Positioning strategies of Coca-Cola and Pepsi
A good positioning makes a product unique and makes the users consider using it as a distinct benefit to them. So, here we are witnessing that 2 of these brands have made genius positioning strategies tactics and processes. The good positioning gives the product or services the Unique Selling proposition, it conquers a place in the customer’s mind and makes them a fan of their products. So how coca-cola and Pepsi managed to create a perfect positioning, we are going to discuss the cases and look at them from different angles.
So, let’s discuss the case of Coca-cola, and find out their positioning tactics.
For this, we need to find out 5 aspects of positioning.
- The target market of Coca-cola.
- The marketing strategy
- The problem removal
- The social acceptance
- The message strategy
We begin by revealing their target market.
So I have discussed coca-cola many times and tried to find out who they target. The reality is that their target market is very vast and includes every man who has emotions, who want to be happy, feels beautiful emotions. There are segments of people that always want to be happy, other segments want recognition or vitality. So here we find out some crucial segments for coca-cola and here are they.
1st – children for all the ages and all the types.
Coca-cola is targeting children based on their deep feelings, They have a commercial example where they accentuate brotherly love. When the elder brother is always making trick on the little brother and gets on his nerves and one day when the little brother was in trouble and was in a fight with yard guys, the elder one come to help and makes everyone run away,
Another example of deep emotion targeting is the Christmas commercials of coca-cola. Santa Claus comes from northern countries and brings gifts for everyone. The Christmas feelings and gifts feelings are so deep in the hearts of children, and when coca-cola shows Santa in its chic, everybody’s heart melts and then coca-cola comes and they immediately long for the drink.
2nd – young people who need a smile and happy moments.
A commercial shows us a man enters a metro train and begins to laugh and people there begin smiling then laughing like the man. Coca-cola targets young people who like everyday activities, enjoy their train trips and would like to smile and enjoy every minute. One of the targets we call Nesters, who are the following people?
They are people for whom family, duties, and traditions are primarily on their list, they think everybody needs to take responsibilities and all their free time work and everything is centered on their family. Like cooking and pass time in the house, inviting friends for small parties and here is where Coca-Cola wins with its presence. The traditional joyful drink will make them happy.
The marketing strategy of Coca-Cola.
The strategy of Coca-Cola has been known for a long time, it is to conquer the world with their drinks and win all the markets. So did how they managed to do that? Wherever you look at Coca-Cola you find happiness like “happiness machine” “delicious happiness” or “open happiness” the famous slogan. So happiness, innocence a sense of paradise are just one part of the innocent brand archetype.
What is the innocent brand archetype?
- The goal of the archetype is to be happy.
- The strategy is to do things right.
- The desire is experiencing paradise.
Every successful brand has implemented the strategy of 12 brand archetypes. We need to take just 8 steps for completing archetypal branding with the following book.
1. Find out your brand archetype.
2. Create a logo.
3. Do the packaging.
Just like other famous brands, Coca-cola has been using the archetypes as the base of heir branding tactics.
The other famous marketing trick of Coca-Cola is the recipe for the drink. Everybody is aware that there is a secret recipe and only a few people know the secret. The legend has been known for a long time and all other drinks want to copy the taste of the drink and had a failure.
Another winning fact for Coca-Cola is the bottle itself. The shape of the bottle has been around for decades and it appeals to everyone with genius design particularities. The red color of the bottle is also very famous it has happy feelings in it with interesting innocent style fonts on it.
Problem removal.
As I already mentioned people need to be happy, as happiness is a problem nowadays when tension and complexity of people’s communication are so actual. Nowadays the problem is very vivid, it is happiness so when we buy a bottle of the drink we buy a little happiness, when we open it, we open happiness.
Nowadays the company is aware of what people need, they need joy, real friendship, real love and they emphasize real things like brother love or gatherings of friends and so on where they would open the happiness and fill the rooms with it.
Social acceptance.
How does Coca-Cola reach social acceptance, with many different tactics? They do it mainly with sponsorships like the Olympic games or American idol, or football world cups. Millions of viewers are watching these events and seeing Coca-Cola commercials makes them love and accept the drink. Millions of dollars are spent on these events with the target of social acceptance.
Also, they target main events like Christmas or thanksgiving day another way of making social approval is targeting people’s gathering whether 2 lovers meet each other or gatherings of friends. They are aware that they should drink Coca-Cola during those times.
Positioning strategy of Coca-Cola
Let’s discuss the different ways of messaging of Coca-Cola. As I already mentioned Coca-Cola is based on Innocent brand archetype which has a desire of experiencing paradise and a goal to be happy.
Innocent brand archetype has a wide range of messaging tactics and here are they. The call of the Innocent brand archetype is goodness, simplicity, and the desire for purity. And then it comes trusting, depending and idyllic emotions and promises.
Now let’s find the positioning tactics of Pepsi. We need to discuss it by revealing their target audience.
To find it out we need to turn to their commercial examples and see what kind of people are there.
Here is the latest commercial of Pepsi starring by Kendal Jenner.
They want their freedom, they want that their voices heard louder. And here we see an event where artists, musicians, and free people are present. And who are these people?
Target Market
They are the ones that are called Hedonists by Garrison Group.
Their motto is “we live once” and they want to enjoy every moment of their lives. They would not hesitate to jump on the stage during a concert or speak loud and dance in front of everybody like Pepsi wants them to be.
Hedonists like spending a lot though their wages are not so high, while we think about their attitude to brands they are like fanatics when thinking about loving a brand, or team they love. They would adore it by praising it as scents they like it. But if they feel betrayed by a brand, they would rather tell everybody that it is the worst brand in the world.
Here is just one example of their target audience. Pepsi, on the contrary to Coca-Cola, likes involving in their commercial celebrities, football players like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo. They like targeting the fans of these celebrities, and so if their idols like Pepsi, they also should like Pepsi.
Marketing Strategy of Pepsi.
Pepsi is a competitor of Coca Cola until the end of the world. This competition and rivalry would last forever. And their marketing strategy is based on this rivalry by making delicious tastes that are different from coca-cola and they claim that 51 percent of people chose Pepsi.
They give different tastes to their cola drink with cherry or lime and create a new market where they can be leaders. So, in reality, there are new markets where Pepsi can shine and lead the competition. In the USA Pepsi is weak and losing the competition so they try to enter here with famous characters like Britney Spears or Beyonce.
Problem Removal.
Pepsi says that people need to be heard louder. So they like targeting the following tension point of people which is to be heard and seen. So they speak louder, sing louder and do anything louder than other activities.
Social Approval
Again, we turn to celebrities to find the solution to our problem. Pepsi is using a vast range of celebrities to make this happen, from sports people to singers. All of these celebrities are in commercials to gain social approval. If Britney spears drink something and praise it then millions of her fans know exactly what they would drink when they are thirsty.
Message Strategy
Pepsi likes to give joy to people. It wants us to have fun, feel every moment of our days. Pepsi is using the tactics of the Jester brand archetype. What does the Jester brand archetype represent?
Jester brand archetype likes to make tricks and lighten up the world of people. Joy is the primary target for the Jester filled with colorful and laughing atmosphere. Many brands like M&M’s and Old Spice.
Here are just 2 positioning tactics of the greatest brands like Coca-cola and Pepsi. In the blog post, I am going to analyze other brands and see their positioning tactics.
