History Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola has been in the cola wars for centuries now.

It erupted 13 years after the birth of Coca Cola by pharmacist Caleb Bradham, when Pepsi Cola was created. This made the two cola producers a direct competitor with one another. Over the decades after the creation of the two colas, Coca Cola continuously evolved its brand and expanded to Europe while Pepsi was struggling to keep track as it suffered from bankruptcy a couple of times due to the WWI. In the 50s, both companies were at their peak with advertising and expanding their business to other countries. They had strategies to stay in the business competitively, both companies embraced advertising platforms, celebrities endorsements, merging with other companies; as Pepsi merged with Frito Lay in the 60s which created PepsiCo which hauled a great revenue for Pepsi until today (Bhasin, 2013). Firstly, to compare the branding strategies of these two household brands, it can be compared and discussed using the five levels of meaning for a product. The core benefit Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola has the same core benefit for their products, which is to quench the thirst of their consumers as well as selling a non-alcoholic soft drink. Core benefit is the fundamental need or want that consumers satisfy by consuming the product or service (Kotler/Keller 2012)

The generic product A generic product is the basic version of the product containing only those attributes or characteristics absolutely necessary for its functioning but with no distinguishing features (Keller, 2012). Thus generically, both Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola are both soft drinks.

The expected product The expected product is defined as a set of attributes or characteristics that buyers normally expect and agree to when they purchase a product. When consumers get a hold of a Pepsi Cola product, they are expecting the sweet, citrusy flavor burst (Lubin, 2012) and when other consumers grab a Coca Cola product they await the raisiny vanilla taste of the soft drink (Gladwell, 2012). The Coca Cola products are constantly produced in a red background with the iconic Coca Cola writing. Conversely, Pepsi products are packaged in a can with their blue writing.

Augmented Product The Coca Cola products would also feature the label and nutritional facts of the product. It also provides the contact details of the manufacturer and place of manufacturing for after sales service purposes. Other additional information such as the website domain is given for product support.

Pepsi Cola on the other hand may have some similarities to the coca cola product. Pepsi Cola has a great customer support as they offer easy accessibility and fast response as well as Pepsi Colas availability for contact if an issue occurs (Sheikh, 2002).

Potential product Potential product is including all the augmentations and transformations that product might ultimately undergo in the future (Keller, 2012).

As for Coca Cola, they pledge to help their consumers be active and make informed nutritional choices (Coca Cola Company, 2012). Coca Cola is offering array of products that would be hydrating and fitting for their individual needs and lifestyle that offers low and no calorie beverages and regular calorie beverages packaged in smaller portions (Coca Cola Company, 2012). This solution was made to address the global problem of obesity as reported by World Health Organization statistics. Coca Cola believes that the impact of obesity on the health of the consumer affects the health of their business thus they became more concerned with the public health. A lot of researchers and health advocates blame the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages as the cause of obesity.

Pepsi Co is also affected by the global issue of obesity and is taking an initiative to help curb the situation. Pepsi Co is looking at lowering their salt, sugar and saturated fats that is in their food and beverage products. The company will also increase whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and low-fat dairy incorporated in their food products. They are also looking at being environmentally conscious, for example the fully compostable chip bag that will decompose entirely in 14 weeks (PepsiCo).

Brand knowledge Brand knowledge as explained as Kevin Keller, as the awareness of the brand name and belief about the brand image (Keller, 1993). Branding is a potent element for a product and between the two brands; Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola; the latter is seen as a more valuable brand (Lubin, 2012). It can be deducted that brand knowledge is important for the health of the company. The Coca Cola brand is worth $79 billion in the year 2013 according to Interbrand in comparison of Pepsi Cola brand, which is

only $17 million worth. Adding on, according to an article written in Interbrand titled Best Global Brands, the brand awareness disseminated by Coca Cola is a powerful spread as according to a survey by Research Now, the company scored 90% in brand awareness among the respondents from various countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France and also Australia. The company scored big when they sold millions of beverages during Olympics London 2012, but they scored a bigger win with a high return of global viewership. The event also allowed Coca Cola to solidify a powerful association in the minds of billions of people around the globe. The company has used this event to also show their strong presence as a sponsor and also as a strong brand. A consumer from a different country can identify a Coca Cola product, even though its in a foreign language and they may still recognize the product immediately (Lauren, 2012). As for Pepsi Cola, their strategy to heighten their brand awareness was with multiple projects under the name Pepsi Refresh Project as well as bringing back the old Pepsi Challenge where a blind taste test is conducted against Coca Cola. The favorable outcome for Pepsi Cola from these tests is that the testers would always prefer Pepsi to Coca Cola. On a different point, the availability of the two products worldwide could be a contributing factor to their differences in brand awareness. Coca Cola is much more widely available than Pepsi Cola. Coca Cola creates a sort of convenience for consumers for being widely available thus getting the loyalty of the consumers. There is a higher demand for Coca Cola than Pepsi thus the monopolization in restaurants are more favorable towards Coca Cola. For example, McDonalds, Subway, Nandos are all providing Coca Cola as a beverage in comparison to KFC as one of Pepsis territory (Lin, 2012).

According to an article by Design Council UK regarding The Power of Branding, the brand association with Coca Cola and its product would be that the brand promises their consumers the great same taste; with the original recipe which is branded as The Real Thing, and also happiness, youthfulness, classic, energetic, and refreshing. In comparison, Pepsi also associates themselves with these keywords; fun, refreshing, youthfulness. Pepsi would appeal to the younger generation with the usage of celebrity endorsers. A great list of famous celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and most recently the singer Beyonc as the brands endorsers was used to gain vast attention from all ages of consumers (Johnson, 2011). The usage of celebrities as endorsers of the brand adds to the brand image (Erdogan, 1999). Apart from that, the visual for Coca Cola adds to the association of the product as the familiar red and white colors of the brand as well as the iconic Coca Cola writing complemented with the unique shape of the bottles represents the brand itself The brand image helped the associations of this brand in the minds of their consumer. Brand image is consumers perception about a brand as reflected by the brand associations. As for Coca Cola, their logo is an iconic logo that has been consistent throughout the years (Emily, 2013). Thus, when a consumer sees the brand, they have the perception of devouring in a classic, great tasting soft drink that is refreshing. Equally, Pepsi bears in mind that Coca Cola tries to be timeless so Pepsi goes to be timely meaning the y would be in the now, being a modern and edgy cola brand (Colom, 2012). Therefore, consumers perceive the brand as the current and younger brand to consume.

Beverages

Product Class Information Flavored Product Category Information Alcoholic Product Type Information Beer Brand Information

Water NonAlcoholic Milk Juices Hot Beverages Soft Drinks Pepsi Cola

Wine Distilled Spirits

Coca Cola

Product Category Hierarchy Above is the product category hierarchy for the two brands. Both brands have the same product class information which is both brands selling beverages. Categorically, both brands are focused to selling flavored drinks more than water, although Coca Cola has a mineral water branded as Dasani, Coca Colas company reels in most of its revenue and market share with their soft drinks; Coca Cola and Diet Coke. Moving on to the third level, the product type information groups the two brands under the same category, which is non-alcoholic that reflects all of the products under the two brands that offers non-alcoholic beverages. Finally, the lowest level is the level that is regarding the brand information, which describes what are the types of product under the brand. 6

Brand Positioning

Ideally brand positioning is the act of designing the companys offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target consumers minds (Kotler and Keller, 2006). It is also a way to delicately position the brands in the minds of consumers so that they think of the brand in the right or desired manner, which will in the end, maximize potential benefit to the company. The cola wars between the two name brands has been started for centuries, they are well aware that they are in competition with one another and at multiple occasions have directly compared themselves publicly; The Pepsi Challenge. To distinguish themselves, they have targeted different audiences, as Pepsi Cola has always had the younger generation in mind. Their advertising and marketing strategies are fixed to target teens aged 14 or even younger with a fun and most often interlaced with music. This is evident over the years as Pepsi had musical celebrities like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and now Beyonc (Vendredi, 2012). In contrast to Coca Cola, their target audience is wider but ensuring the products pleases the generation Y as well as the older generation. They achieve this by trying a fresher new image to reach the younger generation but maintaining the originality of the cans and bottles as well as taste for the older generation. Adding on, Coca Cola also targets diversifying their audience and taking geographical aspects in high consideration as they target the world filled with different cultures (Lyle, 2010). Coca Cola also positions themselves as a drink fit for the entire family while in contrast Pepsi aims to reach the teens (Vendredi, 2012). These brands position themselves also knowing their indirect and direct competitors. Other cola beverages in the market are their direct competitors and between the two they are the most competitive with each other. Indirect competitors are other produces

of beverages such as juices, teas or coffee (Dixon, 2009). Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola falls under the same product category, which is beverage, they however have some similarities; points of parity and differences; point of differences. The potent differences are the taste, ingredients as well as the branding between these two brands. As mentioned before in this study, Pepsi Cola has a taste of citrust in the drink while Coca Cola has a more raisin and vanilla in their product. The ingredients of these products also can be differentiated as Pepsi has slightly more sugar, caffeine and calories while Coca Cola has slightly more sodium (Lubin, 2012). Coca Cola is a much fizzier drink due to its high percentage of carbonation in comparison to Pepsi Cola. Other than that, according to an article written on Soft Drink Face Off website, on the surface the product looks different with Coca Cola using the familiar red label with the iconic Coca Cola writing and Pepsi with the blue, white and red stripes as the background with a Pepsi writing (2013). Both brands also have different bottling packaging, which each company has patented. For example Coca Colas iconic contour shaped bottle that was patented in 1915. Not to mention the company of Pepsi Cola does not only focus on beverages but has reaping in revenue from their flagship food, mainly chips products. Despite the differences, vast consumers lean towards Coca Cola more than Pepsi which can be concluded that Coca Colas branding is much more valuable (Lubin, 2012). On another note, the similarities of these two brands are that they have a wide variety of soft drinks beverages that enter the market and of course the basic of the products being soft drinks. Other more straightforward similarities are that they are both soft drinks and non-alcoholic that was created by southern pharmacists. Other than that, both brands offer a product that has the same core value that is to quench the thirsts of consumers with a cola carbonated drink. Brand elements

Brand elements are implemented to distinguish one brand from its competitors. It consists of the brand names; what does it mean and why it was named that, its logos and symbols, the URL it may use to help consumers get to the website of the brand, the slogans the brands use to describe their product, packaging of its products, characters that goes along with it as well as jingles. Starting with the Coca Cola brand, it evokes images of the red Coca Cola logo with a red and white themed advertising and packaging. The logo itself is distinctive enough to help consumers identify the brand (Coca Cola UK). The name came about by the creator, Dr John Stith Pemberton who decided that two cs would be great on a label thus created the brand name. In comparison to the typical look of the cans, the packaging of the products can be better distinguished by their iconic contoured bottles. They also introduced the six packs carriers to encourage people to bring their drinks home, which was a huge success (Coca Cola UK). According to their website, Coca Cola have used slogans as a part of their advertising or marketing purposes thus it has changed over the years from 1886 to 2006. Their famous ones are from the year 2001 which Life Tastes Good, 1963; Things go better with Coke, 1969; its the Real Thing and the recent one The Coke Side of Life (2012). A part of their advertising efforts, a jingle was created to accompany most of their commercials and it became synonymous with the brand as written on Wordlab website (2005). Adding on to their brand elements, the URL for the company is easy enough to be retrieved by memory as its just the brand name; www.cocacola.com. Other than that, it is evident in their advertising that the polar bears are the characters they use in those advertisements or billboard posters. The creator of the character, Ken Stewart wanted to depict a character that is cute and innocent, fun and also reflects human attributes (2012). Conversely, Pepsi brings an image of the predominantly blue colored Pepsi logo with

its red, white and blue background that was a patriotic approach by the company (Bhasin, 2013). Its brand name on the other hand, was a brainchild of the creator Caleb Bradham, whom at first regarded the drink as Brads drink, he then named the product something that had to do with the ingredient of the product; which was Pepsin and Cola. Overtime the product was branded as Pepsi Cola as reported by the website Pepsi Store. An article from Timetoast that was written regarding Pepsis packaging and logo stated that, its logo has been the writing of Pepsi Cola which underwent drastic facelifts over the years however today the logo are represented only by the three colors of the brands which are the iconic blue, red and white (2013). Adding on to the brand elements of Pepsi, the company also generates their slogans that would give a younger feel and targets the younger generation. Their slogan The Pepsi Generation and the year 2000 slogan, For those who feel young clearly depicts their brand that attempts to attract more younger audiences (Mary, 2012). Other than that, as reported by Giant Bomb, the mascot for Pepsi is the Pepsiman, a well-known character in Japan that was created in 1990s. Another part to the brand element of Pepsi would be its URL. The company uses www.pepsi.com as its main website which a simple method of connecting the consumers to the brand. The same as Coca Cola, both brands continue to create their own packaging. Over the years Pepsi has patented their bottles, this goes for Coca Cola as well, and it has become their distinguished differences that helps consumers identify the brands involved. Adding on, Pepsi recently has created a bottle that could secure favorable aromas as when the bottle or can is opened, it releases these favorable aromas to enhance the drinking experience (Wagner, 2013).

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