Coke Versus Pepsi 100 Year War
Autor: b0121apeel • February 12, 2013 • Case Study • 666 Words (3 Pages) • 2,541 Views
Coke Versus Pepsi 100 Year War
The Cola wars between Coke and Pepsi can be divided into two periods, one is the period from Coke invented to 1950s that Coke dominated the soft drinks market and other brands were struggling to compete the niche market; the other is the period from 1950s to now that Pepsi succeeded to counteroffensive Coke and had almost equal market shares with Coke.
Why was Coke able to dominate the world soft drink industry by 1950? The reasons come from internal factors and external environments. Because of Coke’s secret formula and marketing strategy, Coke was considered as a good quality carbonated drinks and you can get it once you desire since 1920s. Besides, the quickly grew franchisees network helped Coke to ensure the leading position. The Coke would never complacent and kept innovating new ways of delivering drinks such as fountain and vending machine. However, these internal factors can only make sure that Coke was ready to lead the market. The other key event which is World War II around 1940s, helped Coke to set up over 60 bottling plants followed the movements of American troops over the world, because the CEO of Coke promised that time that Coke would provide cheaper coke to soldiers. This contributed to Coke’s dominant market share in most European and Asian countries by 1950.
Coke utilized own advantages and good timing to dominant the soft drinks market by 1950, but Pepsi was starting counteroffensive at the same time. In 1950, former marketing executive became Pepsi’s CEO and made “beat Coke” his theme by introducing 26-ounces bottle to the market which targeting family consumption. This strategy benefited from booming growth of supermarkets and convenience store. Pepsi knew it can’t win the face-to-face battle against Coke at that time, so it chose an indirect strategy to discover potential market and customers. This helped Pepsi to gain market share even during heyday of Coke in 1950s.
In 1963, the new CEO of Pepsi launched a campaign which targeted younger generation
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