Filed under: Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Marketing and advertising, McDonald’s (MCD), Battle of the Brands
Earlier this morning, I was looking through some news items from the past several days when I encountered one at Brandweek that both interested and delighted me. The article concerned an on the internet survey done at teen social networking site Habbo. Teenagers between the ages of 11 and 18 named some of their favorite brands. Companies like McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) did very well in the poll. But the company that delighted me that also was a winner in the survey was Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO).
One of the reasons why I was so happy can be found in the disclosure at the bottom of this piece — I own shares of the beverage icon in my long-term portfolio. I suppose that would be the top reason, but here’s the thing — it’s been my experience that the youth of America don’t like Coca-Cola that much. Well, I should say that the youth that I know don’t respect Coke (and they should, it’s a delicious, refreshing experience that has no equal!). When it comes to soda, PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) unfortunately seems to be the brand of choice among the younger folk in my area (don’t take this as any sort of statistically scientific statement, please). Come to think of it, even older people that I know seem to like Pepsi. It really is a disconcerting situation. Coca-Cola stockholders realize that young people must be marketed to in a powerful manner so that future returns on invested capital in Coke’s flagship brands can help drive value. And let’s not forget that Red Bull wants to enter the cola wars — see Zac Bissonnette’s post about this bubbly new development.
Of course, as the article implies, the survey results don’t necessarily translate into buying trends — the survey, simply put, was checking on how well-known certain brands are among this specific demographic. Nevertheless, it’s important for Coca-Cola to be known — that’s winning a big part of the battle for future perpetual customer loyalty. Coca-Cola still has a long way to go, in my view, in terms of instilling a “cool factor” into its famous trademark sodas. Like I say, it’s been my perception that the younger a beverage consumer is, the more likely stated beverage consumer is to like Pepsi. I don’t like that, certainly (I did, however, like this survey!).
Disclosure: I own shares in Coca-Cola; positions can change at any time.
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