Coke and Pepsi Learn to Compete in India

Coca-Cola, as the leading brand in the world, has the highest position in soft drink industry. Its outstanding product “Coke” has been won the heart of everyone. However, in this case, we realize that they had a failed attempt at introducing the new product called New Coke in 1985.

Because it enter in the market at the wrong time, obliging it to a hard competition with Pepsi. Another reason is that it has to sell almost the 50% of their equity to expand itself and other bureaucratically aspects like deny of the upcoming Indian shareholders voting rights.

Coca Cola and Pepsi are the brands with the highest brand equities. Both, Coca Cola and Pepsi have gone through the highs and lows of their business to reach that position. Coca Cola’s marketing has been changing over time with more and more products being added every day, while Pepsi has implemented several smart marketing strategies to improve its turnover and profits. So, let’s see what were the marketing strategies implemented by Coca Cola and Pepsi.

In carbonated soft drink market since 80s to till coca-cola and Pepsi are rival company and trying to dominating each other via advertising war through printing media, video advertising, campaigns, event and doing experiential marketing.

As mention before, Coca-cola has 47.3 percent market share in the country’s cola market versus Pepsi which hold 44.5 percent. Coca-cola is also the brand known around the worlds, which are the largest producer and distributor of ark colas in the world. Even in the current monetary crisis, the company continues to expand and the financial position shows that Coca-cola has a strong cash position in compare to PepsiCo which the long term debt of PepsiCo is so high.

big market share, such as Pepsi Cola, Mt.Dew, and so on. I like to drink Coke

What hurdles and problems did Pepsi face when it tried to enter India during the 1980s?

Coca Cola’s first main weakness is that it is highly susceptible to any kind of negative publicity. Every kind of negative publicity can hurt the brand badly. Some years ago after traces of pesticides were found in the products of Coca Cola, it had hurt the brand really hard. Sales had dipped in various corners of the world apart from the criticism that flowed. Any such thing can hurt the popularity and sales of coca cola. However, Coca cola can overcome this weakness by being more transparent regarding the ingredients it uses in the production of its brands.

Pepsi Co started in 1965 and became one of the world 's highest end user product businesses with a number of important and precious trademarks (Bongiorno, 1996, p 70).

The case explains the economics of the soft drink industry. There activities that add value to consumer at nearly every stage of the value chain of the soft drink industry. The war is primarily fought between Coca-Cola and PepsiCo as market leaders in this industry; who combined have roughly a ninety percent market share in their industry. The impact of globalization on competition has allowed both of these major players to find new markets to tap which has allowed each continued growth potential.

One big change that needs to be made is pesticide free water in the Coca-Cola products. Indians have a lot of trouble with making sure their food and water is contaminated, and things like this aren’t going to help Coca-Cola’s business because they aren’t going to want to risk their health. Indian’s need to feel safe and trustful of Coca-Cola that their products are safe for themselves. Coca-Cola made also need to use less Indian water in their products if that problem cannot be fixed. Whatever it takes for Indian’s to understand that Coke’s products are pesticide free is what Coca-Cola needs to do. The future of Coke in India is in the hands of

“Coca-Cola was founded in 1886 at a soda fountain in downtown Atlanta, Georgia” (Coca-Cola Facts para 1). Coca-Cola is better than Pepsi due to its’ longer experience “being in business for about 125 years, the big name beverage brand inspired many consumers and viewers; sparking social interaction and encouraging innovation” (Coca-Cola Facts para 1). “Coca-Cola had bottlers to create a distinctive bottle for the beverage, and it was so noticeable that it could be recognized in the dark, and this effectively set the beverage brand apart from competition, and because of the Coca-Cola’s bottle features — it was acknowledged by many artists from all around the

Who would have known that Coca-Cola debut to the world was all because of a pharmacist? And just a touch of carbonation has truly made it a refreshing and an enjoyable carbonated soft drink. It is within “arms reach of desire” as former CEO Robert Woodruff notes. The Coca-Cola Company ultimately cares about its customers and prides itself into providing good citizenship. One of Coca-Cola’s largest international investors was India, from 1993 up until 2003, Coca-Cola invested more than US$1 billion into the country. In August of 2003, CEO of Coca-Cola India, Sanjiv Gupta came to a standstill where he had to further anticipate his next move for the company. The company faced a crisis where the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) issued a press release affirming that three samples of the 12 cold drink brands sold in and around Delhi containing pesticide residues were of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo brands.

Obstacles that Pepsi faced when trying to prospecting India include: Terrorism in the Punjab Pradesh, a brand new political party, the Janata Dal, a high degree of government intervention, and a decline of the currency, the Rupee.

Pepsi Co started in 1965 and became one of the world 's highest end user product businesses with a number of important and precious trademarks (Bongiorno, 1996, p 70).