Select a brand that you like. Describe the brand image of the product or firm and provide very specific examples of how they firm’s supports that image. Then, select a competing brand and compare and contrast the brand image of the second product to the first. Be very specific and provide detailed examples. You are encouraged to use your own experiences with the product in your discussion. Examples of ads or other promotional activities will be very helpful in evaluating how the firm supports the brand.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi Branding
Coca-Cola is the company that has been evolving its business stratagem to become a completely beverage firm by providing consumers with more of the drinks – including no and low-sugar alternatives across wide-ranging categories – in many packages sold in many places. Coca-Cola supports coke’s image by continuously focusing on wholesomeness and customer relationships with the company. In 2011, Coca-Cola introduced “share a coke” marketing and advertising program that changed the conventional design of the product to show “share coke with” and had different names on every can or bottle (Chu, 2020). The idea of that campaign was meant to help create a personal relation with the consumers or purchasers.
Coca-Cola adverts have historically focused on nostalgias, naturalness and freshness. The company adverts are usually characterized as a friendly and family and mostly depend on beautiful personalities, for example Santa Claus and the Coca-Cola polar bear around Christmas holiday. Coca-Cola has managed to make what is globally recognized as “pure play” in drinks (Chu, 2020). The firm has been working very hard as compared to Pepsi in establishing worldwide brand, and has become successful in marketing its main product line coke itself. New Coke has sweet taste, unique flavor and formula that Pepsi and other competing brands have find it hard to copy.
The reason of replacing the original formula and flavor was a deliberate strategy to boost Coke sales all over the world (Chu, 2020). On the other hand, Pepsi adverts are highly supported by online marketing and sponsorships. The logo of this company has blue, red and white colors which symbolizes the American flag (García et al., 2003). Pepsi has been marketing its brand using the slogan “Drink Pepsi, Get Stuff” where people can collect Pepsi points on cups and packages which can be redeemed for free Pepsi products (García et al., 2003).
Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola have been competing on online programs with Coca-Cola introducing Coke rewards, while Pepsi reintroduced Pepsi Stuff. These loyalty programs give away products and prizes to loyal customers (Chu, 2020). For example, Coca-Cola had lucky numbers written in their bottle caps in order to encourage drinking with hope being among the lucky winners, while Pepsi in partnership with Amazon permitted the customers to purchase several products at Pepsi Points like mp3 downloads (García et al., 2003).
References
Chu, B. (2020, November). Analysis on the Success of Coca-Cola Marketing Strategy. In 2020 2nd International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI2020) (pp. 96-100). Atlantis Press.
García, I., Gibaja, J. J., & Mujika, A. (2003). A study on the effect of cause-related marketing on the attitude towards the brand: The case of Pepsi in Spain. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 11(1), 111-135.
