Ad Experts Explain Coke vs. Pepsi | Vanity Fair

Coca-Cola versus Pepsi stands out in marketing history as one of the great fights between two brands. Part of the reason these brands are ubiquitous is not only because they are on the shelves every time you go to the supermarket, but also because they have created an ethos that made them brands that are part of the public debate. Both brands always try to be relevant. Sometimes one brand is more successful than the other. That's why this is such a fantastic battle of brands across decades. First impressions, I mean. Fabulous ad Very ideological ad Very connected to its time It's a global ad It's about diversity It's about peace So there you have it It's a wonderful melody It's God Lyrics that are attractive and encouraging and hopeful that we are also seeing a transition in At that point, from traditional corporate copy, make sure you talk about the functional benefits of your brand in some way that isn't actually part of this ad, but what's also interesting is that everyone is lined up like an army, you know? ?

It's the Peace Corps, here we have another American value or ideology which is individualism and freedom and Pepsi tries to associate itself here with that type of feeling and ideology by saying that they are part of a new generation, right, we have grandma, we have you kids, you know, the Coca-Cola ad at the time was all the people who were there during college years, whereas here we see the whole family involved, the ad is also very much about an active lifestyle, you see sailing to the At the beginning, you see barbecues. It's the most standard advertising format, in fact we've seen time and time again people smiling in ads and then showing them engaging in various activities and cuts between them and then at the end you get a message that it's not particularly creative either Coca-Cola or Pepsi.

Right now we're trying to create a broader impression of what the ad is, what the company represents, what it means to you to be a drinker of these products. Pepsi's message is in some ways much more specific than Coca-Cola's message. Coca-Cola's message is general. values ​​a general feeling while here we are associating that general value which is freedom with something much more specific which is you are the generation that wants to feel free this is the taste this is the test Pepsi versus Coca-Cola the Pepsi challenge the challenge Pepsi was basically a blind test where people tried Pepsi and Coca-Cola and then had to say which tasted better.

Those tests were done in public and used as part of an advertising campaign, so in a way it's also a very, very modern ubiquitous test. channel campaign because you're starting with a Pepsi challenge and you're filming that Pepsi challenge and then they put it in the ad and you probably also get some PR along the way every time the Pepsi challenge shows up in your community, the challenge Pepsi's was a splendid marketing move because it really clarifies what customers should care about, which is taste. In fact, it was an aggressive move, a bold move by Pepsi.

Pepsi's challenge really stands out in marketing history. one of the big fights between two brands, you know, they start with the functional, God, we know well, don't forget it or try us if you haven't mixed with it, once you've tried us, now you can party and celebrate. and I feel good, the Pepsi challenge was quite successful, it gave Coca-Cola a difficult time for many years, they didn't know how to react, then they saw their market share decline and wondered if they should keep the old product. and find a new way to differentiate it or whether they should introduce a new product the definitive answer ten years later only after the Pepsi challenge was of course new

coke

there has never been a better taste the greatest discovery in a hundred years it is very rare to see something is so successful that it actually prompts not only a competitor but the market leader to go ahead and change the ingredients of their core product or service.

Coca-Cola launches a brand new product with images that really suggest something that will change the world is coming. Of the new

coke

can exploding like a rocket from the old coke, you know? Trying to create that sense of where and we're being innovative in this, we're not reacting to Pepsi and it didn't last long at the time. It was much more common for brands to simply push what customers consumed and we're seeing one of these early examples of the opposite where the company tried to make a change and got slapped for it. Yeah, I just want you to know that I think you're the best ever, yeah, I want my coke, no, no, you can really have it, you know?

Looking at it now, the amazing thing is how it's a story, it's like it's a moment, it's like a mini movie, you know what I created but with these two characters and they have emotions and a connection and an event is happening and all of that in a minute why would you want to appeal to emotions rather than simply rational persuasion? Well, emotions are something close. to people's hearts it is something that people will remember, so the story arc allows someone to have a journey that can create a longer lasting memory, therefore a better association with the brand connected to that story , there is a sharing aspect again, isn't there?

This sharing thing, they have a lot of things to share, you know, bringing the world by giving everyone a coke, obviously, we are looking at two different options of celebrities and stories. Pepsi continues its approach of associating with a generation, in this case also a good association with music, this is becoming a style in advertising in the future, when you want to indicate to young people that you play music, the commercial is its hit song, so it's not really about Michael Jackson at all, it's just about his art and his art form and it includes that direct sense of endorsement from him by incorporating the Pepsi brand and some sort of Pepsi logo and statements of the time in the lyrics of his song.

I think you're seeing part of this transition where Pepsi is starting to refocus as a Coca-Cola differentiator. As this young demographic generation tries new things related to what will happen next in society as opposed to what is here now, the concept has a lot to do with a narrative that portrays a situation between a child and an approaching adult. to the child's emotions, but I keep focusing on this relationship between the two, whereas the Pepsi ad is more about something aspirational, it's an image, it's a utopia of youth culture and everyone is a part of that, from the young people to older young people and maybe older people who want to aspire to be this idea.

Anticipation of what voice this girl is going to come out with now Denna jumps right into some sort of classic Pepsi, you know, brand related stuff, this level of consistency, this is the first time humor has entered the cola wars, for so to speak the other previous ads were lifestyle ads they were emotional ads they were rational ads but they never had a sense of humor it was a bold move on Pepsi's part to show the Koch logo this is the first time they have done this since the challenge Pepsi where it was clear who the competitor is even though it didn't show the logo, so this is a very strong comparative ad, but it is placed in a fun and humorous context.

They reference Grand Theft Auto, which is a very popular video game in the news at the time. for potentially promoting violence among our children and being an inappropriate style game that promotes some kind of gang violence and theft and harm to people in everyday life and of course Coca-Cola has done this wonderful twist where they have turned the protagonist instead of being a villain into a hero by grabbing his bottle of coke and paying for it instead of stealing it and then walking out with his bottle of coke and creating this joie de vivre among the whole community of this kind of car world of grand theft and twisting a The negative thing that is happening in society at that time becomes something positive.

The ad in a way is very postmodern deconstructivist because it plays with its idea of ​​the video game, but then puts it in an advertising format and reverses it, but despite all the flashy execution. there is still the underlying message that Coca-Cola is a brand that is shared; You see the tradition of Coca-Cola and its spirit presented in a modern context, while in the Pepsi ad there is humor, so they are still tapping into a very strong connection. excitement, it still creates a sense of enjoyment by making you laugh while watching the ads, so again a simpler form of excitement in what Pepsi is doing, but potentially just as memorable or impactful in some ways of changing your way of thinking.

The next time you look to buy a cola, Coca-Cola also maintains this idea that it is the social drink for us as friends, but it is very contemporary and as such will look very dated in few directions, creating the advertisement in a way in which you're talking about the zeitgeist or the spirit of society in general and Coca-Cola is playing with that kind of theme, it's fusing a long tradition of talking about social values ​​with the wants and needs of a millennial generation that is a political activist and therefore ignores the political content for a moment it is a lifestyle ad and is trying to connect of course with a generation in that sense it is a very bold ad but it didn't work What immediately falls flat in comparison to some of the successful coke ads is This is too specific to the images of the conflict that was happening when this ad came out.

Black lives matter protests. France tried to leverage current political events into socio-cultural events and things happening in the world. The question is whether Pepsi has the permission to take advantage of current social movements, yes, they present Pepsi as the solution, more generally, does this generation want to be associated with a major global brand when talking about activism and social change, etc. , and in fact this ad got pulled pretty quickly after its release, Pepsi had built the same way Coca-Cola had the ability to respond to the social crises of the time in the same way and they certainly didn't execute it very well, you are the brand that is about humor and fun and about music and change, you are not the brand that is about peace and community and the union of the two ads approach this generation in a very different way, Pepsi goes with activists political social, even aspirations of the generation, whereas coca-cola plays much more with the feeling of that generation in terms of their social connection and the use of social networks and being friends, etc.

Pepsi has done something in a much more risky way but they failed we are the coca-cola company for an organic tea company a premium juice company we have drinks for long days for birthdays to turn new leaves this is the Pepsi that your father and his father drank father drank before he met your grandmother this is the Pepsi for this model and his mother hi Cindy both campaigns are very, very corporate coca-cola the coca-cola company says look, we have all these different brands, not just coca-cola, which is very unusual, they are doing it for the first time to have a corporate advertising campaign instead of product advertising, and also, interestingly, it is reflecting that Think at a public level in an awareness that is very clear from the decrease in cola sales, especially that what people want to drink is changing.

Well, here we can learn several things about the brand. First of all, a brand is much more than a product because the product in this case is really relatively simple, but the images that are created through the brand, through the communications through the various campaigns, They are amazing. These brands are associated with freedom, they are associated with peace, they are associated with social protests, they are associated with friendship. with anything, even though the product is so simple, it's really interesting to see this combination of the history of certain celebrities and commercials and Pepsi moments in overtime as a kind of nostalgic Pepsi ad, but it's not what We are used to seeing where most of what they are doing is about what is hot now and what is next.

It's interesting to look at the ad closely and you're actually using an old logo. It is very rare for a company to take a step back, especially if you know the expenses. that come into Pepsi's adaptation of their logo a few years ago and really tie into that nostalgia is pretty unique in an ad campaign, unless your core audience changes radically, you need to maintain that stability somehow to maintain that trust with its audience over time and We've seen both companies do a great job at that, but it's absolutely amazing that you have something like sugar water, basically you know, with a secret formula and it's being stylized into two big battles of values ​​and ideals. and what a society should be like. government and everything is there in the advertiser andis sugar or, ultimately,