Re: Branding

From: James Santagata <james_at_audiencetrax.com>
Date: Mon 03 Mar 2003 11:09:13 -0600

At 05:13 PM 2/26/03 -0600, you wrote:
> >Sure. There are lots of successful brands. That doesn't mean
> >they're good brands. Lots of people think that Coca Cola is a great
> >brand. Truth it, it's not. What coke has is a killer, slash and
> >burn sales force that thinks nothing of twisting the arms of
> >retailers wherever it goes.

I would argue that Coke is a wonderfully strong brand based
on the fact that they own the term "soft drink" in the majority
of consumers' minds. If you watch the behavior of consumers in
just about any restaurant you will see people who want a soft drink
ask for a "coke". This is especially true if they want a soft drink
but aren't certain what choices are available at that restaurant or don't
want to have a litany of choices presented to them. And if the restaurant
sells Coke, a Coke is what they get. The other brands don't even get
a chance.

It is such a prevalent occurrence that Coke has worried that
its trademark could become a generic term like others before
it (e.g, cellophane, elevator, aspirin, etc.) and subsequently
lose its Federal Trademark protection.

In addition, other soft drink brands such as Pepsi have put legal
pressure on restaurants that don't serve Coke to correct people who
order a "Coke". So if you order a "Coke" at a restaurant that
only serves Pepsi, they will say, "Will a Pepsi be fine?"

It most likely will, but the customer asked for a Coke first.
That is especially amazing, since Pepsi repeatedly wins on taste
as evidenced by numerous double-blind taste tests. Yet, again
and again, people ask for Cokes. I personally like Pepsi better
than Coke, but I laugh (and get jealous) every time I find myself
asking for a Coke out of habit when I want a soft drink.

In fact, when I was child growing up in upstate New York, we
referred to every soft drink as a "coke" rather than a soda or a pop
or a soft drink. We would then describe what kind of "coke" we wanted.
There were orange cokes, root beer cokes, and even 7-UP cokes
and Pepsi cokes. When my family moved to California, I remember
purchasing a hot dog and a soft drink at a baseball game and asking
for a 7-UP coke.

The vendor was incredulous and said, "What do you want? A 7-UP or a Coke?"
I was equally incredulous as I wondered what kind of people were living in
California. "I want a 7-Up flavored coke, do you understand?"

She laughed to herself and said, "Oh you want a 7-UP soda."


James Santagata





Received on Mon Mar 03 2003 - 11:09:13 CST