If you had to choose between Pepsi or Coca-Cola, which one would you choose? Many people from every corner of the world are divided because these two soft drinks brands are worldwide consumed. However, one of them is ahead, let’s say its characteristic color isn’t blue…
This war has been going on for many years and the Pepsi brand decided to take action and launch a marketing campaign to prove their product was better. In the end, not everything goes as planned. Let’s see how this war started and what each brand did about it.
Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola
These are the most popular and consumed soft drinks in the world. Both were created in the nineteenth century in the United States and this was the moment this competition of being the favorite drink for society started, either you chose the red brand (Coca-Cola) or the blue one (Pepsi). However, we can say this debate was a hot topic in the 80s and this event even had a name, the ‘Cola Wars’.
Who was the first brand to take action and try to be ahead? Pepsi was. Let’s move on to what the company did, whose result is, to say the least, funny.
Taste the cola!
Pepsi was willing to prove they were the best cola brand in the world and end with the debate, so they came up with a challenge in 1975. They called it the ‘Pepsi Challenge’.
This challenge consisted in someone drinking 2 glasses of colas (Pepsi and Coca-Cola) with no clue of which brand was each glass. Most people chose the blue brand to be the best taste because of its sweet flavor.
As a result the blue brand saw an increase in its sales volumes, so, at first, it was winning the battle until…
Coca-Cola response
After 10 years of the challenge marketing campaign, the red brand decided to do something about it and they changed their recipe to have a similar taste to Pepsi’s cola, naming it ‘New Coke’.
This was a disaster because people didn’t like it at all and consumers were asking for the return of the original drink. They even wrote letters to the company! After 3 months, Coca-Cola listened to its fans and decided to sell the original cola again.
Red wins blue
Having in mind the highly accepted Pepsi flavor in the challenge campaign and the disastrous new drink from Coca-Cola, you may think the blue brand won in the end. Not that fast! Pepsi couldn’t surpass the red brand in sales because Coca-Cola is not just a flavor, we relate the brand with Christmas due to the many ads they have made over the years.
Basically, Pepsi didn’t take advantage of the challenge campaign and Coca-Cola was focused (and still does) on their public image, so people were getting more stimulus from the red brand.
Pepsi nowadays
Unfortunately, the brand is not in the top 3 most consumed soft drinks in the world. It has gone down to the 4th place because other brands like Sprite or Dr. Pepper have made a name for themselves in the market.
The blue brand is still looking for new ways to improve their sales, but they have used the 80s challenge once again, but this time tasting the Pepsi Zero Sugar.
It is funny to see how big companies fight to become the most consumed brand in the market. They come up with crazy ideas to get noticed and sometimes it doesn’t work, as it happened to Pepsi. What you should do is go and buy whatever you like the best and feels good for you, don’t think about brands.