Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Coca Cola and Pepsi were rivals, and the
battle between the two dominant brands intensified to such an extent that the
term “cola wars” was introduced. Both brands were undergoing a global
advertisement war through different ads such as print, videos and games, trying
to stay on top of the other and trying to dominate the carbonated soft drink
market. The two big companies also try to achieve an exclusive distribution
position of their products through exclusive contracts with locals or
supermarket chains, therefore attending to a strong destructive competition.
As companies are
increasingly falling short of ways to differentiate their products from those
of their competitors, comparative advertising seems to be a way out. When Coke
and Pepsi first began head-to-head competition, Coke had about an 80% market
share and Pepsi had a 20% market share.
Since the 1970s,
Pepsi has been using the "taste difference test" in the U.S. to
highlight their competitive position against Coca Cola. Here, the advertising
laws are not as strict as in other European countries, for example. Therefore,
Coca Cola, as the main competitive brand of Pepsi, was shown very often as the
loser in several funny Pepsi TV-spots. But these TV-sports are only a part of
the tasting campaign of Pepsi. The company also gets in direct contact to their
consumer and distributes samples to them. The winner of these tasting samples
is mostly Pepsi, because the company was able to stand against the archrival Coca
Cola with its aggressive tasting campaign worldwide. Now, Pepsi is even allowed
to point out in TV-Spots, that they have the best taste of all carbonated soft
drinks.
On the companies home
market of the USA, where comparative advertising was allowed much earlier than
in Germany, for example, Pepsi and Coke celebrated their rivalry by referring
to each others brand in several advertising strategies. In the computer game
Pepsi Invaders, which was developed for Coca Cola, the player is supposed to
shot the attacking Pepsi spaceships.
Pepsi will remain the main but chanceless archrival of the original Coke drink. The reason why Pepsi hasn’t achieved victory with global breakthrough is that Coca Cola was the first soda brand on the market. They built a mythos which was later blocked for Pepsi. The mythos existed in being one of the first global brands and to send the appropriate message:
“We are humanity, we all drink Coca Cola.”
Aline Kellner
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