On 8th May in 1886, Coca-Cola was first made. It was created as a syrup for headache and after all this time it has formed one of the most recognisable and valuable brands in the world. Just last year the sugary drink producer made a mind-boggling 35 billion dollars in revenue. Not only that, the company sells more than 1.9 billion drinks each day. If you have had enough of their soda it will be good news for you that Coca-Cola has more than 3500 different beverages from over 500 brands under its belt. They say that if you had one each day, then it would take you around 9 years to try all of them. Just around a week ago news came that Coca-Cola would be making another addition to its impressive portfolio. Coca-Cola has bought the coffee chain, Costa Coffee, for around 5.1 billion dollars. However, Coca-Cola is not the only name in the soda market. Another famous one is - Pepsi. Although at many times seen as a replacement for "when coke isn't available", Pepsi had been making significant strides recently under CEO Indra Nooyi. Coca-Cola has had to really sit up and take notice, of a once "insignificant" soda rival.
Coca-Cola -
Coca-Cola, although a household favourite for all ages, has recently been driven to attract millennials. This is especially reflected in the recent turnaround of the Diet Coke. Interesting new flavours and sleek packaging has brought up sales of a drink that seemed to be slowly becoming irrelevant. Coca-Cola also made use of not only mainstream social media -Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat- but, also recognized the potential of others like Tumblr. The mainly-soda company also realised that millennials, more aware of their health, are vary of soda. So, it has invested in countless drinks from flavoured mineral water to energy drinks, even soy based drinks for the vegans. But, Coca-Cola didn't stop at the teens, it has adapted it's brand to different regions and countries. It is making use of India's various traditions and festivals to football fans in Brazil. Coca-Cola has become an adaptable and flexible brand while, somehow still being a "classic" and staying true to its name. Whether you are drinking Dasani, Limca or the classic soda, the cursive logo is hard to miss, or forget.
Pepsi-
She represented two minorities in the large American corporations. Asian American and a women, Indra Nooyi changed the face of PepsiCo (she is said to be stepping down, early this October). Her prime focus in PepsiCo was to shed the soda makers unhealthy image, literally. She sold of Pepsi's Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell restaurants for a sum of 4.5 billion dollars. That money was invested into a healthier lifestyle for the company (by getting rid of half of its mountainous debt) and reflected in its new range of products (which were, you guessed it, mainly focused on health). She made this controversial shift for the better and focused the company on three main food types. "Fun for you"- which is junk food like chips and regular soda; "Better for you"- Diet chips and Diet Soda and "Good for you" - like oatmeal from its recently acquired Quaker oats. Not unlike Coca-Cola, Pepsi has also been trying to improve its clout around the world. Even going as far as Myanmar. Pepsi has had its main focus and expansion in developing countries, eyeing the new middle class and the tricky millennials.
Beyond Soda-
Both companies, have already recognised that in order to have the upper hand (or the upper can, like the soda can... never-mind) they need to diversify from their soda roots. Since, the sale of soda has come to an all-time low in the last thirty years. However, they both have been trying to match each other, with each purchase they make. Coca-Cola realized that people didn't want all of their caffeine coming from soda (especially in the morning) so they bought Costa Coffee. The CEO said the reason behind that was to sell customers more of the drinks that they "want". But, Pepsi recognised that people may actually like fizzy drinks, just not the ones that giant corporations make in factories. So, they purchased SodaStream for 3.2 billion dollars. The company makes products that allow you to make your own fizzy drinks at home. This is part of their move called "beyond the bottle". But, it will be interesting to know that these are just the latest strives in a longstanding war. 'The Cola Wars' as it is sometimes referred to, has been ongoing for more than a century.
The History-
Pepsi was made 13 years after Coke, by which time Coca-Cola was already selling millions of gallons a year. Coke's advertising has been really effective through the years. Ranging from "Things go better with coke" to even sponsoring the first animated television special "A Charlie brown Christmas". Of course, we cannot forget the famous red and white campaign, led by the polar bears. Also, Coke practically made Santa Claus. While this happened, Pepsi had a wavy ride, introducing the canned soda and managing to get bankrupt... twice. It made a rebound by merging with Frito-Lay Inc. therefore, making "PepsiCo". This set the basis for the long-standing rivalry. So far we have seen many digs but, the most famous was the pepsi challenge (which lead to the infamous new coke spoiler alert: they changed back to the original). However, even after all this time and so much marketing Coke remains the number one soda drink.
Coke > Pepsi
Pepsi prides itself in saying that more than fifty percent of the people that took the aforementioned Pepsi challenge or the sip test, choose Pepsi over the "leading soda brand". Then why, is it that Coke is still the "leading brand". At the end of the day it all comes down to taste. Coke has more sodium than Pepsi, therefore Pepsi is sweeter. Pepsi had more sugar, calories and caffeine than Coke. But, too much of everything is bad. Overall the excess sugar does not go down well with consumers when you drink a whole can. But, in a sip test the sweeter flavour is definitely more appealing. So, although the marketing campaign was highly successful since Pepsi gained a larger market share, most people still prefer Coke. But, soda is just the beginning.
Who is winning?
The war is still on and doesn't look like it will end soon (or end pretty). But, as of now- Who is winning? The answer to that is not as straightforward as you'd expect. It depends on how you measure it. If you simply look at Soda (which is what both brands are known for) then Coke takes the crown. Coke has been increasing its soda market share each year, while Pepsi has been doing exactly the opposite. Coke has also been much more popular with millennials, especially after Pepsi's failed attempt at attracting them by using Kendall Jenner in an ad (the ad faced lot of backlash online for appropriating the Black lives matter movement and using social justice to sell soda...). But, when you look at all the other products that both companies sell, Pepsi wins. It's total revenue in 2017 was more than 60 billion dollars, which dwarves Coke's revenue the same year. This is all thanks to Pepsi's snack companies which include Lays, Doritos and even Cheetos. So, when it comes to the soda wars there is nothing like Coke. But, it is best enjoyed with a pack of flamin hot Cheetos...