Guest
Coca-cola is a company that has survived for more than 111 years which includes 7 revolutions and 2 world wars. Now, how is it possible that a company selling sugared water could make a billion dollars inspite of having competitors which are much more tastier than coca cola and much more healthier than coca cola ?
The answer is that coca colo deploys a genius marketing strategy because of which coca cola is able to make a billion dollars in profits merely by selling sugared water. In 2005, there was this scientist called Montague who conducted a very simple experiment to try and understand conducted a very simple experiment to try and understand as to what exactly is the difference between coca coal and pepsi and which was one more preferred by people. So he conducted with 3 iterations. In the first iteration, he placed two bottles one of coke and the other of Pepsi and he took off the label so that people couldn’t identify on the outside which is coke and the other of Pepsi and he took off the label so that people couldn’t identify on the outside which is coke and which is pepsi. So, when he called the subjects to come and taste both the colas. He scanned their brains through an FMRI scanner. And the first iteration when people came and tasted both the colas from the bottles which were not labelled. They were not even able to identify the difference between both the colas. And the FMRI scanner also did not show any difference in the reading. So he sends them back and calls them in for a second iteration. This time, he puts the labels on so that people can identify it. This time when the subjects come and taste Pepsi, nothing happens. But the monent they tasted coca cola the FMRI scanner. And the first iteration when people came and tasted both the colas from the bottles which were not labelled. They were not even able to identify the difference between both the colas. And the FMRI scanner also did not show any difference in the reading. So he sends them back and calls them in for a second iteration. This time, he puts the labels back on so that people can identify it. This time when subjects come and taste pepsi, nothing happens. But the moment they tasted coca cola, the FMRI scanner showed a significant difference in the reading. That’s when Reed Montague thought, maybe there’s something to the receipe.
So now its time for thira iteration. This time, he swapped the logos which meant that the bottle that contained coca cola was not labelled as pepsi and the other way it was labelled the other. This time when the subjects cane and tasted the cola from the pepsi labelled bottle, nothing happened. But the moment they tasted the cola from the coca cola labelled bottle the FMRI scanner showed the same significant difference in the reading. And now that Montague understood that it’s not the cola or bottle or the subjects it is just the flash of the red colour logo of coca cola that made the significant difference in the reading and altered the very perception of people whereas behind the scenes it clearly justifies the billion dollar budget that coca cola takes out every single year to establish itself as the brand icon of happiness.
The marketing strategy of coca cola is the value of the product is equal to tangible value with perceived value. Now, for coca cola the tangible value of the product is sugar and by default, scientifically speaking sugar is bound to give you pleasure whereas when it comes to the perception of the product, coca cola does on extra ordinary job by assessing itself by the emotion of happiness.
When coca cola came to India, they were facing a hard time because they did not know what type of commercial to bring in which is going to resonate with the entire country because in India the tradition changes, culture changes, the language changes and lifestyle also changes. And that is when after doing a deep research they found this beautiful receipe of something called GAME OF CRICKET. Because coca cola, after doing a deep market research understood that in India regardless of your religion, caste, sex, race etc., in the game of cricket everybody is an Indian and interestingly Sachin Tendulkar got hired as their brand ambassador and came out with a beautiful COKE KI KHUSHI, CRICKET KI KHUSHI. Important to note here is, Good brands sell you products, legendary brands sell you an emotion and that is the secret behing coca cola’s genius marketing strategy.
