Brand Positioning and Differentiation

Sara Amjad

How did a tonic turned into world’s biggest selling beverage?

Brand Positioning

Brand Positioning

• Positioning defines where your product stands in relation to others offering similar products and services in the marketplace as well as the mind of the consumer.

Coca Cola – First Brand Positioning

• Patent Medicine• Cure to headaches and fatigues

• Tax imposition in 1898 and Coca Cola’s change of category

Coca Cola – 2014 Brand Positioning

• USP: Live on the Coke side of life

• Refreshing and thirst quenching

• Cultural value• Family• Friends• Everyday life joys

• Consistent and high quality

Factors Involved

Factors involved in positioning

• Price

• Packaging

• Promotion

• Distribution

• Competition

Coca Cola - Pricing

• 5 cents a glass

• Price remained same for 70 years• Pepsi• World War I and II• Taxation• Prohibition• Ingredient shortage

Coca Cola - Packaging

• Glasses at soda fountain

• First contour glass bottle design developed by The Root Glass Company in 1916

• Packaging innovation, 1955:• 6.5, 10, 12 and 26 ounce versions

Packaging Evolution

Packaging – Brand Positioning

Promotion

• Let the word spread

• Awareness

• Reminder

• Keeping up with the competition

Coca Cola – First Advertisement

• A full page published advertisement in The Atlanta Journal on May 1st 1889, proclaiming the ownership of Coca Cola

• “…sole proprietors of Coca-Cola ... Delicious. Refreshing. Exhilarating. Invigorating.”

• Though he didn’t received the ownership until 1891 but the word was already spread by that time

Coca Cola – First Campaign

• The first slogan• The pause that refreshes! (Frank Robinson)

• Let the word travel across the nation• Free Sampling; Try it, Like it and Buy it Later!

• Merchandising; • Posters, fans, clocks, calendars, notebooks and

bookmarks

Free Sampling Coupon

Coca Cola – 2014 Campaign

• Open Happiness, The Coke Side of Life

• Branded Content

• Share-a-Coke Campaign

Branded Content

Competitive Analysis - Positioning

• Pepsi’s Positioning:“Live for Now” which invites and inspires Pepsi fans to live each moment to the fullest through a breadth of global, pop-culture platforms, including relationships with music and entertainment.

• Coke’s Positioning:An integral, crucial part of people’s everyday lives. It creates intimacy with its consumers by evoking memories and experiences with the brand and their unique selling proposition “live the Coke side of life”. It invites people to create their positive reality and to aid that creation, Coke is the happiness in the bottle.

Brand Differentiation

Coca Cola – Brand Differentiation

• Symbol of Joy and Fun• Product Line• Culturally Tailored Products• Water Purity Standard• Organic Soda and Beverage line• Snack Food Line• Customize Vending Machine

Coca Cola - Competitive Advantages

• Market leadership• Business partnership• Collaborative Customer

Relationship• Channel Marketing• Multi Segmentation• Client Value

Management

• Go-to-market Strategy• Full Operating Potential• Flexible Sales and

distribution models• Managerial Expertise• Sustainable

Development

“We sell moments of happiness, for cents at a time, more than 1.7 billion

times a day and more than 200 companies.”

Muhtar Kent, CEO, The Coca Cola Company