c cÊ




Now a day people are more concern about the heath than it was before. Due to this
concern people tend to evaluate different ingredients associated with the food they consume.
Though the consumption of soft drinks has been increased at the same time people consider
the health issues while choosing different brands. ³An ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure´ is a well known proverb. Today, man is constantly exposed to a variety of toxic
chemicals primarily due to changes in life style. The food we eat, the water we drink, the air
we breathe, and the environment we live in are contaminated with toxic xenobiotics
(manmade compounds) (Xavier et al., 2004). A large number of conventional soft drinks
cause dental enamel erosion (Jandt, 2006). Soft drink-induced demineralization of dental
enamel has increased sharply over the last decades and is a major cause of tooth decay in the
younger age group. Trends in beverage consumption have changed during the past five
decades. The proportion of persons of all ages consuming soft drinks, the portion sizes and
the number of servings have all increased (Nielsen and Popkin, 2004). In the United States
alone, the per capita consumption of soft drinks increased from 11 gallons/year to 49
gallons/year. Soft drink consumption in children has increased by 48% in 1998 compared to
1977 (French et al., 2003). Soft drink consumption among children in the age group of 9-16
years has been found to be associated with an increased incidence of wrist and forearm
fractures (Ma and Jones, 2004). Heavy consumption of soft drinks has also been implicated
as one among the many risk factors for cancer. Changing life style, including the nutrition
(soft drinks) at pubertal stage may be one of the factors for the development of breast cancer
(Vandeloo et al., 2007). Recent studies have shown that the consumption of soft drinks, and
sweetened fruit soups are positively associated with a greater risk of pancreatic cancer
(Larsson et al., 2006).

r


c Ê Xavier, R., Rekha, K. and Thiyagar, N. 2004. Farmers and formulations - Rural health
perspective. Medical Journal of Malaysia.

 Ê Jandt, K.D. 2006. Probing the future in functional soft drinks on nanometer scale
towards tooth friendly soft drinks. Trends in Food Science and Technology,
ÿ Ê Nielsen, S.J. and Popkin, B.M. 2004. Changes in beverage intake between 1977 to
2001. American Journal of Preventive Medicine,
¦ Ê French, S.A., Lin, B.H. and Guthrie, J.F. 2003.National trends in soft drink
consumption among children and adolescents age 6 to 17 years. Prevalence, amounts,
and sources, 1977/ 1978 to 1997/1998. Journal of American Dietetic Association,
ü Ê Ma, D. and Jones, G. 2004. Soft drinks and milk\ consumption, physical activity, bone
mass, and upper limb fractures in children: A population based case control study.
Calcified Tissue International,
Ô Ê Vandeloo, M.J., Bruckers, L.M. and Janssens, J.P.2007. Effects of life style on the
onset of puberty as determinant for breast cancer. European Journal of Cancer
Prevention,
 Ñ Ê Larsson, S.C., Bergkvist, L. and Wolk, A. 2006. Consumption of sugar and sugar-
sweetened foods and the risk of pancreatic cancer in a prospective study. American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition,

All this factors made the soft drinks manufacturers to introduce more health conscious
movement into the market. Diet, herbal, green products are some of the initiatives.
Organization like Coca cola¶s environmental initiative. The Coca-Cola system strives to
reduce environmental impact in all aspects of its business operations in order to leave our
irreplaceable nature and resources to posterity through the sustainable growth of its business.
With development of the next generation in mind, it also pays particular attention to
providing environmental education and raising environmental awareness through a wide
range of activities for young people and local communities.
c Ê 


c  cÊ 

The Coca-Cola Company is a beverage retailer, manufacturer and marketer of non-

alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship
product Coca-Cola, invented by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in 1886. The Coca-
Cola¶s formula and brand was bought in 1889 by Asa Candler who incorporated The
Coca-Cola Company in 1892. Besides its namesake Coca-Cola beverage, Coca-Cola
currently offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries or territories and serves 1.6
billion servings each day. The company operates a franchised distribution system dating
from 1889 where The Coca-Cola Company only produces syrup concentrate which is
then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold an exclusive territory. The
Coca-Cola Company owns its anchor bottler in North America, Coca-Cola
Refreshments

The Coca-Cola Company offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries, besides
its namesake Coca-Cola beverage. Tab was Coca-Cola's first attempt to develop a diet
soft drink, using saccharin as a sugar substitute. Introduced in 1963, the product is still
sold today, however its sales have dwindled since the introduction of Diet Coke. The
Coca-Cola Company also produces a number of other soft drinks including Fanta
(introduced circa 1941) and Sprite. Fanta's origins date back to World War II when Max
Keith, who managed Coca-Cola's operations in Germany during the war, wanted to make
money from Nazi Germany but did not want the negative publicity. Keith resorted to
producing a different soft drink, Fanta, which proved to be a hit, and when Coke took
over again after the war, it adopted the Fanta brand as well. The German Fanta Klare
Zitrone ("Clear Lemon Fanta") variety became Sprite, another of the company's
bestsellers and its response to 7 Up.
Coca-Cola South Africa also released Valpre Bottled "still" and "sparkling" water.
During the 1990s, the company responded to the growing consumer interest in healthy
beverages by introducing several new non-carbonated beverage brands. These included
Minute Maid Juices to Go, Powerade sports beverage, flavored tea Nestea (in a joint
venture with Nestle), Fruitopia fruit drink and Dasani water, among others. In 2001,
Minute Maid division launched the Simply Orange brand of juices including orange
juice.

In 2004, perhaps in response to the burgeoning reputation of low-carbohydrate diets

such as the Atkins Diet, Coca-Cola declared its aim to expand and sell a low-
carbohydrate substitute to Coke Classic, dubbed C2 Cola. C2 includes a mixture of high
fructose corn syrup, aspartame, sucralose, and Acesulfame potassium. C2 is developed to
further closely emulate the taste of Coca-Cola Classic. Even with less than half of the
food energy and carbohydrates of standard soft drinks, C2 is not a substitute for zero-
calorie soft drinks such as Diet Coke. C2 went on sale in the U.S. on June 11, 2004, and
in Canada in August 2004. C2's future is tentative due to disappointing sales. Coca-Cola
is the best-selling soft drink in most of the countries, and was known as the number one
global brand in 2010.While the Middle East is one of the only regions in the world where
Coca-Cola is not the number one soda drink, Coca-Cola however holds almost 25%
market share (to Pepsi's 75%) and had double-digit growth in 2003. Similarly, in
Scotland, where the locally produced Irn-Bru was once more popular, 2005 figures show
that both Coca-Cola and Diet Coke now outperform Irn-Bru. In Peru, the native Inca
Kola has been more popular than Coca-Cola, which prompted Coca-Cola to enter in
negotiations with the soft drink's company and buy 50% of its stakes. In Japan, the best
selling soft drink is not cola, as (canned) tea and coffee are more popular. As such, the
Coca-Cola Company's bestselling brand there is not Coca-Cola, but Georgia. Some claim
Coke is less popular in India due to suspicions regarding the health standards of the
drink.

The formula for Coca-Cola, perhaps the company's most closely guarded secret, was
never in jeopardy. Instead, the information was related to a new beverage in
development. Coca-Cola executives authenticated that the documents were applicable
and proprietary. The company has declared a new "negative calorie" green tea drink,
Enviga, in 2006, together with trying coffee retail concepts Far Coast and Chaqwa.

On May 25, 2007, Coca-Cola declared it would acquire Glaceau, a producer of

flavored vitamin-added drinks (vitamin water), flavored waters, and energy drinks, for
$4.1 billion in cash.

On September 3, 2008, Coca-Cola declared its intent to make cash offers to acquire
China Huiyuan Juice Group Limited (which has a 42% share of the Chinese pure fruit
juice market for US$2.4bn (HK$12.20 per share). China's ministry of commerce
obstructed the deal on March 18, 2009, arguing that the deal would harm small local
juice companies, could have derived up juice market prices and limited consumers¶
choices.

In October 2009, Coca-Cola disclosed its new 90-calorie mini can that holds 7.5 fluid
ounces. The first shipments were anticipated to reach the New York City and
Washington D.C. markets in December 2009 and nationwide by March 2010.

Cola-Cola runs a soft drink themed tourist attraction in downtown Atlanta, Ga; named
the "World of Coca-Cola" is a multi-storied exhibition of the many flavors sold by the
company as well as a museum to the history of the company.

A summary of The Coca-Cola Company is given below:

 ’

 

Type Public (NYSE: KO)

Dow Jones Industrial Average Component
Industry Beverage
Founded 1892
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Area served Worldwide
Key people Muhtar Kent (Chairman and CEO)
Products Ê Coca-Cola
Ê Carbonated Soft Drinks
Ê Water
Ê Other Non-alcoholic beverages
Revenue US$35.119 billion (2010)
Operating income US$8.449 billion (2010)
Net income US$11.809 billion (2010)
Total assets US$72.921 billion (2010)
Total equity US$31.317 billion (2010)
Employees 139,600 (2010)

c  Ê  

The formula for Pepsi, the soft drink, was first formulated in the 1890s by a New
Bern, North Carolina pharmacist and industrialist, Caleb Bradham, who named it
"Pepsi-Cola" in 1898. As the cola developed in reputation, he formed the Pepsi-Cola
Company in 1902 and registered a patent for his formula in 1903. The Pepsi-Cola
Company was first incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1919. Possession of this
company traded hands several times throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and in the early
1960s its product line enlarged with the making of Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew.
Separately, the Frito Company and H.W. Lay & Company - two American potato and
corn chip snack manufacturers - started working together in 1945 with a contract
allowing H.W. Lay to allocate Fritos in the Southeastern United States. The
companies amalgamated to become Frito-Lay, Inc. in 1961. In 1965, the Pepsi-Cola
Company merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. to become PepsiCo, Inc., the company it is
recognized now. At the time of its establishment, PepsiCo was incorporated in the
state of Delaware and headquartered in Manhattan, New York. The company's
headquarters were repositioned to its still-current place of Purchase, New York in
1970, and in 1986 PepsiCo was reincorporated in the state of North Carolina.

PepsiCo¶s product mix as of 2009 (based on worldwide net revenue) consists of 63

percent foods, and 37 percent beverages. On a worldwide basis, the company¶s
existing products lines contain several hundred brands that in 2009 were estimated to
have produced approximately $108 billion in cumulative annual retail sales. The
primary classifier of companies' main brands within the food and beverage industry
are those which produce annual sales exceeding $1 billion, and 19 of PepsiCo's
brands met this description as of 2009: Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Lay's, Gatorade,
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Donald M. Kendall

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Worldwide
 
 

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Ê Pepsi

Ê Diet Pepsi
Ê Mountain Dew
Ê Aquafina
Ê Sierra Mist
Ê Lipton Teas
Ê 7up (outside the U.S.)
Ê Mirinda
Ê Tropicana Products
Ê Naked Juice
Ê Gatorade
Ê Quaker Oats Company
Ê Lay's
Ê Doritos
Ê Cheetos
Ê Walkers snack foods
Ê Fritos
Ê Tostitos
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US$43.23 billion (FY 2009)
  


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285,000 (2010)
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PepsiCo Americas Foods; PepsiCo
Americas Beverages; PepsiCo Europe;
PepsiCo Asia, Middle East & Africa

c ÿ Ê  



  
 

Brands are the most strategic powerful weapons which if handled correctly and managed
sensibly, can provide their owners with considerable rewards. Globally reputed brand
like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Guinness, Nestle, Marceedes-Benz, BSN, Benetton, Tesco made a
significant level of investment to enhance the brand equity. For example, most of the
world drink Coca-Cola when in terms of taste and look and experience there may be little
to choose from between it and a dozen other colas. The reason is the mix of tangible and
intangibles factors that combine to make Coca-Cola special in the eye of consumers.
 The situation for both Coke and Pepsi, are trying to gain market share in this beverage
market, which is valued at over $30 billion a year. The facts are that each company is
coming up with new products and ideas in order to increase their market share. The
creativity and effectiveness of each company's marketing strategy will ultimately
determine the winner with respect to sales, profits, and customer loyalty. Not only are
these two companies constructing new ways to sell Coke and Pepsi, but they are also
thinking of ways in which to increase market share in other beverage categories.
Although the goal of both companies is exactly the same, the two companies rely on
somewhat different marketing strategies. Pepsi has always taken the lead in developing
new products, but Coke soon learned their lesson and started to do the same. Coke hired
marketing executives with good track records. Coke also implemented cross training of
managers so it would be more difficult for cliques to form within the company. On the
other hand, Pepsi has always taken more risks, acted rapidly, and was always developing
new advertising ideas. Both companies have also relied on finding new markets,
especially in foreign countries. In the foreign markets, Coke has been more successful
than Pepsi. For example, in Eastern Europe, Pepsi has relied on a barter system that
proved to fail. However, in certain countries that allow direct comparison, Pepsi has
beaten Coke. In foreign markets, both companies have followed the marketing concept
by offering products that meet local consumer needs in order to gain market share.

Both of these products Diet Coke and Pepsi have a significant influence by the mother
brand Coke and Pepsi. There would be other factor like: taste, availability, packaging
which drive the customer for the purchase decision will also be captured in this study.

c ¦
  
 
  

After a long discussion with my supervisor and keep in mind about my favourite field
in international business and also with the help of three academic books and some journals I
have chosen a topic on two global reputed brand-Coke and Pepsi. And my topic sentence is:

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Academic education is not enough to build student confidence; research gives a practical
knowledge of the real world. The main purpose of research is to find whether diet version of
Coca-Cola and Pepsi affect its mother band. We also try to find out whether it helps the
companies to increase its market share.

c Ô
r  
#$   

The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of

scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and
which has not been discovered as yet. Each research study has its own specific purpose, and
overall a brief idea about that research is general objective.

c Ô c
 
#$   

Identify and compare the level of customer perception towards Diet Coke and Pepsi.

c Ô 

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#$   

Ê
~Ê Identify how much influence of the mother brand on these product purchase decision.
~Ê Identify other factors that contribute to the positive and negative perception among
the consumer.

c Ñ
r  
 

The research paradigms are universally recognized scientific achievements that for a
time provide model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners. It provides the
frameworks made of acceptable methods, theories and means of data collection. It is of two
types: the positivistic referred to as the quantitative and phenomenological, also known

c &
  

Research methodology refers to the whole approach used in the research process, and
according to ½ 
 !) ³the analysis of, and rational for the particular method
used in a given study´. It is of two types.
According to "#

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the quantitative approach which was generalizes data
obtained from a given observation. The other is qualitative approach which
The qualitative approach is vital for in-depth knowledge of phenomenology, and helps to
facilitate accuracy of data.


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c Ê Jankowicz A.D. (2005), Business Research Projects (4th Edition), Thomson Learning,
Singapore.

2.Ê Albrow. M (1996), The global Age, Cambridge: Polity press

c '
  
#
 

The study will only consider the walk in customer in side shop but there are lot of
potential outside of shop who might have different view. So it will not be covered under this
study.

 c
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r  

In today¶s world, the biggest distinction between two products is the brands that represent
them. So what is brand? Brand is an identity of particular product, service or business. A
brand can be a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. Brand works as an image in
the customer minds. It is the unique characteristic that helps to differentiate a particular
product or services from the competitors¶ product or services. Sometimes brand becomes a
name of a particular product line. According to the  
 )
  , ³a
brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify
the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of
competition.´

Now a day, brands are the most important asset in any business. Most of the products and
services on the market have to compete with similar products and services manufactured by
other brands, there are only a few aspects that typically help to differentiate the two brand¶s
products. These include the price and quality of the product, and any unique characteristics of
the product. However, when these characteristics are too similar to differentiate, it is the
brand itself that helps to determine which product or service will be chosen. According to
Amazon CEO Jim Bezos, ³A brand is what people say about you when you leave the room´

Customer based definition of brand says about the measurement of financial approach.
Financial approach measure brand value is additional cash flows created by the brand. This
additional cash flows that amount which customers are willing to pay for buy a specific brand
product than a competitors, even the another brand are cheaper K*(!'
#

r
 Ê Kapferer (2004), The New Strategic Brand Management (1st ed), Kogan Page India,
New Delhi.

So a brand is thus a product or services that add dimensions that differentiate it in some way
from other products or services designed to satisfy the same needs. These differences may be
functional, rational or emotional or intangible related to what the brand represents. Brand
concept must identify customer interests and life styles. The purpose of brand is a great deal
of attention on its marketing activity which regarding designers, graphic consumers could
expect from it.
So, Branding is when that idea or image is marketed so that it is recognizable by more and
more people, and identified with a certain service or product when there are many other
companies offering the same service or product# +(
,
$%%-', ³Branding is an important
part of Internet commerce, as branding allows companies to build their reputations as well as
expand beyond the original product and service, and add to the revenue generated by the
original brand.

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Bennett, R (1998)  
 )
(2nd edn.) Kogan Page Limited, London

 

è 
(
  is also a way to build an important company asset, which
is a good reputation. Whether a company has no reputation, or a less than stellar reputation,
branding can help change that. Branding can build an expectation about the company services
or products, and can encourage the company to maintain that expectation, or exceed them,
bringing better products and services to the market place #"  )#
.
$'# So all together, branding doesn¶t means just only giving a brand name showing to the
outside world that such a product or service has been stamped with the mark and imprint of
an organization, rather than its requires a long-term corporate involvement, a high increasing
level of resources and skills +(
½#(/'#

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1.Ê è 
, Advanced Topics in Global Information Management, Idea Group Inc(IGI).
2.Ê Bell, J.,(2003) Doing your Research Project(3rd ed), Open university press, McGraw-
Hill house ,

 


Brand is the most powerful weapon for any company to sustain in the highly competitive
marketplace. Powerful brands like Pepsi and Coca cola give the hardest effort to maintain
their brand equity into the marketplace. Established in 1886 and 1889, Coca-Cola and Pepsi
Co., respectively, were among the first soft drinks invented and their popularity grew rapidly.
In may 1886, Coca-Cola was offered to the public for the first time at Jacob¶s Pharmacy in
Atlanta, Georgia. The price was five cent a glass. At virtually the same time the Government
of France made a gift to the USA of the statue of Liberty, a symbol which was become one of
the most powerful icons of American culture. Indeed, many of the qualities associated with
the statue of Liberty such as freedom, democracy, equality and a new beginning, are all
qualities that have come too to be linked with Coca-Cola. How appropriate that Coca-Cola
celebrated its 100th birthday at the same time as Statue of Liberty.

Coca-Cola is now into in its second century of life. We all know that all products have to pass
through four stages of its life cycle: Introductory, Growth, Maturity, decline. But wonder
about Coca-Cola which is celebrating near 125 year still being introduced in many countries
and growing like anything in the existing market. The daily consumption of Coca-Cola is
more than half a billion throughout the world and it is increasing in every seconds.

To maintain brand loyalty consistently internationally, Coca-Cola focused local culture, value
and market trends. In USA Coca-Cola means symbol of freedom and liberty but not exactly
the same positioning in UK or some other part of the Europe. In UK it means more fun loving
and joyful experience.

Pepsi's positioning as "The Choice of a New Generation.". During the 1990s, a "second cola
war" was reported in the United Kingdom. This time it was due to the launch of Virgin Cola,
as well as Sainsbury's store brand Classic Cola, which, unlike most store brand colas, was
designed to look like a top product worthy of competition. For a few years both colas were
competitive with Coca-Cola and Pepsi; at one point Coca-Cola even sued Sainsbury's
claiming the design of the Classic Cola can was too similar to Coke's.

 ÿ

#$   

It is hard to determine the brand objective needed by brand management. The management
must have to identify what are the objectives that hope to achieve with their brand  0

$%%'#
Company¶s brand should be comprised of the company personality, image, core
competencies and characteristics. The impressions that products or services make as well as
the words people will use to describe your company to others, are the basic framework of
your brand. With a strong brand Company can build credibility, have more influence on
market, and motivate customers and clients to purchase the company¶s product. Through this
company can be a leader of the market.

r

 0
$%%',Managing cultural differences: global leadership strategies for the 21st
century(7th ed), Butterworth-Heinemann.

To determine a brand objectives have to ask them self the following question:

~Ê What is it that the company wants their brand to do for company?

~Ê What does the company want others to know and say about their products or services?

Brand objective can be set through following steps:

ÊÊ



Ê
   Ê

Ê
Ê

Ê
   Ê
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 ¦
  

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! 

Brand equity is the added value endowed to product and services. According to Aaker (1991)
³The brand equity as a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to
brand that adds or detracts
the product or service value based on the
customers¶ perspectives´. This value may be
expressed through how consumers think,
feel and act according to the brand that consumers
had perceive from
marketing programme. Brand equity is an important intangible asset that
has
psychological and financial value to the firm. The value of brand equity depends on the
number of same people who buy regularly .The brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand
perceived quality are essential to maintain the brand equity. There are two different
perspectives of brand equity; financial and customer based. The first perspective evaluates
the asset value of a brand name that creates to the business. Brand equity increased the
discounted future cash flows and revenue comparing to the same product did not have the
brand name. The premise of customer-based brand equity models is that the influence of
brand lies in what customers have reacted, seen, read, heard, learned, thought and felt about
the brand over time. The power of brand lies in the minds of existing or prospective
customers and what they have experienced directly and indirectly about the brand. The
customer-based brand equity finally drives the financial return to the company. So creating a
new brand equity in the market and sustaining the brand for a long time depends on following
a step procedure. (*#1#(!'# +0 0
#
#() Since at one point they were all
necessarily new, so it can be a question what the established brand have or have done that the
others don¶t have or have not done.

r


c Ê David A. Aaker (1991). Managing brand equity

capitalizing on the value of a brand
name, (1st edition). Free press publications.

2.Ê Kapferer,2004, Schlegelmilch, B.B.,(2001), Global Marketing Management: a

European prospective, Pearson Education.
3.Ê Bhikhu C. P.,(2002),Rethinking multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and political
theory, Harvard University Press.

The brand equity chain is given below:

Brand Brand Brand Value

Description Strength

Feldwick (1996) simplifies the variety of approaches, by providing a classification of the

different meanings of brand equity as:

a)Ê the total value of a brand as a separable asset ± when it is sold, or included on a

Balance sheet;
 b)Ê a measure of the strength of consumers' attachment to a brand;
c)Ê a description of the associations and beliefs the consumer has about the brand.

r
 Feldwick. Paul (1996), À



2+
13 24(
Journal of brand

management.

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By following the subsequent step a brand can be built:

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Before building a brand, company should analyze what is that needs to achieve for the target
customers and how it affects their lives. Where company stands and what is company¶s
current position in the market. Company should identify the target market and identify its
preferences and interests. It is crucial to know opinions of customers as well as employees
about the business. Find out what is customer perception about the company, what is the first
thing that comes to their mind when the brand is mentioned to them. Are they aware of the
services company offers and do they trust company, product or service? Such research will
later help in forming the basis of company¶s brand message.

 ü 


   
Company should know what its competitors are doing and what are their strengths and
weaknesses. How its brand is different from its competitors and what is its brand¶s position as
compared to them. Find out what its competitors are missing and what it can do to achieve it.

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"


)

Once company defines its current status as well as that of its competitors, it can start
defining its goals. it should have a clear idea of what do it aspire its business to become.
Define its goals on a timeline, divide its plans in phases and set targets with deadlines. While
setting up goals, one shouldn¶t forget to keep them relevant to consumer needs and
preference.

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  *

(

This is one of the most important parts of Brand Building. All major brands have unique
visual and verbal identities such as logos, fonts, slogans, etc. Design every aspect of
company¶s brand and make sure that they match each other. This will help create a
personality that encompasses all the characteristics the brand is supposed to have.

 ü ü
 



 Register company¶s brand in the key market it is entering. Measures should be taken to
prevent its brand from being confused with other similar brands as it can result in loss of
business. Hire a good lawyer to help the company with legal formalities.

 ü Ô
"   

 
!+  

Establish company¶s brand with strategic thinking and careful use of resources like SEM,
PR, online advertising, blogs, influential advisers and strategic email campaigns. The brand
experience totally depends upon how consistently the company presents its brand. It should
be instilled into all its products and services; and at every customer touch point. Customer¶s
notion of its brand is formed with their first experience with the company, products or
services. Every customer interaction is a chance to enrich the brand.

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!

% 

Evaluate performance of the company¶s staff from time to time. Hire a third party
quality analysis team to keep a track of the quality of its products and services. Provide its
clients with feedback forms after every project. Request feedback from its customers and find
out if its products and services are meeting its expectations. Add feedback form to its
website. The company can also carry out surveys to find out any change in customer
preferences.

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!+ 



Offer new products and services from time to time to keep the company¶s brand
relevant to the target audience. Modify looks visual and verbal identities to relate to changing
needs of the consumer. However, make sure that the brand message is delivered consistently.
If the company is introducing a new product or service which doesn¶t lie under its brand
values, it should launch a separate brand for it.

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There is some key requirement for launching a new brand. To paraphrase  )
$%5/), the
best way for a new brand to succeed is to act like an old brand. In other word, instead of
worrying about how to launch new brands, we had better think about how we might invent an
established brand. Looking at things in this way, though, is not at all common practice at
present: launching a new product is still confused with launching a new brand, + (
6#
#

$%%'#

r


c Ê King, G., Keohane, O.R., Verba, S., (1973), Designing Social Inquiry, Princeton
University Press.
 Ê Blair, G. M. (1992). Racism And Education(1 st ed), Sage Publications Ltd.


Launching a brand and launching a product are not the same. Marketing books devote
chapters to the definition of new product, but none to the launching of new brands. Except for
an infrequent word or two on how to choose the name of a new product. This confusion
between product and brand is a continuing problem. Most famous brands, rich a meaning and
values, started out as the ordinary names of innovative products or services, different from
those of competitor 0 
##
$%%5). These names were generally randomly chosen,
without any former chosen, without any prior study or analysis: Coca-cola reflected the
contents of the new product; Mercedes was the name of Mr Daimler¶s daughter; Citroen was
a family name (
7
-'. The new product had to be given a new name so that it
could be advertise. Advertising, the advantages of the new product as well as the
reimbursement which consumers could expect from it *#1#(
!'

r


1.Ê Chismall P.M. (1997) ³Marketing Research´ (5th ed), New York, Mcgraw Hill
2.Ê Deresky, H (2008)  
), (6th edn.) Pearson Education, Inc.,
New Jersey
3.Ê Kapferer,2004, Schlegelmilch, B.B.,(2001), Global Marketing Management: a
European prospective, Pearson Education.

A successful launch requires that the new brand be treated as a real brand, right from very
start not as a more product name offered in advertising. Launching a new brand means
acting before the product name becomes a brand symbol, with a much broader and deeper
meaning than before. Modern management must show result a lot sooner. From the very
beginning, the new bran must be considered in full, i.e. ending it with both functional and
non-functional ethics. Creating a brand means acting straightaway as if it is a well established
brand, rich in meaning. This entails a few fundamental principles.

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#

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Brand your company as a quality leader and a quality competitor in your industry. If you
create a quality product for a rational price, the margins tend to be larger, producing more
money toward investigate and development, training and attractive the product. The risk in
setting them self up as the low-cost leader is that products emphasizing the low-price feature
tend to have short product life cycles. "(
#(5', ³When you get into that game,
one starts continuously having to fend off other lower-priced, lower-quality competitors
coming into the marketplace(
À8
½###($).  says. ³It tends to often spin
down on itself and it can force you in tom a corner´

r


 c Ê Denscombe, M., 2007, The Good research guide: for small-scale social research
project(3rd ed), Open University Press.
 Ê Warren J.et.al.,(2001) , Riding the waves of culture(2 nd ed), McGraw-Hill
Professional.

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r!’!
r "
.r! !%%

When someone says MP3 player, what¶s the first thing that comes to mind? iPod. Coffee?
Starbucks. When any product is brought up, the top three brands typically come to mind.
³You want your brand to be there,´ says . 6 (
$%%'# For a small business, that means
making sure to goal customer base and niche market. The product might not become a
household name, but if selling gelato to all the high-end restaurants in town, they are hitting
on market. It should keep in mind that mass advertising might not work for business. For
small businesses, its best taken contact with customers 60(
#(
$%%-).

r


1.Ê Gill, Mayor, Blair (1992). Racism And Education(1 st ed), Sage Publications Ltd,
2.Ê Gareth, M., 1998, Images of Organization, Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

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)!’
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’!"

What is brand? What is its personality? Whatever product, it should be different from what¶s
out there. It should have its own unique set of associations. For example, Chevy trucks have
been marketed as a working man¶s truck. ³People get to know your brand like a friend,´

says. Position of brand as being a little that is fun; make it an experience. It should be
the brand people want to take to a party can vouch for it, don¶t have to worry about its
appearance and it is going to have a good time with everybody 7 (

$%%!'.

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1. Hill, C (1994)  
+  , Irwin, Illinois

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Once get customers connected with the product, need to keep them. maintain good customer
relations management is vital. Always strive to get the same value without paying more.
Listen to feedback from customers. Make loyalty programs, like a club card, or offer
discounts to frequent shoppers. Loyalty can be gained by knowing customers. In the past,
people would go to their local butcher and he would make suggestions based on preferences
and past purchases (Kapferer.Et.al,2004).Pitch discounts and ideas to customers that are
relevant to their needs. ³It¶s better than just mass marketing, where one size fits all,´ Alden
says.
r

Kapferer,2004, Schlegelmilch, B.B.,(2001), Global Marketing Management: a European
prospective, Pearson Education.

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r!% %

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Expand brand into corresponding categories. If company makes sneakers, athletic shirts and
shorts would be a sensible brand expansion, but putting out computer software under the
same brand would be too far success. ³That¶s where companies get into trouble,´ Alden says.
³They assume that their equity, their franchise is a much stronger force in the marketplace
than it may be and they dilute the value of their home brand, the one that got them there."
(è##($%--'

r

Fraser.et.al,1988, Researching and writing a dissertation: a guidebook for business
students(2nd ed), Pearson Education

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The UK soft drinks market rose overall by 1.7 per cent in 2009, according to figures in the
+  0
9*
 
  : 2010 UK Soft Drinks Report. The two previous years had
seen slight falls, so this is a welcome return to growth. Total amount of soft drinks
consumption was 14,140 million litres, or 229.1 litres per person, with a retail value of
£13.224 billion. Bottled water consumption grew by 1.7 per cent to 2,090 million litres, or
33.9 litres per person. Carbonates built on their growth in 2008 with further growth in 2009
of 2.2 per cent, to 6,065 million litres, or 98.3 litres per person.Consumption of dilutables
grew by 3.1 per cent to 3,350 million litres, or 54.3 litres per person. Fruit juices and
smoothies, on the other hand, saw a volume decline of 3.1 per cent, while still and juice
drinks rose by 0.7 per cent.Sports and energy drinks continued to grow in popularity, with
consumption up 5 per cent.

According to the BSDA director general Jill Ardagh ³Our industry¶s success is based on its
plans for the future, investing in new products, new ways of working and in the skills of its
people. In more ways than one, the soft drinks industry plays a role in the life of the nation.´
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Coca-Cola and Pepsi appeal to different people, because consumers are being satisfied with
these through different ways. Obviously, both please the physiological, utilitarian need thirst,
but marketers of both companies have seek to formulate cola a product that also meets higher
level needs such as hedonic needs, ego needs and self-actualization.
They endeavor to make
consumers believe that drinking their product involves a reviving, exiting familiarity in a way
that is only satisfied with their product. Think for example of Coca-Cola¶s advertisements in
which people who drink Coca-Cola are considered as ³being cool´. Pepsi tries to reach
consumers by providing the concept of stressing out the relaxing experience of drinking
Pepsi. Also, Pepsi's commercial of Diet Pepsi truck uses the principle of trustworthiness to
show how Pepsi satisfies the need of Ego. Both companies target the higher level needs in
order to build brand loyalty for ensuring consistent sells.

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As stated before, the incentive of people to purchase cola depends on how strong they
consider about fulfilling their needs and wants. This also has influence on their participation
with the product. Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi have strong campaigns to boost the inspiration
and participation with their product.

Pepsi recently had a commercial campaign accompanied by iPod Mini, in which they offered
free iTunes songs and free iPod minis. While listening to music is a form of entertainment,
this campaign attaches to the existing brand identity of Pepsi. Moreover, the campaign joins
consumers' appeal in music and soft drinks. It persuades people who have an iPod and to
people who enjoy music. By co-branding, Pepsi raises the motivation of consumers to get the
product, in order to get the free songs and free iPod Mini. Also, iPod is a high participation
with product, so co-branding will increase consumers' involvement with Pepsi.

The Coca-Cola Company arranged a ³Fire-passing´ activity to pass the fire of the Olympic
Games, in preparation of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Not only can this increase the
brand awareness of Coca-Cola in China as new market, it can also enhance the participation
of consumer from a low one to a high one, making them to believe like Coca-Cola being a
part of their daily lives. This will increase their inspiration to get Coca-Cola.

Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola have expended a lot of money on commercials, these form the
knowledge of consumers towards the brands. At the same time, the advertisement campaigns
raise consumers' awareness of what the two brands give, rather than the actual products.
These campaigns first increase consumers' inspiration to purchase the products and hence,
increase consumers' participation with the products.

 Ñ  ÿ

  

In an oligopolistic market such as the cola market, in which the two main rivals offer similar
products, it is very important to draw the concentration of consumers in order to make them
purchase the product. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Inc use good methods to ensure their
products are noticed.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi use bright and vivid colors for their packaging and their logos to attract
the attention of consumers. Through the enormous exposure of these logos to consumers,
people recognize these logos and associate these colors with these brands. For Coca-Cola this
is the color red and for Pepsi the color blue. This association makes sure their products are
stored in the long term memory of consumers.

Pepsi and Coca-Cola both use celebrities to draw the attention of consumers. Think for
example of Beyonce, Britney Speares and Christina Aguilera who have participated in
advertisements of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. By demonstrating that these celebrities drink their
product and are willing to advocate it, they hope to influence people to purchase thei r
product. Also, they offered saving campaigns, where consumers could get points when they
bought their products. With these points, consumers could get discount for CD of the famous
singers who participated in the commercials. These campaigns caused repeated purchases of
the same brand and hopefully created brand loyalty.

 Ñ  ¦
  



In order to form brand awareness and loyalty, it is very vital for a company to make certain
that their product is stored in consumers¶ the long term memory. Coca-Cola and Pepsi use
effectual techniques to attain successful long term memory storage.

Coca-Cola applies a lot of jingles and songs in their advertisements. Through the application
of classical conditioning they try to make linkage their product with these jingles and songs.
Think for example of the Chihuahua song. Because the song was used in an advertisement of
Coca-Cola, people related to this song with Coca-Cola. Every time they heard this song on
TV or the radio they were remembered of Coca-Cola. This is a very smart but also cheap way
of advertising, because the classical conditioning will remind a though of Coca-Cola even
through when this is not even the intention and through this repetition the product is stored in
the long term memory of consumers.

Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola attract consumers a lot to their brands. Through sponsoring of big
events and organizing very intensive campaigns, they repeatedly create awareness of their
products. This way their products are put in the long term memories of consumers.

 Ñ  ü
  

In order to increase sales, Coca-Cola and Pepsi use different practices to persuade people to
purchase their product.

By making light variants of their products and associating their brands with activities like
sports, Coca-Cola and Pepsi try to take away the approach-avoidance conflict people can
have towards their products. They try to reduce the unhealthy features of their products. This
way they expect to influence more people to purchase their products.

Especially Coca-Cola uses vicarious reinforcement. It shows pleased and laughing people in
their commercials when they drink Coca-Cola. These people are served as models for
consumers. If consumers believe the models' happy and fun moment as being caused by
Coca-Cola, they are persuaded to buy Coca-Cola too. This way Coca-Cola tries to convimce
people to purchase their product.

 Ñ  Ô
 

# 

Coca-Cola and Pepsi endeavor to appeal to diverse subcultures by stressing out diverse
values. The values that Coca-Cola desires to stress are family, friendship, happiness, exercise,
and being cool. Their product appeals therefore to a broad range of people. It is a product for
everyone, every time, everywhere. For Pepsi these values are enjoyment, relaxing and
energy. Pepsi appeals more to young, active and sportive people. Although these values are
somewhat different, they are all western values, so will appeal more to western cultures. To
also reach consumers in non-western cultures and countries, both companies make different
advertisements campaigns for these regions.

Appealing to the local cultures is a very efficient way to gain sells. For example, in the
Chinese market, Pepsi is more successful because it associates itself with the local pop stars
and the pop culture. By using the source credibility techniques, it creates the image that Pepsi
is following the culture of youth.

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" 

1
r 


The diet soda does not contain the same amount of dissolved solids as the regular soda. This
is an excellent way of introducing the concept of density. Note that one packet of NutraSweet
is equal in sweetness to about three packets of sugar and the NutraSweet weighs less. Thus
the regular soft drink has more material, the soft drink ingredients and sugar, dissolved in a
certain amount of liquid (the carbonated water) than the diet soft drink. This can be
demonstrated by dissolving one packet of NutraSweet and three packets of sugar in separate
containers with measured amounts of water and measuring the volume increase along with
changes in weight. This experiment is an excellent way of introducing the concept of density.

Introducing diet versions are very time relevant decisions made by coke and Pepsi. Now a
day doctors prescribe people to avoid sugar because it causes several diseases like diabetics,
hypertension, heart diseases etc. Besides people become health conscious now-a-day. They
want to avoid product with heavy sugar. Cola is a product contained heavy sugar. So it is
very much unhygienic for health. For that many people discharge cola. But diet cola is the
cola of those kinds of person who dislike cola with heavy sugar. So it is ultimately very much
beneficial to Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. It will increase the market shares of Coca-Cola and
PepsiCo. Though there is a chance to reduce the market share of regular cola because of diet
cola but it ultimately increase the market share of both company.

 '
’
#
  

  


The battle for a split of the consumer's money and cut throat competition for every bit of
market space has resulted in search for a dominant weapon that delivers continuing
competitive differentiation. In the launch itself it is of great weight to quote Philip Kotler,
marketing spiritual leader about his perception on brands, "Branding is expensive and time
consuming and it can make or break a product." But even then, today, branding is such a
powerful strength that rarely anything goes unbranded. No one had thought that products like
"flour", & "Rice" would be branded. Today, one does not go to the shop and ask for just a
particular product. He will apply the brand name. These brands have turned into part of our
everyday life. Expanding of an effective brand allows the organization to create a
distinguishing existence in the market and compete more effectively by leveraging its
organizational strengths. In the current competitive market, brands are termed as an
intangible asset that can be revenue generating in the long run.

Distributors and retailers demand branded products because brands help to handle the product
easily, hold production to certain quality standards, strengthen buyer favorites, stimulate
recur purchases, eases promotion efforts, makes it easier to recognize suppliers and steadies
market share. On the other hand, consumers wish branded products because it provides them
a promise of quality, distinguish from competitive products and assist them in efficient
shopping. That is why, Philip Kotler has said, " Developing a successful brand creates
customer loyalty through the provision of added value, for which the customer is prepared to
pay premium price, and which the competition find difficult to copy."

Today all most all the markets are saturated with competitors and offerings. Even in this
market, marketers can differentiate between different age segment, income segment,
preference segment, beauty conscious segment and so on. They can build a niche offering for
a very special group but this may not lead to large turnovers & resultant earnings.
Alternatively, if we target the mass market, we find it hard to identify the better-quality
offering. Therefore the challenge for the mass marketer is to develop a strong, famous brand
focusing on what everyone desires.

In branding there are two intense errors. One is to make a fixed brand image to be used all
over without exception. The other is to modify the meaning of the brand in every market.
Like McDonalds doesn't consider in a strong fixed positioning. McDonalds initiates different
meanings in different countries. It offers different versions even in different places within
each country. McDonald is a global brand which is on hand globally but marketed locally.
Although consumers are aware that it is a global brand but when companies make it a global
brand, the customer feel close and creates a sense of belongingness, and it is this, rather than
its universal accessibility, that improves its equity. It is truly said that "a brand is said to have
qualities, an emotional tie to the customer that grows out of the apparent characteristics."

Again, according to the maturity of the product, geographical markets and the brand itself,
the brand image should take different image. The companies require continuously evaluate
the brand position otherwise they run the risk of seeing their brands degenerate into mere
supplies that customers buy for need fulfillment. Brand upgrading is essential for products
reaching the maturity stage. Companies need to periodically review their brands strengths and
weaknesses and modify if necessary. Brands need to be repositioned with the change of
customer preferences and entry of new customers.

Any newcomer, who is entering the market, should not be a copycat but should classify the
week points of the existing brands or something which is missing from the market and try to
penetrate the untapped market. They should be able to offer a combination of quality,
reliability, availability and low price. The most winning strategy for branding is "define a
target audience and direct a superior offering (vs. competitor) at that target market."
The brand managers are nowadays facing the double challenges of localization versus
globalization and individualization versus homogenization. They should be very aware of the
environment while making decision about whether, when, where and how to globalize or
localize the brand. The most exclusive skill required in a brand manger is to create, maintain,
protect and improve its brands. He has to be able to create a product difference, real or
symbolic. Although this tactical task is completed by the brand managers, but in reality the
ultimate success of brands will depend on everyone in the company accepting and living the
brand's value proposition.

Promotional advertising is an essential part to market strategy. In recent years, digital media
has captured a larger portion of those budgets. Pepsi and Coca-Cola have both stepped up
their online efforts to include social media.

The techniques in which each brand amalgamates social media efforts with promotional
advertising and public relations become a lot about the personality of the company and its
culture.

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’
 
  

Of the two gigantic beverage brands, Pepsi is the one that seems to have had the greater
uniqueness of transformation, although, seen side by side, they seem to have borrowed
significantly from each other. Pepsi¶s logo is considered to have changed more vividly over
the years. Thanks to brand new, we can see how the earlier chart that was making the rounds
spoke to perception.

Pepsi¶s greatest challenge turns out to be the recent decision to divert promotional advertising
budgets to a grant that each month funds ideas. The refreshing everything project has
predictably attracted much commentary in social media. The way it works is we can submit
an idea that will have a positive impact, or vote for one. The blog associated with the project
refreshes the news aspect and is created with the intent to personalize it and build community.

 ' 

  

 

No reason to panic. The only one change they made to their formula is potentially one of
perception from medicinal beverage to recreational drink. While rumors that the company
used to put real coke in it seem to be still holding true, the quantity we¶re talking about seems
to be still quite small to make a big fuss over it 125 years later.

In the promotions department, coke¶s Super Bowl spot contained charitable elements and was
tied to a social media campaign that pledged $500,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of America.
The company¶s biggest buzz so far, in addition to its popular Facebook page, is its new social
media policy. Keep in mind that this is for 1 million associates in 206 countries. It¶s a feat of
simplicity.
Coca Cola¶s new online social media principles classify three hierarchical levels of
responsibility for its workforce: assigned subject matter experts; social media certified
spokespersons; and everyone else. Those not certified as spokespersons may not speak on
behalf of the company. Certified spokespeople may speak in the company¶s name but must
refer difficult situations to subject matter experts. The principles apply to all employees but
only appear to provide complete guidance to non-certified employees.

Coca-cola mixes many social media outposts and searches on its site. The most amazing
feature of what the company is doing though is not on the communication end of things ² it
is on the product redesign side. If branding is portioned in this new reality, companies can
and must create a central tools that is once specific and flexible, one that can apply all over
the world keeping its focus on customers.

Butler (the man who is redesigning Coke) did just that at Coke by making the company
understand design on purpose ² to create value for the business through design and drive
sales. Before it can correspond to the world, a brand needs to be lined up internally, work as a
structure, think about durability and cut through the image clutter with identities that state its
core essence. Coke is focusing more on how the product is delivered, packaged and
experienced across the globe. Including how the company¶s associates talk about the brand in
social networks.

The company is also focusing more on the customer with its happiness theme. Neither
Atlanta-based interactive agency Definition 6 nor Coca-Cola pushed the production with a
publicity campaign. They let the brand¶s considerable fan base find the video and share it on
their own.

2.9.3 Growth through Accessible Consumers:

The first source of growth is to be found among the existing customers of the brand. There
are growth opportunities to be searched, evaluated and exploited. This is too often overlooked
by managers who wish to move rapidly to some hot brand extension.

  

 
  is an effective strategy of brand growth through existing
customers. Brand management over time is the permanent recreation of growth. One way of
achieving this is to move from a pattern of low- volume use to a pattern of potentially higher-
volume use 
-'. For example, Bailey¶s Irish Cream- a worldwide sprits brand
created in 1974- suffered from a serious limitation to its growth. Its expenditure was highly
personalised, and sales mostly took the form of Christmas and New Year presents. A major
campaign was thus launched around the concept of Bailey¶s n ice. The creative idea was to
communicate how the sensuousness of Bailey¶s allowed you to connect your friends and
family ½('. The intension was to promote groups of people to drink Bailey¶s on the
rocks. A creative media campaign backed this new positioning, exploring how to link the
brand to the key sensual moments in the media for example, Bailey¶s sponsored 9;

0

 #

r


1.Ê Kevin Lane Keller (2008) Strategic Brand Management(3rd ed), Pearson Education,
New Jersy.
2.Ê Jaynes, G.D.,(2000), Immigration and race: new challenges for American democracy,
Yale University Press

  

#
  

# 

  
is another market growth
strategy. Branding is too obsessed by image, and not obsessed enough by usage. Even though
Coca-Cola is held up as the paragon of good brand management, if we are honest we have to
acknowledge that it took almost a century for its managers to address perhaps the most
important reason for its non-consumption: it is supposed as an unhealthy drink containing too
much sugar. Certainly the Coca-Cola Company has realised the growth of fitness and health
as purchase motivations, in a country where baby boomers were aged. It launched Tab in
1963, just after Diet Royal Crown Cola and Just before /diet Pepsi. However, Diet Coke easy
launched as late as 1983. It soon becomes the leader in its category, and what the company
calls µthe world¶s second soft drink¶. Later would come caffeine-free Coke, caffeine-free Diet
Coke Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Coke and Lemon. Each of these products was an answer o
a consumer problem.

 ' ¦
)
 
 
 

  

Like it or not, every product is consumed within the particular situation. This is one of the
four specs of the positioning diamond. Customers are looking for solutions to problems
related to highly exact situations. For example, different things are expected of a car
depending on whether it is planned primarily for town use, town use plus other short trips, or
fairly long .trips. The growth of a brand is thus often a matter of tackling new situations may
well include the same customers, as it is possible for one person to consume the same product
in several different situations *(!'#

r
 Kapferer,2004, Schlegelmilch, B.B.,(2001), Global Marketing Management: a European

prospective, Pearson Education.

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)
 
 


A classic growth strategy is trading up. Customers may wish to receive an upgraded service
or product from the brand.  )($%5/' Gift packs and µspecial series¶ capitalise on collectors
motivations. Larger formats have a built-in attractiveness too.
Extending the range can also be a way to increase profitability. Thus if it costs 3 Euros to
produce a litre of three-star cognac, 4.5 Euros for a VSOP, 15 Euros for an XO and 21 Euros
for a litre of 1;
<  ;(
the customer trade-up is very profitable as consumer prices are
around the 15 euro, 30 euro , 60 euro and 150 euro mark respectively, according to the type
of cognac =(
'#

Ref:

1.Ê King, G., Keohane, O.R., Verba, S., (1973), Designing Social Inquiry, Princeton
University Press.
2.Ê Lancaster, G.(2005), Research Method in Management, Oxford,Elsevier Butterworth
Heinemann.

 ' Ô
)
 
 

When Moulinex was asked why its results were bad, executive answered that the company
had only offered 10 per cent innovation when the average in the industry was 26 per cent.
Originality source of growth and competitiveness does not come easy =($%%%'# Here
too there are no miracles. The firms that innovate most, such as Procter and Gamble, L¶Oreal
and Gillette, devote on average 3.2 per cent of their sales to research and development. Is
there a lesson here for the food companies competing against DOBs and price leaders? The
giants in the food industry spend much less in comparison on R&D 0(
!'#

r


1.Ê Lawrence J. Gitman, Carl D McDaniel ,1999, The Future of Business: The Essentials,
Harvard Business Review on Brand Management,1999,Harvard Business School
Press, USA
2.Ê Malhotra, N. K., (2004), Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation(4th ed), New
Jersey, Pearson Education Limited.

9($%%5' Innovation does not have to mean a technological breakthrough. Much

innovation can be linked to the service brought by the brand, in its packaging for example.
The one common explanation for Oasis¶ leadership over competition in the fruit drink market
is in their advertising strategy  (
'# 9($%%5' the truth is nothing of the kind.
Oasis was the first to give up glass bottles. The competitor, which had on the contrary just
invested in a new bottling plant, was wrong-footed and waited several months before carrying
out the necessary reappraisal. It was too late, allocation channels had already made their
choice and no longer wanted glass bottles that were heavy and breakable the head start that
Evian took over Context and Vital lies mostly in the micro- service which it was able to
provide the customer with first. This service, although not spectacular or linked to
advertising, allowed a gain of 0.5 per cent in market share which given the volumes involved
is gigantic  (
&'#

r


1.Ê Naylor, L.L.,1997, Cultural diversity in the United States, Greenwood Publishing
Group.
2.Ê Pinker, S., 2002, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, London,
Allen Lane/Penguin.
3.Ê Pinson, L., Jinnett, J. (2006), Step to small business start -up: everything you need to
know to turn your idea into a successful business (6 th ed), NY,Kaplan Publishing

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The research has been done in descriptive by nature, especially when it¶s area of research
need assessment. Previous chapters represent the research background and literature review
on the brand strategy. And this chapter presents the procedure of the research was conducted.
That means to outline the selected research methodology then data are gathered and analyzed,
and the results are written up and how the whole procedure, goes one after one to conduct the
study.

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Research can be defined as an exploration for knowledge for systemically investigation, with
a release mind, to institute gracious facts, usually using a scientific method. The main
purpose for crucial research is concluding, interpreting, and the development of methods and
systems for the growth of human knowledge on a wide range of scientific matters of our
world and the universe.

A research study is to find answers to a question where implies a process within a structure
of a set of philosophies, procedures, methods and techniques that have been tested to get
validity and reliability the answers of the question.

The extent to which these distinctive nesses are anticipated to be fulfilled differs from
discipline to discipline and so the meaning of µresearch¶ differs from one academic discipline
to another.

0 can be defined as an efficient and arranged process for achieving some purposes.

Methodology doesn't elucidate exact methods; nevertheless it does identify several measures
that require to be followed. These measures constitute a basic structure. They may be broken
down in sub- procedures or may be combined, or their sequence may modify. However any
action use must carry out these procedures in one type or another.

Methodology may be an elucidation of procedures. It may be expanded to cover a

philosophically rational set of theories, concepts or ideas as it relates to a particular discipline
or field of inquiry

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Here the researcher has followed a very traditional and highly structured research procedure.
At first the researcher has chosen the research topic according to his interest. And defining
research problem step the researcher has focused on customer perception towards diet coke
and diet Pepsi and also focused on the effect of the diet version to the mother brand. After
that I have compared my academic knowledge and ideas with my research topic. After that
the researcher has collected data from different customer with different age who has tested
the diet version and normal version of Coca-Cola and Pepsi through questionnaires and
finally all data were analyzed and interpreted in my dissertation. The research process steps
are given bellow:
1.Ê Formulating the Research
Problem

2. Extensive Literature Review

Ê

3. Developing the objectives

Ê

4. Preparing the Research Design

including Sample Design
Ê

5. Collecting the Data Ê

6. Analysis of Data
Ê

7. Generalization and
Interpretation
Ê

8. Preparation of the Report or

Presentation of Results-Formal
write ups of conclusions reached.

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1. Dawson, Catherine, 2002,  
,0
0(
New Delhi, UBS Publishers¶ Distributors
2. Kothari, C.R., 1985, ,0
0).
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>0 3 (
New Delhi, Wiley Eastern
Limited.
3. Kumar, Ranjit, 2005, ,0
0).
9.".9
6 
*
+) ,(2nd.ed.),
Singapore, Pearson Education.

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Objectives are the targets that set out to achieve in the study. It is really essential to word
them plainly and distinctively.

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Main objective is to identify the customer perception towards diet Coke and compare the
level of customer perception towards Diet Coke and Pepsi.

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The sub-objectives are:

~Ê Identify how much influence of the mother brand on these product purchase decision.
~Ê Identify other factors that contribute to the positive and negative perception among
the consumer.

The main objective of this study is to examine, describe and assess the level of customers¶
perception towards Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, whether the customers like the taste, package,
promotion of the diet Coke and Diet Pepsi.

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Research design is the arrangement or overall scheme of the analysis, planed to provide
answer to research question. That means it¶s a structure or total plan to get the research
findings by disciplined way. Research design can be understood broadly by the following
statement that a research plan is the sense that links the data to be collected and the
conclusion to be drawn to the initial questions of study.

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As the research will try to investigate pre-determined factors/parameter so it will be a

descriptive research which will both consider quantitative and qualitative data. In the
qualitative area the research will investigate the customer perception area and their
dominance. And in the quantitative area it will examine the frequency of responses or
feedback. At the beginning we will start with upon two predetermined hypotheses:
 ±Ê Hypothesis 1: There are mostly  
 perception towards Diet Coke
among the customer
±Ê Hypothesis 2: There are mostly )

perception towards Diet Coke
among the customer

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The sample was selected for the study by convenient method. Researcher will go for
non-probabilistic sampling to ensure the representation from all group of population.
For sampling several age group will be determined and the sampling will be done
with this plan. As it is a sampling of small unit these type of sampling will ensure the
representation.

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Under the study the customers are considered the sample unit in surroundings area of
the researchers. It is very much difficult to collect sample all over UK because of
expense and time constraints.

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Total sample size is 60. Among the total size 30 will be male and 30 will be from female
category. Three age groups will be used in each sex category like, 10-20: 10, 21-30:10 and
>30:10.

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Basically, sampling techniques can be divided by two main categories:

(a) Probability or representative sampling and
(b) Non-probability or judgmental sampling.

Probability or Representative sampling: Probability sampling is possible to make inferences

from information of the population which is selected, recognized and equal. The aim of this
kind of sampling is minimize the sampling error. We cannot say that population data and
sample data are same.

Non-probability or Judgmental sampling: This kind of sampling means that has not been
selected using a random selected method. Essentially this implies that some units in the
population are more likely to be selected than others. It is mostly use in case studies or
practice of surveying one individual organization and all data is qualitative. Three main types
of non-probability sample are: The convenience sample, The snowball sample and the quota
sample. In that case convenience sampling will be used due to the constraints.
In this study, judgmental sampling will be used. The main reason of using judgmental
sampling is to know whether the consumer perception towards Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi vary
because of age and gender.

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The data can be

a)Ê Primary Data
b)Ê Secondary Data

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There are two principal ways to collect new or primary data for marketing study by observing
people and asking them questions. The data, which is collected by the researchers themselves
through a variety of data collection methods, for example, interviews, questionnaires,
experiments, observations called primary data. Although this process is more time, resources
and effort consuming but it is more effective for answering the research question. Collecting
Primary data has two sub-categories:
(a) Quantitative data and
(b) Qualitative data.

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The form of this kind of data is numerical. This kind of data is used for establishing patterns
of behavior; in fact it is useful for identifying of conceptual issues.

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The form of this kind of data is nominal. It is used for the coded responses, elaborating
already encapsulated in the codes. Here data is analyzed by qualitatively proven

The study will ask some questions to the consumer to find both of the data. The sample
questions are:
~Ê What is the most important aspect of Diet Coke that attracts you?
~Ê Do you buy diet Coke due to the influence of Coke?
~Ê Which brand you like most: Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi?

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This kind of data was collected and published by someone else for their own purpose from
their own way. Secondary data can be collected from books, internet, journal, newspaper,
reports and government statistics, other¶s research paper, publications databases and internal
records, prospectus, company annual reports, that means this data have been collected from
any existing source that may be available in hard copy from or on internet.(Hussey, et.al,
2009, p-23 & 73)

r
 Collins, J & Hussey, R.(2003), Business Research: a practical guide for

undergraduate and post graduate students(2nd ed), New York, Palgrave MacMillan.

In this study, the researcher has used both primary and secondary data. Firstly he used
qualitative data collection method although the researcher used closed questionnaires. And
the reason behind that is the researcher wanted to explore the impact of diet brands on mother
brands and the impact between the diet versions. Asking question to the people and using
observations the researcher has discovered the real truth about what people do and what they
feel. According to Ackroyd,et.al.(1992), participant as observer means both research and the
subjects are aware of the fact that it is a fieldwork relationship. It was a great opportunity for
me being participant as observer to conduct a direct observation on my study. By this way the
researcher found some related behavior and interesting environmental conditions which is
direct related with my study. As well as the researcher used a well planned and structured
questionnaires for my study. According to Pinson et.al (2006), the most-used and most cost
effective method of gathering information on your target market is through the use of
questionnaires. So the researcher used both questionnaire and personal interview for my data
collection. On the other hand, I used a large number of secondary data sources for developing
my theory to identify and compare the level of customer perception towards Diet Coke and
Pepsi.

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Ê Ackroyd, S and Hughes, J.(1992) Data Collection in Context(2nd ed), London, Longman
Ê Pinson, L., Jinnett, J. (2006), Step to small business start-up: everything you need to know to
turn your idea into a successful business (6th ed), NY,Kaplan Publishing

For the market survey the researcher will go with semi structured questionnaire. People who
buy either of these brands will be interviewed inside of different shops. The sample will be
selected from different age and sex group to experiment whether these factors have an
influence on level of perception.

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Hypothesis is very important tool for making explanation of important phenomena. It helps
us to make important decision. It can describe any situation in a very easy way. Here we will
start with upon two predetermined hypotheses:

±Ê Hypothesis 1: There are mostly  

 perception towards Diet Coke
among the customer
 ±Ê Hypothesis 2: There are mostly  

perception towards Diet Pepsi
among the customer

As the researcher will do our entire hypothesis based on the answer given by the 60 customer
with different ages and both genders it is very much difficult to get accurate scenery based on
single dimension like taste, promotion, and package. To remove this disadvantage we will do
some sub hypothesis based on taste, promotion, health, package etc. and give specific weight

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In this stage after gathering all the data it will be analyzed based on some predetermined
formula and computer tool.

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Qualitative data will be gathered by personal interview, use the industry publication, blind
test result, market research data and other relevant data to evaluate the customer perception.

The researcher will try to find the underlying theme of the data. Then it will be matched with
those finding collected through research. All the primary and secondary data will be used in
this process.

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This type of data can be gathered using pre determined set of questions using larger sample
base. Different computer application has been used to evaluate the data and leads to the
findings.

The researcher will use statistical hypothesis testing for analyzing data. By this testing
researcher will find what is the perception level towards this particular brand and compare to
the other similar brand.

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During this stage different findings will be accumulated. Some of the examples are:

~Ê What is the comparative score of perception between these two brands?

~Ê How much psychological factors that affect the customer perception towards these
brands?
~Ê How much functional factors/attributes that affect the customer perception towards t
these brands?
 ~Ê Is there any age, sex factors effect on perception?

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This is the final process of research. After gathering all the data and analyzing it, then the
report writing will take place. At the end of report the idea for further research in this area
will be directed for the future researcher.