Whether it's a city supermarket or a mountain village kiosk, you can find a brown drink in their freezer, that is, Coca-Cola, which is the most successful drink in history and the leader of the global carbonated beverage market.
Brand Finance, a UK brand evaluator, released the "Top 25 Most Valuable Soft Drink Brands in the World 2017", and Coca-Cola topped the list with a brand value of $31.885 billion, far surpassing Pepsi and Red Bull. Today, in the beverage industry, Coca-Cola not only has the highest brand value, but also the largest distribution system. 1.7 billion consumers worldwide drink Coca-Cola's beverages every day, and about 19,400 bottles are sold every minute.
In 1886, the American pharmacist John Pemberton invented a peculiar syrup containing refreshing coca leaves and kola nuts to treat neurasthenia and headaches, pemberton took it to the most popular Jacob's pharmacy at that time, and sold it for 5 cents a cup of water. By chance, the pharmacy guy accidentally mixed the soda into the syrup and added ice cubes to the guests to drink, and the guests were full of praise after drinking, and in this way, a pleasant and cheerful drink was born. Pemberton's accountant gave the drink a resounding name, "Coca-Cola," and its crisp taste quickly became the best-selling beverage in the pharmacy.
In 1888, Pemberton sold Coca-Cola's secret recipe to a businessman named Asa Kandler. Kandler is very good at shopping malls, and he feels that if the drink is only positioned as "medicinal" and sold in pharmacies, its consumers can only be limited to the "patient group". If it is positioned as a popular soft drink, everyone can drink it, why worry about not spending the road? So, under the leadership of Kandler, Coca-Cola gradually walked out of the pharmacy and became a cold and refreshing drink familiar to people in the streets and alleys.
By 1923, Robert Woodruff became CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, and it was because of him that Coca-Cola was able to go abroad and become famous in the world. He took over and worked with assembly franchisees to promote Coca-Cola as a drink that people "get their hands on when they need it." So he launched an innovative campaign to use vending machines across the country to sell Coca-Cola, which quickly expanded the company's sales network. In addition, he added an international market development department to try to develop overseas markets, but this strategy did not have much success for a long time.
In 1941, when pearl harbor broke out and the United States subsequently entered World War II, woodruff came up with a brilliant idea: If American soldiers fighting outside the country could drink Coca-Cola, wouldn't it become a living advertisement for overseas markets? So he quickly arranged for people to write propaganda drafts, negotiate with Pentagon officials, hold press conferences, and promote Coca-Cola as a kind of military supplies, which is a sincere concern for the sons and soldiers who are fighting in blood overseas. Eventually, officials at the time agreed to make Coca-Cola a necessity for soldiers ahead, demanding that "wherever U.S. troops are stationed, every soldier must be able to drink a bottle of Coca-Cola for 5 cents." "This decision has led to the company's success, Coca-Cola's success in going out into the world, and wherever American soldiers go, its advertising will affect." In just two or three years, the consumption of military Coca-Cola has reached 5 billion bottles.
After the war, the US troops who fought overseas returned to China one after another, losing such a large number of "volunteer salesmen", and the company immediately launched a new overseas business strategy: localism, that is, the use of local human, financial and material resources to open up foreign markets, in addition to secret formulas, advertising and other core elements by the head office, other equipment, materials, transportation, sales, etc. are responsible for by the locals. At that time, it was the end of the 40s, multinational enterprise associations were still in their infancy, international technology transfer and cooperation was only beginning to appear in the machinery industry, and there was no precedent for general consumer goods such as beverages, transfer of technology and the sale of manufacturing rights, Woodruff accurately grasped the enthusiasm of foreigners for American goods at that time, and through the "localism" strategy, Coca-Cola could continue to gain a foothold overseas.
In fact, in the process of Coca-Cola going to the world, advertising is definitely a strong stroke. In 1911, its advertising costs were $1 million, in 1958 that number soared to $40 million, and by 2016, Coca-Cola's advertising costs were as high as $4 billion. Since the 1920s, Coca-Cola's advertising has begun to combine itself with people's lifestyles, such as "quench thirst", "stop and drink under the red signboard", etc., all of which are constantly strengthening their consumption scenes; in the Great Depression of 1929, Coca-Cola made people in distress and despair forget their troubles and look forward to a better future through the slogan of "nourishing and replenishing" and bright and beautiful posters. In 1931, Coca-Cola created a red-clad, white-bearded Santa Claus according to the color of its logo, defeating the existing Santa Claus image in various countries and quickly becoming a new cultural symbol around the world... In addition, it also actively sponsors the Olympic Games, and exerts its two major brand spirits of "joy and vitality" through sports; adapts to the markets of various countries, integrates into the local traditional culture, and launches localized advertising and product packaging. Now, Coca-Cola is not only recognized as a delicious drink by the public, but also an indispensable part of consumer life, many people use it to wash their hair, remove stains and make spices for cooking.
In fact, before 1960, the company mainly operated a single Coca-Cola brand, from the 60s onwards, the company began a wide extension of the brand line, so gradually there are Fanta, Mei Juice Source, Sprite and other new brands, in 1982, the company launched Diet Coca-Cola, becoming the world's first sales of low-calorie soda drinks. However, with the gradual improvement of people's health awareness, the carbonated beverage industry has also shown a significant decline. According to relevant information, the sales of carbonated beverages in the United States have fallen for 12 consecutive years, in this regard, Coca-Cola has also made a lot of innovations to cope with the ever-changing consumer market: such as the introduction of small bottles and small cans of packaging to meet the needs of different people; on the shelves of "zero sugar Coke", so that consumers have a more intuitive understanding of the sugar content; enrich the taste of Coke, launch cherry, ginger, garlic, vanilla and other flavors, challenging consumers' taste buds...
In addition, Coca-Cola has also accelerated its own transformation to seek more product line layouts: such as its acquisition of sparkling water brand Topo Chico, expanding the sparkling water business that has grown rapidly in recent years; entering the lucrative high-end bottled water field, buying the Swiss brand Valser, which has entered the Chinese market; competing in the functional beverage field, last year's high-profile entry into the Chinese functional beverage market Monster, there is a 16.7% stake in Coca-Cola... Today, the sales of Coca-Cola's non-carbonated beverages continue to rise, which strengthens its confidence in the transformation. Coca-Cola has always been the heart and soul of the company, but in the future development path, I hope that the company can successfully get rid of the inherent label of Coca-Cola's "carbonation", bring us more and more comprehensive beverage brands, and promote a healthy lifestyle to the world.