John Pemberton introduced the Coca Cola beverage to the world in 1886.Beginning simply as a soda fountain drink, Coca Cola rose to a company that dominates the beverage industry to this day. But the real question lies in how Coke has been able to maintain its market dominance all these years. Lack of competition is certainly not the answer. Competitor companies like, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and Red Bull have been around since Coke’s conception. There has to be a reason why Coke has yet to fizzle out and remains in the forefront of the beverage competition. To approach this answer the consumer must look at how Coke has packaged its product. From the advertising campaigns to the gripping red and white logo design all the way down to that oh so addictive “secret formula”.
As consumers, companies are always battling to get us to buy their products. Like when we walk into a convenience store in hopes of quenching a thirst; we look to the refrigerated aisle where we are confronted by a multitude of beverages. The final choice is to buy the Coca Cola beverage. Ultimately this choice is determined by clever marketing. One such instance was the Project Connect campaign. Started in 2011 by Lucie Austin, the intent was to switch out the normal Coke brandings with the first name. Austin wanted to generate a reaction from the consumer when they saw their name on the product. She recalls her reaction as being “childlike” and she, “… knew many others would have the same reaction”(Moye). The success of this campaign stems from the fact that Coke did not stay stagnant in their marketing approach by just falling back on their widely known name. No. Instead, Coke approaches each of its customers with personal touches and hands the consumer a bottle with their name on it. That personal touch in particular is one of the many reasons that Project Connect has been brought to over 70 countries (Moye).
Although Project Connect was a huge success, Coke normally does not deviate far from the original Coke logo. The reason being that so much of the success that is the Coca Cola Company is because of the consistent logo. We constantly purchase products from Coke because we are so familiar and comfortable with the product they create. Andy Lynch of North Star Marketing agrees with on the idea of logo consistency. Lynch goes on to say:
For Coca-Cola maintaining “brand consistency” is a strategic commitment that is in many ways just as vital to their success as their secret formula.”
For example, one of Coke’s primary competitors, Pepsi, originally lacked that consistency. In the 1940s, Pepsi was branded as Pepsi Cola, eerily similar to that of Coca Cola. The reason being that Pepsi saw the positive effect of brand consistency and attempted to model itself after Coke. Eventually in the 1970s and on, Pepsi started to branch out and steer away from Coke because they finally realized that they had to develop their own consistent logo that was not seen as a knock off of Coke.
Pepsi’s inferiority to Coke was put on national display when Pepsi launched a campaign in the 80s. The idea of that campaign was a double-blind experiment that was to prove that Pepsi had a superior taste to Coke… or so they thought. Pepsi did succeed in proving that they had the better tasting soda, but people continued to prefer Coke to Pepsi. This is known as the “Pepsi Paradox”. In Matthew Yglesias’s article Sweet Sorrow, Iglesias says:
Coke’s victory is a triumph of branding over flavor, and a clear sign that consumer companies should invest lots of money in advertising.
Yglesias goes onto to discuss the results of non-blind test and Coke was more popular. Combining the results of both tests, it is clear to see that Coke’s consistency and marketing trump the apparent superior taste Pepsi. To the consumer, that does not matter because we covet that logo and that famous “secret formula”.
The Coke logo consists simply of a red and white color scheme and cursive font aptly named Loki Cola. Like the secret formula, the core logo of the Coca Cola Company has remained untouched since 1923. Further analysis of the Coke logo design by Jon Parr establishes that it is more than a simple color choice. Parr goes on to say:
The color red in marketing portrays power, excitement, energy and passion. It also stimulates the appetite, which makes it an excellent choice when branding food or drink.
Personally, I have held both a Coke and Pepsi product in my hand and there is a feeling that I do not get from Pepsi. With a Coke in my hand I feel more passionate and that is exactly what the Pepsi brand fails to accomplish. I feel a fierce commitment to the brand, which is deeply instilled in me, not because of independent thought, but because of the convincing marketing of Coke. The commitment to the brand is so drilled into me that just the thought of another beverage feels like I’m betraying my brand. That is the fierce commitment Coke advocates feel, which is compounded by a mouth watering “secret formula.”
John Pemberton’s secret Coca Cola formula has stood unchanged since 1886. It has been the most sought after and most heavily guarded secrets in the world. Mark Pendergrast says:
The company has always said, and as far as I know it’s true, that at any given time only two people know how to mix the 7X flavoring ingredient
Although companies like Pepsi have been able to deduce most of what Coke’s soda consists of, there has always been an elusive secret ingredient, 7X. The idea that only two men know this highly classified ingredient seems to be far fetched. Is this a real thing, or is it an illusory ingredient used to increase the allure of Coke? Regardless of any correct answer, Coke has succeeded. Why? Because Coke stays relevant from this very question, which helps the company be readily discussed. In reality, you can produce Coke at home. The ingredients can easily be siphoned off of the Internet and with a bit of ingenuity you can make yourself some “Coke”, but the difference is the years of marketing prowess of the Coca Cola Company. Pepsi and other brands alike will always be overshadowed by the prowess of Coke solely because the years of consistency.
The Coca Cola Company has the means to have a continuous, and successful marketing output. The proof is in the numbers. Andy Lynch of North Star Marketing stated that Coke’s marketing spending was at 2.9 billion in 2010 and is going to be around 4.3 billion by 2016. To most, these numbers seem shocking, but for a titan of the industry like Coke, it is a means to maintain its spot at the top. Coke’s 17 percent ownership of the American Market further justifies Coke’s extravagant spending on marketing. This could not have been possible for the Coca Cola Company, if not for the consistency of the iconic logo and the “secret formula”.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to express thanks to my workshop members, Sam, Steph, and Kelsey for all of their input. From their advice I was able to develop each of my paragraphs more. Secondly, I’d like to thank the teaching staff. Professor Harris for helping me with my redo if E2D3. Without that input I probably would have been scrambling to figure out what to write about. Thanks to my TA Eileen for her input on sentences in my essay. Those inputs allowed me to expand where I needed to. Lastly, I’d like to thank my Katie for reading my essay and pointing out grammatical mistakes I made. Really helped polish the final work.
Author’s Memo:
In the beginning of the creation of E2, I was completely lost. I had an idea that I thought was fairly solid and grew overly attached. This resulted in a late switch to a pretty reliable to topic relating to Coke. Though the beginning was rough, towards the end I feel that I began to get into a rhythm the more I read about my topic. The more I read the more I learned which facilitated the writing. What I feel most proud about is I think that I follow a more solid train of thought that has, for the most part, eluded me. I focused first on the marketing techniques used by Coke then worked my way to the packaging and then to the Core design.
References:
· Adams, Will Lee. “Is This the Real Thing? Coca-Cola’s Secret Formula ‘Discovered’ | TIME.com.” NewsFeed Is This the Real Thing CocaColas Secret Formula Discovered Comments. Time, 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.-
· Coldwell, Willl. “Not Quite the Real Thing: Coca-Cola’s ‘secret Formula’ Is out of the Bottle — but Can the Famous Flavour Be Recreated at Home?” The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 1 May 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.-
· Feloni, Richard. “7 Brilliant Strategies Coca-Cola Used to Become One of the World’s Most Recognizable Brands.” Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 12 June 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.-
· Lynch, Andy. “Building a Great Brand: Why Brand Consistency Matters | North Star Marketing.” North Star Marketing. 7 May 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.-
· Moye, Jay. “Share a Coke: How the Groundbreaking Campaign Got Its Start ‘Down Under’” The Coca-Cola Company. 1 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.-
· Parr, Jon. “The Psychology of Color: How Coca-Cola Captured Hearts around the World.” : Graphic Tango. 1 June 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.-
· Pendergrast, Mark. For God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Unauthorized History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It. New York: Scribner’s ;, 1993. Print.
· Sicher, John. “Special Issue: U.S. Beverage Business Results for 2014.” Www.beverage-digest.com. BeverageDigest, 1 Mar. 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
· Yglesias, Matthew. “Sweet Sorrow.” Slate, 1 Aug. 2013. Web.-
