Coca-Cola faces a challenging marketing challenge: the company’s purpose is to change consumers’ negative associations with sugary fizzy drinks.
For example, in early 2020, Coca-Cola announced its new social campaign to combat obesity in the United States to promote a healthy lifestyle (Obialor 2020, p. 153). As part of its campaign, Coca-Cola informs customers about the benefits (or rather, about the absence of harm to the figure) (Zou 2021). It also encourages people to lead an active lifestyle. In addition to the two commercials, the company has launched several sports programs (Dai 2021, p. 82). The two-minute video features a wide selection of different low-calorie drinks from Coca-Cola and shows how their packaging focuses on the caloric content of the product (Wang et al. 2020, p.468).
Coca-Cola carefully bypasses in its videos the mention that a glass of ordinary drinking water not only does not contain extra calories (Christie et al. 2021, p.5). It is much healthier than any carbonated drink, and it quenches thirst better. In Pepsi Cola, there is a tendency to significantly increase the consumption of beverages with the so-called “added benefits” – functional elements (minerals, vitamins, extracts of useful herbs) (Brahmbhatt et al. 2020, p.126). For example, Pepsi has released a new Aqua Minerale Life with minerals and valuable features (Casaqui 2020).
Currently, taking care of health is one of the main reasons for the significant increase in the consumption of bottled water. For many people, drinking liquid is no longer enough to quench their thirst. The most prominent manufacturers of carbonated drinks adhere to different marketing strategies to keep up with the changes in the market. While Pepsi Cola focuses on the beneficial elements that make up its composition, Coca-Cola draws public attention to health problems to associate consumers with a functional product.
Reference List
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Dai, Y 2021, ‘Comparison of Emphasis Point Towards Marketing
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Wang, YY, Na, HB, Zhang, M, Deng, ZP, Huo, LH & Gao S 2020, ‘Coca-Cola Solvothermal Synthesis of Mesoporous Sno2 Blooming Flower-like Architecture Assembled from Single Crystal Nanorods and Its Gas Sensing Properties, Powder Technology, vol. 375, no. 20, pp. 463-471.
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