts with the
ribbon pattern in the same red colour. Minor changes were again made in
the logo in the year 1906 after which it stayed the same for a long time,
till the year 1940 and was again introduced with only a few changes to
the older design.