How is the Coca Cola – Pepsi war set to fare in the weak economy?
While preparing for the upcoming Poultry Expo in Atlanta – which is home to the Coca Cola headquarters – I came across several articles about the “Cola Wars.” The “Cola War,” a play off of the “Cold War,” is an ongoing state of competition between the two beverage superpowers – Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Similar to the Cold War, the Cola Wars are characterized by high spending, competitive developments and much propaganda. Both Coke and Pepsi are currently in the midst of new ad campaigns, complete with new slogans; and interestingly enough, both campaigns are very similar. Given the current economic climate, and the fact that soft drink sales are declining, embarking on unique new ad campaigns – especially for companies that typically spend hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. advertising alone each year – is a risky endeavor. But high stakes don’t appear to be bothering Coke or Pepsi one bit. Coca-Cola’s new slogan, “Open happiness,” has big shoes to fill, as Coke has produced some of
