💡Brand Audit: How Coca Cola built a $60 billion brand
The subtle art of selling an experience
According to Forbes, Coca-Cola is the most valued non tech brand in the world. It is estimated that 94% of the world’s population recognizes the red and white Coca-Cola logo. In a world where people now pay to avoid adverts, Coca-Cola has built a $60 billion brand using some of the best marketing and advertising campaigns in modern history. What’s the secret behind their success?
Brief History
On a sunny afternoon in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. John Stith Pemberton, a local pharmacist, produced a syrup and carried the new product down the street to Jacobs' Pharmacy, where it was sampled. Pronounced excellent by the pharmacy, a decision was made to place the drink for sale at five cents a glass. Carbonated water was teamed with the new syrup to produce the drink we all know as Coca-Cola today.
Dr. Pemberton's partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson gave the syrup formula the name Coca-Cola, where Coca came from the coca leaves used and Cola for the kola nuts thinking that "the two Cs would look well in advertising,". He was also responsible for writing the Coca-Cola name in Spencerian script which was popular with bookkeepers of the era.
The first newspaper advert for Coca-Cola soon appeared in The Atlanta Journal, inviting thirsty citizens to try "the new and popular soda fountain drink." The company sold an average of 9 servings per day. A number which has grown to be over 1.9 billion servings at the time of writing.
The Iconic Coca-Cola Contour Bottle
One of the distinct features of Coca-Cola brand is the contour bottle. Renowned as the “perfect liquid wrapper,” by noted industrial designer, Raymond Loewy the bottle has been celebrated in art, fashion, music and advertising. How did the bottle become so iconic?
In the 1900s, Coca-Cola began franchising the rights to bottle Coca-Cola in cities across the US. By 1920, over 1,200 Coca-Cola bottling operations were established. The mold of bottles in those days was straight-sided and brown or clear. For distinction, Coca-Cola decided to emboss their logo on each bottle. However, due to the popularity of the brand, several competitors copied or only slightly modified the Spencerian script logo. These competitor bottles created confusion among consumers and therefore reduced sales for the bottlers.
In 1915, the Trustees of the Coca-Cola Bottling Association voted to develop a distinctive bottle for Coca-Cola. Glass companies across the U.S. subsequently received a challenge to develop a “bottle so distinct that you would recognize if by feel in the dark or lying broken on the ground.” With that simple creative description, the competition was set. In 1916, some company officials met to choose the bottle design. The Root version was the clear winner. The Coca-Cola Company and the Root Glass Company entered an agreement to have six glass companies across the U.S. use the bottle shape.
The bottling contract called for the name of the city which was placing the glass order to be embossed on the bottom of the bottle. These city names entertained consumers for decades and led kids to compare whose bottle was from further away for generations.
Andy Warhol’s quote from his 1975 book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, sums up his choice of the bottle to represent mass culture.
“America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the president drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.”
Coca-Cola to the World🚀
Between the 1920s and 1950s, Coca-Cola continued to grow and expand their products across the US and other continents. This required a lot of marketing and advertising efforts from the company. In an attempt to broaden their radius, the company started advertising through television, radio, print media and other channels. They also advertised using events like the World War, World Cup, Olympics and most popularly Christmas.
The Coca‑Cola Company began its Christmas advertising in the 1920s in an effort to increase sales during the slower winter months. At this time, the image of Santa Claus ranged from big to small, and he wore colors from red to green and even brown but none proved to be popular with consumers until 1931. That year, Coca‑Cola commissioned the image of Santa Claus a pleasantly plump character with a jolly expression and a white beard, wearing a red suit to depict their brand. This image of Santa Claus is now widely accepted across different countries and continents.
I’d like to buy the world a Coke
On a foggy day in May, 1971, Bill Backer, Creative Director on the Coca-Cola account for the McCann Erickson advertising agency was flying to London to work on a Marketing campaign for Coca-Cola. Unfortunately, he was delayed at the airport due to bad weather conditions. While waiting, he experienced a lot of passengers angry and frustrated with the situation.
However, to his utmost surprise, the next day he saw these same passengers at the airport cafe. Brought together by a common experience, many were now laughing and sharing stories over snacks and bottles of Coca-Cola. It was then he began to see Coca-Cola as more than just a drink for refreshment but as a product that fosters community. This experience birthed the commercial “I’d like to buy the world a coke”.
In recent times, the company has also launched several campaigns with slogans like Open Happiness, Share a Coke, The border super bowl ad, Bringing India and Pakistan together, Hello Happiness Phone Booth, Coca-Cola Happiness Machine and one of my favorites - Happiness starts with a smile😊
The company has also made efforts to increase Marketing in developing countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, India, etc. where they do not have as much brand presence.
A Coca-Cola Christmas in Lagos
Conclusion🚀
We can see a pattern consistent with Coca-Cola’s branding and advertising over the years. Rather than attempting to sell a drink, Coca Cola sells an abstract positive concept such as unity, family, sharing and happiness. You would notice that in all their adverts, there was never any mention of the features of the product or how it is better than the competition. The focus was always on the experience rather than the product.
Robert Greene described this quite aptly in his book The Daily Laws
“Often times our instinctual response is to sell directly, blatantly persuading the general public to like us, to buy our products, or to agree with our perspective via convincing data, smooth stories, and sometimes even outright coercion.
However, it is human nature to be suspicious of such a blatant attempt at persuading others into a certain way of thinking or spending”
Coca-Cola has shown that by engaging with their customers and not just shouting from the rooftops of how great they are, they have been able to build a brand loyalty that you don’t just see with other brands. This strategy has seen Coca-Cola become the biggest brand in the beverage industry and one of the biggest brands in the world.
This is so gooddd.
My favorite line is "The focus was always on the experience rather than the product." That rings true.
Thank you for sharing
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