Course Project: Topic Selection

Topic: Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola – Marketing Strategies and the effects these changes have made on consumer consumption
Over the years, rival soda companies Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, have tried an array of marketing strategies to entice the consumer. Changes surrounding marketing strategies include various techniques that include but are not limited to: product labeling, slogans, pricing, and product innovation and additions to their primary cold drinks – Coca-Cola and Pepsi. These changes were designed to attract more consumers and in turn, convince individuals to buy their product over the other’s. No one can argue that the longstanding histories of both companies are of significance and elicit interest among the general public, with Coca-Cola consistently holding the title of symbolizing the traditional values of a diverse group of people, and in holding with those “traditional” values has ensured that its primary cold drink has the term “Classic” clearly stamped on it; whereas, Pepsi Cola leans toward symbolizing innovation, a younger generation or one of “youth” regardless of age, what is in the “here and now” or “hip, and thus, has slogans that represent such. More recently and in response to a more health-conscious America, both have taken on the task of getting involved in the processing and distribution of more “health conscious” beverages, which include water and fruit drinks, in order to appeal to more consumers via adapting to an ever-changing, global society in which health and nutrition are widely promoted and cold drinks or sodas are demoted. With continual changes in marketing tactics by both companies, it will be interesting to see what changes in marketing amongst two highly-competitive and world-renowned companies have been successful and unsuccessful.
References
Morau, M. The “positioning” concept