Coca Cola vs Pepsi : the Soda Wars A I introduce myself, my name is Diletta Purificati, I will analyze the "Cola Wars", a comparison between Coca-Cola and Pepsi in relation to the '60s, which represented a turbulent decade from a social and political point of view I have divided my presentation into main parts: I will start with a brief historical introduction related to the brands I have considered, in the central part I will make a comparison between the marketing campaigns mutually targeted for direct competition between the product lines of each company and in conclusion a consideration about the changes of the two giants over the years I decided to bring this theme as I think it is particularly interesting to go and investigate the socio- political history of products, which have made history and are used daily Moreover, this choice is also given by the aesthetic nature of the ads and packaging that have always been part of the collective imagination I will focus in particular to analyze the ads of the '60s: Coca Cola, a traditionalist brand, has addressed the concerns arising from the turbulence of the time reassuring people that things would improve, as opposed to the Pepsi brand, for which 1961 was a branding boom, under the slogan "Come Alive!" bringing the brand to claim ownership of the "We Generation" The controversy began in 1886, when Jhon S Pemberton developed the original recipe for Coca- Cola Pepsi-Cola was created 13 years later by pharmacist Caleb Bradham Coca-Cola developed its iconic bottle, got sponsorships of big names and expanded in Europe Meanwhile, Pepsi went bankrupt because of World War I Eight years later it failed again, but during World War II, Pepsi expanded its advertising and began selling its drink in cans In the 1950s, Coca-Cola commercials began to hit TV, while Pepsi modified the logo, replacing it with more modern handwriting Coca-Cola began to go public in 1962, in the wake of the launch of Sprite, which would become one of its most successful brands Pepsi merged with FritoLay in the mid-60s to create PepsiCo, the can is relaunched and Diet Pepsi is born In 1965 Pepsi enters Italy, laying the foundations for the war we are going to talk about Coca-Cola’s advertising has traditionally focused on health, nostalgia and the family as a nourishing unit Pepsi has positioned itself as a young brand that keeps pace with the aesthetic and social changes that occur with the emergence of each new generation of young people So my analysis is based on the advertising choices adopted by the respective brands in the 60s Although similar in terms of targeting and actions taken related to music and youth, Coca and Pepsi have traveled different distances B Coca Cola Coca- Cola is a Soft drink which is not only refreshment, but an American symbol It has grown to one of the world’s biggest and most successful companies Advertising was an important factor in John Pemberton and Asa Candler's success and by the turn of the century, the drink was sold across the United States and Canada Around the same time, the company began selling syrup to independent bottling companies licensed to sell the drink Even today, the US soft drink industry is organized on this principle Coca-Cola’s mission is to - Refresh the world - Inspire moments of optimism - Create value and make a difference [The company’s] vision serves as the framework for our Roadmap and guides every aspect of our business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable, quality growth The advertiser is Coca Cola; the intended audience are every customer as a target, however its segmentation is mainly based on “age, family size and income.” The perfect segmentation was a main factor for Coca-Cola’s success Age is one of the most important segments of Coca-Cola dividing it mainly into two parts: Coca- Cola mainly addresses its product to a young customer base aged between 10-35 That is why they often use well-known pop stars to promote their product Also, the company targets universities, schools, Colleges etc in acquiring contracts However, the Coca-Cola diet products also addresses an elderly segment considering people with diabetic who are often 40 plus The growing importance of Health Consciousness affected Coca-Cola’s product portfolio by offering drinks tailored to the new customer needs, such as Diet Coke Moreover, the whole Non-alcohol market has increased as many people switched over from beer or other alcoholic beverages and it definitely will increase further The population growth rate has also a strong influence on the market as it differs strongly between countries The company has to adapt its production to it and consider it in their strategy and further planning Age distribution plays also an important role: as it was discussed earlier, Coca-Cola mainly concentrates on the young generation So a country with a young population would be a more interesting market for the company than a country dominated by an elderly generation Income distribution and career attitudes are other factors that influence Coca-Cola’s decision making processes Furthermore, Coca-Cola is an iconic American product: so in some countries the sales volume depends on how open the people are towards America or American products Income is another important factor: the company offers its product in many different sizes and packages at different price levels making it affordable also for students, families, middle-class etc This segment is also connected to family size, because of the variation in bottle size and packaging In general, Coca-Cola targets both men and female, however there are some differences in taste and preferences Coca-Cola light for example is quite popular among girls and women, whereas Coke Zero and Thums up (available in India) has a stronger taste and is mainly preferred by men ANALISI PUBBLICITA’ The advertiser is Coca-Cola, a commercial company that has the purpose of Selling goods and services; changingattitudes; creating new desires in a target audience; giving infoabout a product or service.In particular in advertising that I will go to analyze coca cola is proposed in the headline as“Foul weather friend” A foul-weather friend is someone who likes to be around you when you are unemployed, depressed and in the dumps It feels sorry for you butcoca cola contributes with its inimitable taste to make things go right and to overcome bad times This is an advertisement for a magazine that explores the state of the world in the twenty century, however,the image is intended to more Coca-cola uses an Audience-based approach: tries to convince the target audience that they need a particular product because their lives will be better if they use a certain product and the things go right The tone of language is informal and conversational The pun can be found in the juxtaposition between foul and fool, which is not present in the text but can be considered as an assonance of the pronunciation of the two words, to indicate the uncertain nature of the month of March The Sloganis straightforward: it has a simple structure and represents a colloquial expression used in common language to approach all types of consumers The relationship with the target audience is light and the tone is therefore informal Coca Cola combines socio-political aspects with an appeal to the emotions, the style is descriptive with short noun phrases and short sentences Coca cola uses a social lexical field to highlight the product The typographical features draw attention to the product The prominent image and the large slogan immediately catch the eye, but the advertisers are confident that their target audience will not be put off by the size and extent of the copy The small print of the copy relay on words rather than color and appeal to the Human desire to makes things right The lexis of the advertisement is colloquial and reflects the product There are no incomplete structures of the sentences in the copy of the advertisement, we can find an incomplete structure in the headline given by the lack of the verb (foul weather friend) You can see the presence of the modal verb (can count on) There is only one comparative represented by better and a metaphor represented by “Coca Cola makes a great fair weather friend” The dominant tense is the present tense, because the advertiser is promoting a product that is currently available e and the imperative represents the call to action towards consumers (take off/put back) The layout displays an Horizontal axis: The space on the left of the page has the culturally shared information The space on the right is the new info Western logic of reading Coca cola uses the packshot which, as a rule, is represented by a professional photograph made with the technique of still life to which is entrusted the visual presentation of the article; thanks to it you can place the packaging within the visual advertising, with the intent to identify the product and the brand making them recognizable to the public The same is achieved in advertising of Pepsi cola As the threat of new entrants is quite low in this specific industry, the rivalry between the two existing companies Coca-Cola and PepsiCo is even higher Here, you can identify a Duopoly The two big players have the majority of the market share Pepsi: PepsiCo is a world leader in convenient snacks, food and beverages with revenues of more than $39 billion and over 185,000 employees worldwide in 2009 PepsiCo has attained a leadership position as being to next to Coca Cola in a soft drink bottling Their business profit is increasing rapidly due to a high standard of performance, marketing strategies, competitiveness, determination, commitment, and the personal and professional integrity of their people, products and business practices Pepsi segments its market in several ways Pepsi, mainly segment their market demographically assuming age, income and family size Pepsi’s behavioral segmentation has been a key to the company’s success Age is one of the most significant parts of the segmentation of Pepsi Pepsi introduces Pepsi diet for the people who are suffering from diabetic and for those who are likely to avoid sugar and for the aged people specially 40 plus Pepsi mainly produces the Pepsi cola the main customer of Pepsi cola is young people whose age is 10 to 35 On income basis Pepsi also segment their market by making little pack They offer a competitive price range to all class of people They consider the economic situation in our country So they introduce Pepsi in different price for different the people whose income is different They think about student, poor people, and middle class people economic condition for their pricing Family size basis is also a base segmentation for Pepsi Pepsi Generation Pepsi-Cola enjoyed extraordinary success during the 1960s and 1970s mainly because of its new man in charge, Donald M Kendall Kendall was noted for leading his company in five major areas during this period: massive advertising; the introduction of new soft drink brands; creative packaging; overseas expansion; and product line expansion In 1963, Kendall and Pepsi made marketing history when the company changed the way it advertised its product Instead of focusing on Pepsi the beverage, its television campaigns appealed directly to a specific group of people—baby boomers Baby boomers were children born immediately after World War II (1939-45), between 1946 and 1964, and they numbered in the millions Pepsi told them to "Come alive! You're in the Pepsi Generation." Advertising slogans that followed continued to target the energetic, youthful lifestyles of baby boomer teens They also advised a generation of viewers who were experiencing significant social changes: "You've got a lot to live Pepsi's got a lot to give" and "Join the Pepsi people, feelin' free." ANALISI PUBBLICITA’ The mid 1960s campaign that featured the slogan “Come Alive! You’re in the Pepsi Generation!” The advertiser is PepsiCo, a commercial company that has the purpose of Selling goods and services; changingattitudes; creating new desires in a target audience; giving infoabout a product or service.In particular in advertising that I will go to analyze coca cola is proposed in the headline as“Foul weather friend” A foul-weather friend is someone who likes to be around you when you are unemployed, depressed and in the dumps It feels sorry for you butcoca cola contributes with its inimitable taste to make things go right and to overcome bad times This is an advertisement for a magazine that explores the state of the world in the twenty century, however,the image is intended to more Coca-cola uses an Audience-based approach: The tone of language The Slogan The relationship with the target audience The typographical features The lexis of the advertisement reflects the product There are no incomplete structures of the sentences in the copy of the advertisement, we can find an incomplete structure in the headline given by the lack of the verb (foul weather friend) You can see the presence of the modal verb (can count on) There is only one comparative represented by better and a metaphor represented by “Coca Cola makes a great fair weather friend” The dominant tense is the present tense, because the advertiser is promoting a product that is currently available e and the imperative represents the call to action towards consumers (take off/put back) The layout displays a Vertical axis: In the top section are the consumer’s aspirations and desires In the bottom section: general info on the product The logo is placed at the bottom right-end corner of the page Coca cola uses the packshot which, as a rule, is represented by a professional photograph made with the technique of still life to which is entrusted the visual presentation of the article; thanks to it you can place the packaging within the visual advertising, with the intent to identify the product and the brand making them recognizable to the public The same is achieved in advertising of Pepsi cola C CONCLUSIONI As successful as Pepsi was during the 1960s, it was still trailing behind Coke In response, Kendall thought it was important to expand the company' product line beyond soft drinks At a grocer's convention in 1960, he met Herman W Lay, the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Frito-Lay, the nation's leading manufacturer of such snack foods as Lay's potato chips, Cheetos, Ruffles, and Rold Gold pretzels The two decided to merge companies, and in 1965, PepsiCo, Inc became the name of the new company A year later they introduced Doritos, which eventually became the most popular snack chip in the United States  ... can place the packaging within the visual advertising, with the intent to identify the product and the brand making them recognizable to the public The same is achieved in advertising of Pepsi cola... not be put off by the size and extent of the copy The small print of the copy relay on words rather than color and appeal to the Human desire to makes things right The lexis of the advertisement... entrusted the visual presentation of the article; thanks to it you can place the packaging within the visual advertising, with the intent to identify the product and the brand making them recognizable