Historically some of the biggest brand wars of the past have been in the FMCG market between the big consumer players, and Coke and Pepsi have certainly been no exception!
Often in the past Coke and Pepsi have beaten each other up by signing up exclusive supplier deals through restaurant and pub chains. A fact I encounter on an all too regular basis. How often have you been in a pub or restaurant and you ask for a Coke only to be met with the response ‘is Pepsi okay’? Then you try to be clever on your next pub or resturant outing and ask for a Pepsi, only to be met by the response ‘is Coke okay’? Annoying isn’t it? All I want is a soft drink - Coke or Pepsi, I don’t care! Sorry a slight sore point with me as you may have guessed.
This brings me to Coke’s most recent one-up-manship campaign in the US, aimed to get one over on Pepsi. Soft drink brands Coke Vault and Mtn Dew (owned by PepsiCo) are fierce competitors in the US and Coke has just launched a clever campaign called ‘Don’t Dew It’.
The ‘Don’t Dew it’ campaign
Coke Vault’s latest campaign is all about driving consideration for the Coke Vault brand. They have distributed a voucher which entitles the bearer to a free Coke Vault when they purchase a Mtn Dew… Inspirational! Coke Vault have recognised the fact that their share of the US citrus drinks market is low at 4% in comparison with Mtn Dew who currently hold 80% and have therefore launched an aggressive campaign to do something about it.
Who knows, if Coke can stimulate awareness and interest with the promotion and successfully win over consumers at the consideration stage and get them to commit to trying Coke Vault and they subsequently have a positive brand experience, then what’s to stop them progressing to the loyalty stage and ultimately brand nirvana… becoming an Advocate for the Coke Vault brand?
Brand Advocacy
Creating brand advocates sounds easy right? Well it’s certainly not impossible and having brand advocates saying positive things about your brand is invaluable. Imagine if a potential customer who is considering a purchase is then exposed to a positive review from a brand advocate online… That could be all it takes to tip them over the edge to purchase and also get them on journey towards brand advocacy. If you can offer them a fantastic brand experience along the way, then the number of brand advocates will continue to grow!
So what are the implications for online?
Well first of all, I am beginning to wonder why I chose to blog about something with such a US focus, as its impossible for me to check if they are running any paid ads in the US supporting the ‘Don’t Dew It’ campaign, but my guess is they probably aren’t. And if they are then great! And if they aren’t then they probably should be.
There is a lot to be said for integrating offline campaigns online and with people spending more and more time online, chances are that people are likely to want to search for the ‘Don’t Dew It’ campaign online to find out more and maybe see if they can print off a voucher. So Coke Vault should preempt this and make sure they have a visible brand footprint built up across the web to promote their latest campaign. Whether it’s through paid search, natural search, online PR or social media, it will all help to have a positive effect on the campaign.
I think the campaign is brave and clever, but probably not that innovative, as it has a certain air of the ‘Pepsi Challenge‘ about it. So why is it brave? Well in the current economic climate, it sees them spending a lot of money, but then they are Coke and they can afford it! And why is it clever? Well when your arch rival has 76% more of the market share, you need to try and do something about it. And why not push for consideration amongst those loyal to your competitor? Who knows, they may have just never got round to trying your brand before and they may be pleasantly surprised.
Despite the US focus of this campaign and blog post, there is no doubting that Coke and Pepsi are definitely huge global brands with world recognition and it should certainly give some UK brands something to think about.
