Graeme F.’s Post

In 1975, Pepsi and Coca-Cola went head-to-head in the greatest marketing battle in history. Pepsi ran shocking blind taste tests, showing people preferred the taste of Pepsi to Coke. But what Coca-Cola did in response nearly destroyed Coke forever. Pepsi was getting crushed, but their marketing team noticed something interesting. When people couldn't see the labels, they actually preferred Pepsi's taste. This small insight sparked an idea that would change everything... Pepsi's team went to shopping malls across America. Two unmarked cups. Cameras rolling. Everyone could see what happened when the labels disappeared, the results shocked the nation. Pepsi was winning. By 1979, they held 18% of the market to Coke's 24%. For the first time ever, Coca-Cola looked vulnerable... Coke’s response? A devastating miscalculation. Coca-Cola announced they were changing their 99-year-old recipe. "New Coke" was born, the public reaction was beyond anything they could have imagined. The phones at Coca-Cola exploded: 10,000 angry calls per day, up from their usual 400. America wasn't just angry. They felt betrayed. Coke had built more than just a drink. They'd bottled memories of first dates and family gatherings, Long summer afternoons and American tradition. People weren't just losing a taste. They were losing a part of themselves. After 79 days of chaos, Coca-Cola admitted defeat. On July 11, 1985, Peter Jennings interrupted General Hospital to break the news: The old Coke was coming back as "Coca-Cola Classic." Then something unexpected happened. The public forgave them instantly. Sales of Coca-Cola Classic exploded. People didn't just like Coca-Cola. They loved it. They'd fight for it. The brand was stronger than the product itself. This changed marketing forever. Strong brands create emotional defenders. When people trust you, they forgive your mistakes. They choose you over competitors. They become lifelong advocates. Today's brand battles look completely different. They're not won with TV ads or taste tests. They're won through authentic content and personal connection. KSI's energy drinks. Emma Chamberlain's coffee. The Kardashians' empire. The game has fundamentally changed. If you're a founder today, your personal brand is your Coca-Cola recipe. It's what makes you unique. What builds trust at scale. Your audience becomes your defenders - just like Coke's customers in 1985. Credit to Timjcarden on X for the script - he posts awesome marketing and branding content, worth checking out! #marketing #branding #business #digitalmarketing

Marketing Dive's Chris Kelly on how Dr Pepper passed Pepsi by marketing around football, flavor innovation. As its vintage advertising maintained, it’s Dr Pepper time. The soda brand made headlines this month with news that it is now the number two carbonated soft drink in the U.S. behind Coca-Cola and passing Pepsi, which long held the spot, according to Beverage Digest data shared with Marketing Dive. The sales data is in line with consumer brand perceptions: Dr Pepper ranked 41st, two spots ahead of Pepsi, in FutureBrand’s recent Consumer Index report. “In comparison to Pepsi, consumers view Dr Pepper as having a more promising future, doing a better job at keeping up to date and, importantly, being more distinctive and different than Pepsi,” said Lynne Field, head of strategy at FutureBrand. Since the 2018 acquisition that brought together Keurig Green Mountain and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Dr Pepper’s parent company has remained committed to the brand amid a portfolio-wide double-digit increase in marketing spend. Dr Pepper’s success can be attributed to a combination of investment and patience, said Brad Rakes, senior director for brand marketing at Keurig Dr Pepper. “It really is a commitment across the board, not just in things like content and media, but also investment in prioritization and making sure that Dr Pepper continues to be the workhorse for the organization,” the executive said. As it has looked to differentiate itself from cola wars stalwarts Coke and Pepsi, Dr Pepper has embraced its identity as a disruptor with a one-of-a-kind taste that provides consumers a treat and creates connections between them. In the last few years, its marketing has walked the tightrope between being consistent and breaking the rules. “The brand is 140 years old,” Rakes said. “If you do the same things you were doing 140 years ago, that’s not going to fuel growth.” https://buff.ly/3Vldb04 via @marketingdive

Don’t chop the carrot! 🥕 Why consistency is key in this year’s standout Christmas ads 🎅🏻 According to Kantar, brands such as Aldi and Cadbury are reaping the rewards of committing to the same concept year on year and consumers aren’t getting bored of it. Why? When brands commit to a consistent, long-term campaign, they create more than just recognition – they build emotional connections that resonate deeply with consumers. Campaigns such as Aldi’s ‘Kevin the Carrot,’ introduced nine years ago, and Cadbury’s ‘Secret Santa,’ running since 2018, have become ingrained in the cultural zeitgeist, earning a place in consumers’ minds and hearts. “A good brand platform establishes and consolidates what makes the brand different from the alternatives. It plays a powerful role in shaping what a brand becomes famous for – both through the idea itself and consistent use of branded elements,” explains Kantar’s head of creative excellence, Lynne Deason. https://lnkd.in/eBkGrXd2

In 1975, Pepsi and Coca-Cola went head-to-head in the greatest marketing battle in history. Here's the full story: The year was 1975. Coca-Cola dominated the market when Pepsi made a bold move. They discovered people preferred Pepsi's taste in blind tests, but chose Coke when they saw the logo. This insight birthed the legendary "Pepsi Challenge" - live blind taste tests in malls across America. The results were devastating for Coke: Pepsi's market share jumped from 6% to 14% wherever the challenge ran. By 1979, the unthinkable happened: Pepsi closed the gap to within 6% market share of Coke. Coca-Cola's response? They ran 200,000 of their own taste tests. The results confirmed their nightmare: people really did prefer Pepsi's sweeter taste. So on April 23, 1985, they made a decision that would haunt them: changing their 99-year-old recipe to "New Coke." The public reaction was unprecedented: • 10,000 angry calls per day (up from 400) • Nationwide protests erupted • One man spent $100,000 to form "Old Soda Drinkers of America" Why such outrage? Because Coca-Cola wasn't just a drink - it was woven into American memories: • First dates • Family gatherings • Summer afternoons It was cultural tradition. After 79 days of chaos, Coca-Cola admitted defeat and brought back the original recipe as "Coca-Cola Classic." Then something remarkable happened: The public instantly forgave them. Sales of Coca-Cola Classic exploded beyond expectations. The crisis revealed a powerful truth: People didn't just like Coca-Cola. They loved it. They'd fight for it. The brand was stronger than the product itself. This changed marketing forever... It taught us that strong brands create emotional defenders: • When people trust you, they forgive mistakes • They choose you over competitors • They become lifelong advocates The lesson? Your brand isn't just a logo or product - it's the emotional connection you build with your audience. When you get that right, your customers become your defenders. Just like Coke's did in 1985. And that's worth more than any advertising budget in the world. - Thanks for reading! A bit about me: 2 years ago, I cofounded Thoughtleadr — a premium personal branding agency for world-class founders, executives, and investors looking to dominate socials. If you enjoyed, hit "follow" for more content like this!

Coca-Cola: Building a Global Beverage Empire 🥤Introduction🌍 Coca-Cola, an icon of refreshment for over 135 years, dominates the global beverage market with 1.9 billion daily servings. This case study analyzes the marketing strategies behind its rise from humble beginnings to cultural phenomenon. 💼Strategic Marketing Pillars of Coca-Cola's Success💡 • Globally-Minded Marketing: Coca-Cola's global marketing focuses on understanding diverse consumer bases, spanning from its origins in soda fountains to multilingual bottle labeling. Its efforts transcend borders, fostering inclusivity across cultures. • Brand Image: A Masterful Exercise in Consistency Coca-Cola's instantly recognizable logo and unwavering brand image have secured a permanent place in consumer memory. The company demonstrates exceptional marketing prowess by striking a balance between brand consistency and adaptation to evolving consumer preferences. • Strategic Product Diversification: Coca-Cola fosters a culture of innovation by continuously expanding its product portfolio. The introduction of beverages like Sprite and Diet Coke caters to diverse consumer tastes and dietary needs, solidifying their market leadership. • Value-Driven Pricing: Despite facing fierce competition, Coca-Cola prioritizes affordability without compromising quality. This value-conscious approach ensures accessibility for their vast global customer base. • Promotional Powerhouse: A Multi-Channel Approach Coca-Cola leverages a diverse media mix to amplify its message. Their promotional strategies encompass traditional channels like newspapers and television, alongside contemporary platforms like social media. Memorable taglines like "Things go better with Coke" further solidify brand identity across generations. • Partnership Power: Expanding Brand Reach Coca-Cola strategically partner with major sporting events (Olympics, FIFA) and popular reality shows to amplify brand visibility and connect with new consumer segments. Additionally, strategic acquisitions have fueled their growth and market dominance. • Personalization: Building Emotional Connections Coca-Cola foster emotional connections with its consumers by personalizing its approach. Regional language labeling and targeted advertising campaigns demonstrate their commitment to understanding and connecting with their global audience on a deeper level. The 70:20:10 Rule: A Calculated Approach to Marketing Coca-Cola allocates its marketing budget strategically: 70% to proven strategies like Google and Facebook ads, 20% to trendy avenues like influencer marketing, and 10% to innovative ideas. This balance manages risk and ensures lasting success. 🚀 Conclusion🌟 Coca-Cola's marketing brilliance has built a global brand empire. By understanding customers, innovating, and staying focused, it thrives amidst competition. Adapting to trends and technology secures its leadership. As Coca-Cola looks ahead, these principles promise continued success.

Brand awareness, innovation, and relevance: this article from MediaPost may intrigue marketers, product development teams, and consumer analysts who prioritize these concepts. Lynne Field at Interpublic Group (IPG)'s FutureBrand shares enlightening insights on last month's "The FutureBrand Consumer Index," which reports perceptions of 100 top brands on a variety of attributes including consistency, mission, and personality. Field notes that many brands are failing to remain relevant and are missing key growth opportunities ... leading to what she terms the “#blandification” of consumer brands. She emphasizes that traditional marketing approaches and formulaic thinking are increasingly ineffective when companies hope to stand out from the crowd. Notably, Gerber, Tide Cleaners, and #Gatorade secured the top three positions in the rankings. Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., ranked 41st, stood out by surpassing PepsiCo, emerging as the second-best selling soda in the nation, largely due to responding swiftly to consumer trends, like creating Dr. Pepper Creamy Coconut soda in response to TikTok's viral "dirty soda" trend. With several new and intriguing brands on the scene (like OLIPOP PBC), we’re keeping an eye on legacy brands like Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, and The Coca-Cola Company for how they’ll adapt and respond to a perpetually evolving landscape. The interview also highlights how top brands like The Clorox Company's #HiddenValleyRanch (specifically citing their collaborations with Burt's Bees and TRUFF), Frito-Lay's #Doritos, and Gatorade stand out by creating engaging experiences, embedding themselves in culture, and addressing tangible consumer needs. There's much discourse about the power in listening to and answering cultural rhythms to capture market share, and it energizes us to see brands successfully proving this point through innovation and community engagement. #brandwareness #brandstrategy #consumertrends #marketing #innovation

Feathers gonna fly! 🥊 🪶 Pepsi Max playfully poking fun at the hidden "OK" within Coca-Cola's iconic "Coke" logo in its latest Aussie campaign! The message? → Why settle for average when you can choose Pepsi Max? ...but is this a genius marketing move, or a swing and a miss? Here's the thing: 😲 Attention Grabber → Undoubtedly, this campaign gets people talking. It's cheeky, unexpected, and sure to spark a laugh (or a raised eyebrow). ⚔️ Double-Edged Sword → While it puts Pepsi Max in the spotlight, it also reinforces brand recognition for Coke. Free indirect advertising? You bet! This "free indirect advertising" could outweigh any benefit for Pepsi Max. 🧨 Collateral Damage → Indirectly associating Pepsi Max with fast food restaurant brands like KFC (who primarily serve Pepsi products) might alienate those loyal to Coke. So, is this a win for Pepsi Max from a branding perspective? The campaign is certainly cheeky, but its effectiveness in driving sales and getting Coke customers to switch is debatable. It might generate short-term buzz, but long-term brand differentiation remains to be seen. Let's not forget the real test - TASTE! 🫗🥴 Despite the immense marketing efforts and budgets, personal preference reigns supreme. No amount of marketing wizardry can alter individual taste preferences. 🚨 But here's the real opportunity: (lessons worth learning regardless of whether you are in B2C or B2B) Pepsi Max could capitalize on this momentum and shift its focus 👀 from temporary jabs to building a powerful, long-term brand strategy that resonates with its target audience. This means: 1. Highlighting Their Own Strengths 💪 ↳ What makes Pepsi Max unique? Is it the crisp flavor? The energy boost? Amplify these qualities to create a distinct brand identity. 2. Investing in Compelling Storytelling 🎤 ↳ Move beyond competitor comparisons. Craft compelling narratives that connect with consumers on an emotional level. Maybe reverse physiology messaging…Sometimes you need a Pepsi to fall back in love with Coke! 😂 (You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone). 3. Building a Strong Brand Identity 👽 ↳ What are Pepsi Max's core values? Authenticity, adventurous, or youthful energy? Infuse these values into every touchpoint, from advertising to social media to in-store experiences. → By focusing on these elements, Pepsi Max can create a lasting impact on its audience and establish itself as a brand that's more than just "not Coke." – P.S. Have you tried both? Which one wins in your opinion? After tasting both, my choice leans towards Coke...sorry Pepsi, but I do love your Mtn Dew and Lays! #branding #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #saas #marketing #digitalmarketing #ai #innovation #business #strategy #customersuccess #startups #entrepreneurship #contentstrategy #leadership #ProductManagement #MarketingStrategy #productmarketing #technology #martech #growth #BrandStrategy

What's your brand's safe word - and what happens when you ignore it? Happily, most brands know what they stand for and they champion it, but is the industry, losing focus on the importance of a brand’s foundation and the trust and confidence that inspires. Coke is a nice example of the start of an unintentional move away from its core standpoint. It’s always been known for being “The Real Thing”. That is a foundation stone around which they have built a multibillion-dollar industry. Although Pepsi wins the taste test, Coke’s brand power even overcomes that challenge! If you don’t believe me, then look at the science right here. However, its new Christmas advert is based in the world of A.I. Which all seems a little incongruous with “The Real Thing” brand foundation. https://lnkd.in/dCy7Gw6C Okay, it’s only a little creep away and I can hear you saying that I’m overreacting, but hear me out. It’s so obviously removed from the real world that I question the sensibility of doing that in a ferocious marketplace. Surely there is some light-hearted debate and fun to be had around the existence of Santa, being ‘the real thing’? Marketing professionals are quite right to embrace emerging technology and channels, as without moving forward brands can look tired and out of date. However, sometimes it’s worth stopping for a moment to sense-check if it’s congruent with the brand and the customer’s understanding and expectations. The real job of advertising and marketing is not to leverage every emerging technology and channel, but simply to sell more products or services and to see the brand grow, and we must never lose sight of that, or get distracted from it. KFC   https://lnkd.in/d9qfieap KFC on the other-hand have delivered a fabulous on-brand campaign with “We saw you, we heard you… and we ignored you”. There is even the words Kentucky ‘Fried’ Turkey in it, which I love. As renaming themselves KFC wasn’t fooling any of us that the product is ‘fried’. The point here is, KFC own ‘Chicken’ and they are standing firmly by that. In a season that gives chickens a break and makes turkeys nervous, KFC is sticking by the space they own in your mind… “Chicken!” As a piece of brand reinforcement, I love it and all the thinking behind it. Other tales of brand woe can be seen in the complete slamming of..... (read the other half of the article here): https://lnkd.in/eek4t2Br #Coke #KFC #ConservativeParty #LabourParty #brand #growth #BrandPerception #ChristmasAdverts #ChristmasAds

As a marketer with 3 years of experience, I recently took Marketing in the 21st Century by Open University (UK) and, for the first time, explored branding in a structured and conceptual way—#brands started with #ownership marks and evolved into #market #differentiators and #consumer #connections. “Brands have a long history, with their origins traced back to marks or seals that were used to specify the ownership or origin of a product. For example, in 5000 BC men drew animals in caves, giving them symbols to identify their owners. By the end of the 19th century, the industrial revolution had brought an abundance and variety of organisations and products. With the emergence of competition, it became increasingly important for producers to differentiate their products in the market. Consequently, producers started attributing brand names to their goods to increase their consumer appeal (British Brand Group, 2012). For example, William Lever (founder of Lever Bros) made soap an attractive product for general consumption by naming it ‘Sunlight’ and packaging it in small pieces. Brands became a way to communicate with consumers in the marketplace. The proliferation of self-service in the 1950s intensified the communicating role of the brand. It was important to have an appealing and distinct product that would stand out on the shop shelves. Complementing this, growing television ownership combined with increasing consumer sophistication resulted in the need for brand communications to become more pervasive and more complex. Coca-Cola advertisement – 1955 https://lnkd.in/ej5urn4v Coca-Cola advertisement – 1980s https://lnkd.in/e-SzFRUv Coca-Cola advertisement – 2012 https://lnkd.in/eASVztxy Notice how the first advertisement focuses on the product and its characteristics as a refreshing and energising beverage, great for a break. In the 1980s advertisement, although the product is still important, the focus is more on youth pop culture, dance, and happiness. You see much less about the product’s characteristics. The final advertisement shows Coca-Cola as a global brand, highlighting its presence in worldwide events such as the Olympics. Today’s brands exist in all forms and shapes. They include #product brands (e.g. Coca-Cola, Avon, and Adidas), #services brands (e.g. Pizza Hut and Allianz), #company brands (e.g. SAP and IBM), and even #virtual brands (e.g. eBay, Google). This expansion took brands from a sign of ownership and guarantee of good quality to a way of communicating with the marketplace, making the role and use of brands core to the organisation’s marketing efforts.”

In the ever-evolving landscape of business, ignoring your competition is a recipe for stagnation. While it may be tempting to focus solely on your own offerings, acknowledging and analyzing your competitors can provide invaluable insights that propel your brand forward. Iconic brands demonstrate this principle perfectly, showcasing how awareness of competition can lead to innovation and success. Take Apple, for example. When Microsoft became a dominant player in the tech industry, Apple didn't bury its head in the sand. Instead, it embraced the competition, revamping its product line and marketing strategy. The iconic "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" campaign directly acknowledged Microsoft’s presence while highlighting Apple's unique features. This approach not only distinguished Apple in the market but also spurred innovation in both companies, ultimately enhancing the user experience across the board. Similarly, in the beverage industry, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have long engaged in a dynamic rivalry that fuels creativity and market relevance. Both brands continuously analyze each other's advertising strategies, product launches, and consumer trends. This competition has led to innovative offerings like Coca-Cola's introduction of personalized bottles and Pepsi's bold flavor experiments. By recognizing and responding to each other's moves, they keep their brands fresh and relevant, ultimately benefiting consumers. Even in the fast-food sector, brands like McDonald's and Burger King often use competitive awareness to their advantage. Burger King's infamous "Whopper Detour" campaign cleverly targeted McDonald's customers by offering them a discounted Whopper if they ordered through the Burger King app while near a McDonald's location. This not only showcased Burger King's understanding of its competition but also turned the rivalry into a playful challenge, drawing in customers looking for a good deal. In contrast, brands that ignore their competitors risk falling behind. Blockbuster's failure to recognize the threat posed by Netflix is a cautionary tale. While Blockbuster clung to its brick-and-mortar model, Netflix transformed the way people consumed entertainment, leading to Blockbuster's eventual demise. The lesson is clear: understanding your competitors allows you to innovate, differentiate, and stay ahead of the curve. Don’t pretend competitors don’t exist; instead, take proactive steps to learn from them and adapt your strategies. By doing so, you not only strengthen your own brand but also contribute to a more vibrant and competitive marketplace that ultimately benefits everyone. #CompetitiveAdvantage #MarketLeadership #BusinessInnovation #Strategy