Epic Battles of Everything #5: Coca Cola vs. Pepsi a.k.a. "THE COLA WARS"

Have you ever heard of the Cola Wars? A series of television advertisements and marketing campaigns since the 1980s between two long-time rival soft drink producers, The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo?

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Let The Wars Begin 

The whole thing goes back to 1975, when Pepsi began showing advertisements based on the Pepsi Challenge, in which everyday people were asked which product they preferred in blind taste tests. 

Many periods of vicious battles between the two firms have taken place during the past four decades, most of the time by focusing on different consumers, sponsoring different sports, differentiating their logos, choosing different colors for their packaging, and building different images for their brand. 

Pepsi spent millions of dollars hiring GIGA STARS to advertise its products with Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Beyonce, David Beckham, Pink, Justin Timberlake and Lionel Messi most recently, being only a few selected celebrities who have promoted Pepsi drinks. 

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The most notable star any brand ever hired, however, was without a doubt Michael Jackson; arguably the most talented and commercially successful entertainer of the past 40 years or so. To understand the IMMENSE SIZE of "Jacksonmania" and the cultural impact of the "King of Pop" worldwide back in the 1980s, it was the FIRST (and only if I am not mistaken) time Pepsi took the lead in sales in the US and Europe. 

Heck, I was only 6 years old when this ad came out but I still get SUPER-EXCITED when I watch it...

The choice is made
(Well) they say the sky's the limit
There's nothin' stoppin' you
You're a brand new generation
And Pepsi's comin' through
You know I'm Bad
I'm bad, come on
And Pepsi's cool
It's cool, you know it
You know I'm bad, I'm bad
You know it, you know
And the whole world has to answer right now
To tell you the Pepsi way
It's cool 

Coca Cola couldn't let Pepsi ruin their plans for dominance and success though, and so they "hired" someone that no Michael, no Elvis, no Beatles or even the Pope could go against....SANTA!!!!

Yep, the "brains" behind the legendary company had the BRILLIANT idea back in the early 1990s to hire one of the most famous (if not THE most famous) fictional characters in history to advertise its famous product. 

And to think about it, it didn't cost them 1% of the money Pepsi had spent (and keeps spending) to pay famous artists and sportsmen to promote their soft drinks. Now that's marketing genius, no? 

Numbers Never Lie 

Despite my emotional attachment to guys like Michael Jackson or even Justin Timberlake and Lionel Messi to a lesser extent, truth is that Coca Cola is the absolute winner in this epic battle. 

Coca-Cola comes in first place when it comes to Facebook likes with more than 107 million likes against Pepsi’s 37 million. On twitter the margin is much smaller though as Coca-Cola has 3.42 million followers, to Pepsi’s 3.13 million. 

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In what really matters - total value of each company -  we also have a clear winner. Coca-Cola was founded in 1892 and in 2018 is valued at 195 billion dollars. Pepsi was founded in 1898 and it is valued at 163 billion dollars. A respectable 32 billion dollar gap is what stands between the pair. 

As for me? Pepsi and Michael win every time. What about you fellas? :)))

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COCA-COLA VS PEPSI – WHO WILL WIN THE COLA WAR?

Cola Wars