SUBMITTED TO MR.

ADNAN HUSSAIN (BRANDS MANAGEMENT)

Brands Management
Report Pt. 3
Brand Personality : Coca - Cola
Submitted by: Aimen Imran, Sehar Salman Adil, Sindhya Kirshan, Sumayyah Khan and Syed
Labib Iqbal

Part three of the on-going report/presentation on Coca-Cola. Contains information pertaining

to brand personality and other related aspects.
About the Brand Personality
One of the most valuable brands in the world, Coca-Cola stands for more than just a
carbonated drink. Competing in a market where significant differentiation of product (taste
is, after all, a subjective phenomenon) wasn’t available for cola manufacturers, Coca-Cola
and Pepsi along with other players like Dr. Pepper decided to create an emotional value of
the brand rather than simply focus on the functional benefits of it. Interestingly, both Coca-
Cola and Pepsi started off as health tonics [ CITATION Jos10 \l 1033 ]; in later years, they
adopted an approach to marketing which would allow them to not have overlapping value
propositions. Coca-Cola positioned itself as a feel-good beverage with a focus on joy and
happiness for all ages and generations while Pepsi tried to market itself as the ‘hip and cool
drink’ for youngsters.

Why?
Why then did Coca-Cola embrace this personality and position itself in this manner?

It makes sense when we understand that Coca-Cola, founded in 1892, was the pioneer in
the cola industry and has been one of the very few brands in the world that have turned
into a global power-house while still remaining icons of a certain culture i.e. Coca-Cola and
Levi Strauss turned into iconic symbols for the ‘American dream’; they permeated every
facet of the American culture and garnered a demand in the global marketplace [ CITATION
GoeLe \l 1033 ]

Therefore, with this rich heritage as a valuable asset for the company, it made sense for
Coca-Cola to position itself as the authentic and reliable brand for all ages. The values that
were picked out by the company’s strategy team were that of joy and happiness; two values
that are consistent the world over.

What and How?

How then was Coca-Cola able to embrace the personality attributes that allow us to
associate the words authentic and reliable amongst many others with it? What are the
separate aspects of the brand personality scale and how well does Coca-Cola rank on each
of them?
Brand Personality Scale
Aspects Score

Sincerity 5-Classic, Ageless, Happy, Friendly, Original, All-American, Family Oriented

Excitement 4.5-Innovative (Vending machine, Bow ad), Imaginative, Adventurous and Caring

Competence 5-Trustworthy, Leader, Confident,

Sophistication 4 – For Everyone, Not Pretentious

Ruggedness 3 - No Nonsense, Not Athletic

Brand as a Person
Coke Pepsi

Age 21-25 18-20

Gender Male Male

Income Millionaire Relatively less money than

Coke

Children 1-2 Unmarried – 0

Education Graduated High School, Bachelors

Occupation Professor- serving the society through education, is happy, has time for his Musician, Philanthropy
family

Hobby Music , Spending time with family, picnics Sports, Music

Brand as a Destination/Animal/Car
Coca-Cola Pepsi

Destination Venice or Paris – History, Las Vegas/California – Fun,

Heritage Energetic, Sporty, Young

Animal Elephant – Happy, Reliable, Dolphin – Fun-loving, ‘Cool’

Stable

Car Mercedes – Reliable, Lamborghini – Sporty,

Comfortable, Safe, For All Young, Impulsive, Slightly
Ages Reckless
Brand Personality Drivers
Coca-Cola was able to create this ‘personality’ for itself through a variety of tools that are
necessary for any brand.

Product-Related Drivers
The Product Category: The creator of the Cola industry, Coca-Cola enjoys a special and
prominent place in the industry and will forever be remembered as the pioneer brand
when it comes to Colas.

The Packaging: Coca-Cola’s unique contour bottle is associated with the brand and is one
of the most impressive assets that the company has. The bottle is shaped in such a way that
even if it is broken into many different pieces, it will always be recognizable as the ‘Coke
bottle’ [ CITATION Mar08 \l 1033 ]. Apart from that, the typeface used in the logo and the
trademarked red colour used as the corporate colours of the company are all major parts
that contribute towards the brand personality.

Other Drivers
The Stories/Heritage: Coca-Cola reinforced its history through its stories; an American
dream of rags-to-riches where an inventor was able to create one of the largest brands in
the world. Known as one of the symbols and cornerstones of American consumerism.

The Organization: The culture of the parent company Coca-Cola and its actions have
heavily impacted the perception of the brand by the everyday consumer. With uniquely
adventurous marketing campaigns, the everyday consumer identifies the brand as a playful
yet authentic brand that cares about the world and its consumers.

Below-The-Line Tools: Perhaps the most impactful tool in the Coca-Cola arsenal has been
the daring use of BTL campaigns that have reinforced the brand essence of joy and
happiness. For instance:

 Interactive Vending Machines between Pakistan and India [ CITATION

Dai24 \l 1033 ] : With relationships between the two countries being
tumultuous at best, Coca-Cola installed two interactive vending machines in
shopping malls in Lahore, Pakistan and New Delhi, India. With video-
facilities, Coca-Cola asked the people of the countries to settle their
differences and ‘make friends across the border’ before sharing a Coca-Cola.
 The campaign resonates strongly with the ‘spread happiness’ essence of the
Coca-Cola brand.
 Coca-Cola’s Happiness Machines [ CITATION Dav13 \l 1033 ] : Classic Coke
vending machines that hand out treats to visitors. There have been several
variations on the theme in this campaign; while some vending machines dish
out freebies to all visitors, others are activated by certain actions such as
‘hugging the machine’ (Singapore) or ‘dancing’ (Belgium).
 Share a Coke Campaign [ CITATION Dav13 \l 1033 ]: One of the most
successful of all Coke campaigns, the Share-a-Coke campaign actually
resulted in a 7% increase in sales for the company. While in some countries it
gave people the chance to order customized Coca Cola bottles, in other
countries the labelling was changed to include the most common names of
the country. The brand asked consumers to simply ‘share a Coke’ with those
they cared about.

Functional vs. Relationship Model vs. Self Expression Model

It can be argued that while the main crux of the Coke value proposition is in its emotional
benefits and its relationship with its customers, recent health awareness campaigns have
also had it to focus on the functional benefits as well.

While the overall essence of the Coca-Cola brand is an emotional relationship with its
consumers with the feel-good factor and the entire old fashioned, genuine family-oriented
aspects that customers relate it to, it has also had to come up with ways in which to defend
the product from pressure groups. For instance, the Diet Coke (the fourth largest brand of
the Coca-Cola Company following Coke, Sprite and Fanta) was launched with some
functional benefits such as less sugar and calories etc. According to a press clipping on
company’s website [ CITATION Coc07 \l 1033 ]:

Diet Coke Plus’ will have all the great taste and refreshment of ‘diet Coke’, but with the added
benefit of vitamins for consumers’ vitality and wellbeing and antioxidants to help consumers
keep up with today’s hectic lifestyle ...
Coca-Cola’s move to switch to Aspartame as an alternative to sugar for low-calorie and
sugar-free beverages has been questioned by critics. The Coke campaign had its roots in
functional benefits as can be seen expressed in this print ad [ CITATION AdW13 \l 1033 ]:

This print ad was titled ‘quality products you can feel good about’ which shows the overlap
in the value proposition between the functional and emotional benefits that are employed
by the brand.

The self-expression model could be seen in use in the ‘share-a-coke’ campaign when
customers could choose to share pictures of bottles with their names on it across different
social-media platforms with the #shareacoke hashtag trending worldwide on Twitter.
Customers got to gain awareness, likes and shares on various platforms and therefore were
able to achieve ‘self-expressive’ benefits.

While all models can be applied to certain extent to the brand, it is perhaps the relationship
model that is the most relevant to the Coca-Cola example.
 BRAND PERSONALITY
Relationship Model:
Family-Oriented
Self-Expression Model: Old Fashioned
Functional Benefit Representation Model:
Feel Good Authentic
Pioneer in the Cola industry
Share Happiness Genuine
Global Brand
Spread Love Accesible
Caring
Loyalty

A Mistake
Now ubiquitously known as one of the largest failures in marketing witnessed in recent
times, Coca-Cola’s ‘New Coke’ campaign can be said to be a lesson in the importance of
brand personality. While most critics argue that this marketing mistake was easily
preventable, others argue that it was a marketing ploy to drive home the importance of
‘Classic Coke’.

In the 1980s, two decades after Pepsi had repositioned itself as a ‘youth brand’, Coca-Cola
kept on losing market share. The reason was two-fold; Pepsi’s aggressive campaign that
involved signing up celebrities and taking on the world by storm in their ‘Pepsi Challenge’.
The second reason was the introduction of products like Diet Coke that had reduced the
size of the sugared-soft drink category. In 1983, Diet Coke was third in position behind
Coke and Pepsi [ CITATION Mat03 \l 1033 ].

With people favouring the taste of Pepsi in blind-taste tests, the company decided to alter
the formula of Coke. Blind taste tests confirmed that the new and altered formula was
preferred over that of Pepsi and Classic Coke, the Coca-Cola Company launched ‘New Coke’.
Despite the success of the taste tests, it quickly became apparent that sales were declining
and people were, not only indifferent but aggressively against the brand. Why was this so?
It can perhaps best be understood in the words of the CCO of the company, David Keough
who admitted:

While Coca-Cola had attributed all its failure to its product, it had failed to realize the
importance of Coca-Cola the brand. As has been mentioned before, Coca-Cola was the
pioneer in the cola industry and as such had always maintained its stance as the original
and authentic cola. The word ‘new’ was simply not one that was used by consumers when
referring to Coca-Cola. Referred to by William Allen White (Pulitzer Prize winning editor)
as ‘the sublimated essence of all America stands for – a decent thing, honestly made,
universally distributed and conscientiously improved with the years’, the New Coke was also
a cognitively dissonant message for the consumers according to Al Ries who said that it ‘if
Coca-Cola stood for the ‘real thing’, then there could be no ‘New Coke’ for that is like saying
there is a ‘New God’’. Classic Coke was re-launched amidst much publicity and Coke, once
again, returned to its position as the market leader. The company realized that the brand
was more than just the product.

The lessons that were taken from New Coke are summarized in as Brand Failures
[ CITATION Mat03 \l 1033 ]:

 Concentrate on brand’s perception

 Don’t clone your rivals
 Feel the love
 Don’t be scared to take a U-Turn
 Do the right-market research
References
AdWeek. (2013, August 14). Coca-Cola Ad Defends Aspartame Beverage giant continues push
back against health concerns . Retrieved November 12, 2013, from AdWeek:
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/coca-cola-ad-defends-aspartame-
151845

Coca Cola Company. (2007, July 30). Diet Coke drinkers to get more from their favorite no-
sugar soft drink. Retrieved November 12, 2013, from Coca Cola: http://www.coca-
cola.co.uk/press-centre/2007/july/diet_coke_drinkers_get_more.html

Daily Mail. (24 , May 2013). Daily Mail. Retrieved November 11, 2013, from Mail Online :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330315/Coca-Cola-unites-enemies-India-
Pakistan-interactive-vending-machines-encourage-users-countries-make-friend.html

Goethe Institut. (-, - -). Levi Strauss. Retrieved November 11, 2013, from Goethe Institut:
http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/lp/kul/mag/deu/saf/his/en1603674.htm

Haig, M. (2003). Brand Failures. London: Kogan-Page.

Lindstrom, M. (2008). Buy-ology. Crown Publishing.

Moth, D. (2013, August 5). 10 Inspiring Digital Media Campaigns from Coca-Cola. Retrieved
November 12, 2013, from Eco Consultancy: http://econsultancy.com/pk/blog/63175-10-
inspiring-digital-marketing-campaigns-from-coca-cola

Palamino, J. ( 2010, August 25). Value Prop. Retrieved November 12, 2013, from Value
Prop: http://www.valueprop.com/blog/2010/08/avoid-the-overlapping-value-
proposition/