The Failure of Coca-Cola's Marketing Catastrophe in the Face of 'The Pepsi Challenge'

However, Pepsi began to slowly catch up to their status and in the early 1980s, Coke had only a one percent lead over Pepsi in exclusive drinkers. Coke was very concerned with this because there product was more readily available than Pepsi’s and they spent more than $100 million more annually on advertising and they really didn’t want Pepsi to usurp their rank as the leading cola. However, Pepsi had been running commercials on television where they put Coca Cola and Pepsi head-to-head in a blind taste test that came to be known as the Pepsi Challenge. In this challenge, Pepsi had faithful coke drinkers take a sip from two different glasses and pick which sample they preferred. One of the cups was marked with a “Q” and the other was marked with an “M.” They consistently chose the cup marked “M,” which would be the cup holding Pepsi. When Coca Cola heard of this challenge, they immediately wanted to prove it to be false, so they conducted blind taste tests themselves. However, when their tests were performed, they got the same results as Pepsi, and the majority of the testers, 57%, preferred Pepsi over Coke. These results really concerned Coca Cola, and they began to do a plethora of other market research projects. They couldn’t figure out exactly what it was that made testers prefer Pepsi, but eventually decided that it must be the taste. From this came the creation of what came to be known as “New Coke.” Coca Cola had their scientists experiment with the secret

This case study is the story of Coca-Cola, its history and the report about one of the most fascinating stories about the company this is still regarded by many as a mysterious case: “the introduction of the new Coke”.

Marketing strategies began to take broader dimensions as the soft drink industry continued to expand and became more complex. In 1976, Pepsi introduced the Pepsi Challenge in its campaigns, a moved that directly challenged Coca-Cola’s longstanding dominance. In 1985, responding to the pressure of the taste tests, which Pepsi always won, Coca-Cola decided to change its formula. This move set off a shock wave across America. Consumers angrily demanded that the old formula be returned, and Coca-Cola responded three months later with Classic Coke. Five years after the infamous Coke fiasco, the Coca-Cola

Firstly, the author introduces the history of the Coca-Cola; and how the brand is successfully developing into the most popular brand and ruling the soft drink world by outstanding products, good leadership, correct strategic decisions, completely distribution system, significant culture accomplishment, impressive marketing campaigns and publicities. But, they also had several problems in the 70s, which result in losing the market position at retail. At the same time, Pepsi, as the main competitor of Coca-Cola, started to make inroads by successfully launching the “Pepsi Generation” and “Pepsi Challenge”. Those kinds of efforts led to a rapid increase in Pepsi market share and strongly hit the brand image of Coca-Cola. Because of the severe situation, the leaders of Coca-Cola decided to change the formula of old Coke with marketing research supporting. So, the New Coke with a smoother and sweeter taste had been launched in April 1985. But out of expected, after launching the new taste soon, many customers boycotted the New Coke, and the market share of the company still decline. The company had to re-launch classic

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.

A company must be in tune with what consumers want. Consumers get bored, and often want new products. In order to meet the wants and needs of customers a company must introduce new products or services (Bateman &Snell, 2003). Coca-Cola, in an effort to meet customer's needs, created C2 which is a low carb soft drink. This was in response to the low carb diets and the demands of consumers. They also intend to launch a new soft drink called Coca-Cola Zero. This is a zero calorie soft drink. Knowing the importance of innovation the Coca-Cola Company has always strived to create new products. They already have Coke with Lime, Lemon, Vanilla and Cherry. Raspberry will be the new flavor added to Coke coming soon. They also have plans to sweeten Diet Coke with Splenda, a sugar substitute that is safe for

The Coca Cola company is perceived to be the most famous trademark on the globe, and it is equally so. The company claims more than 400 brands that appeal to a wide range of individuals throughout the world. They are in a position to fulfill needs of every one of their buyers making their experience with their beverages a better one. The entity’s drinks entice a lot of people across all races, age, and gender. Coca Cola is outstanding for its overall popularity as its items are sold in over four hundred countries in the world, while major contenders like Pepsi are just available in very few countries. Such a competitive advantage has placed

In an industry dominated by two heavyweight contenders, Coke and Pepsi, in fact, between 1996 and 2004 per capita consumption of carbonated soft drinks (CSD) remained between 52 to 54 gallons per year. Consumption grew by an average of 3% per year over the next three decades. Fueling this growth were the increasing availability of CSD, the introduction of diet and flavored varieties, and brand extensions. There is couple of reasons why the industry is so profitable such as market share, availability and diversity and brand name and world class marketing.

Another important weakness is that the company’s products are seen as a major cause of obesity. (Melser, 2013) The beverage sales are affected by various factors including change in trends and preferences. Recently, beverage sales have fallen because of people’s increased preference for the health drinks. Around the world, obesity is a major problem and the Coca Cola products are seen as a major cause of obesity. As people are getting health conscious they are moving towards low calorie healthy drinks. This affects coca cola’s profitability and popularity. However, the brand can overcome this situation by increasing the number of low calorie products in its brand portfolio. It will need to add more healthy choices for its customers in its product portfolio.

These two-company’s economic characteristic include their market size and growth rate from the early 2000’s to 2010. Coke and Pepsi have struggled for years in the carbonated and non-alcoholic sector. According to Barbara Murray (2006c) "But as the pop fight has topped out, the industry 's giants have begun relying on new product flavors and looking to noncarbonated beverages for growth.” (Murry, 2006). For instance, Coke boasts in the advertisement as the king of the soft drink; as a consumer of both products, I agree. About 15 years ago, I was selected to participate in a critiquing of Coke and Pepsi products. Additionally, my travel to Africa in 2007 and 2010 provided the same raving review for the Coke Cola products. Apparently, Coke and Pepsi have been rivals for ages locally, regionally, nationally, multinational, and globally, therefore, one expects them to have an on-going rivalry when marketing the high-energy beverages.

This paper focuses on global business strategy of The Coca-Cola Company, who is the leader in the beverage industry as well as, the world?s leading soft drink maker that operates in more than 200 countries and owns or licenses 400 brands of nonalcoholic beverages. The paper will concentrate on the PESTEL analysis of the organization focusing on the external factors of the business and the environment where it operates. All of the following environments will be discusses in the research; Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, and Environmental as they the changes in the market segment. Within this paper it will discuss some of thr

The Coca-Cola Company is a strong multinational company with a well-established trademark that has done well since 1886. The company has improved its marketing strategies to satisfy customers in a better way. Since its establishment, it has effectively differentiated itself by being considered as the largest manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of non-alcoholic syrups

Coca-Cola is the largest non-alcohol beverage manufacturer in the world, which holds approximate 43% market share. The firm is also ranked in top 20 in the Fortune 500 in terms of the largest capital with over 100 billion dollars in assets. John Stith Pemberton is the founder of the firm, which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. During its 100 years of history, Coca-Cola has grown its businesses substantially in the globe. Currently, the firm presents over 160 countries, including China, India, Japan, and South East Asia countries. The main objectives of the firm that is it can serve its products to all consumers in the globe, and expands its businesses to the majority of strategic regions. In order to grow and expand its present to the other major markets, Coca-Cola executes its marketing strategies based on three different categories, including price, place, partnerships, and core products. These marketing methods have supported Coca-Cola to sustain, and grow in the soft drink industry.

Coca-Cola has been around for generations with the same iconic taste, logo and symbolism. Its brand has represented family and the memories of good times, celebrations and comfort of being with those we love. Unfortunately, the company has not made good marketing decisions in the recent past and has lost relevancy. The purpose of this essay is to assess the conditions that created Coca-Colas marketing problems, evaluate the future of healthy beverages and non-carb drink brand extensions, and provide recommendations to the management.

Last year, Coca-cola saw its sales decreased in the European market. In order to increase the sales, Coca-Cola needs to define a new strategic communications plan. As mentioned above the image of Coca-Cola has been damaged quite a lot for the past 2 years by different factors. A hard work needed to deal with consequences of this damage in the image of the company.