Brands Management

SECTION A- CASE STUDY ON BRANDING Pepsi soft drink was born in New Bern USA. Caleb D. Bradham, born in 1867, a pharmacist in New Bern, North Carolina, who in 1893 invented a potion made from kola nut against "dyspepsia" and digestive disorders. "Brad's Drink" became "Pepsi-Cola in 1898. And with this new name Caleb D. Bradham registered the trademark in 1902. In 1923 the manufacturer of Pepsi went bankrupt because of high prices of sugar. Capital was sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the trademark. But unfortunately, this only works one time, Pepsi fell into bankruptcy in 1931. It was then bought by G. Guth, president of the sugar company Condo Industries. During the economic crisis from 1936 to 1938 , Pepsi's profits doubled. Pepsi is the first U.S. product to cross the Iron Curtain and to enter Soviet territory (1965). In 1975 Pepsi launched the first plastic bottle of history with an appealing design. And it was in 1984 that Pepsi launched its first partnership with music star Michael Jackson. It was the beginning of a long series of associations with personalities of music, sport and cinema. This drink is marketed by PepsiCo. Firstly the Pepsi in America try to position its product for society as a whole and for the purpose of refreshment, which can be clearly visible from their advertisement slogans like" any whether is Pepsi whether"- "the light refreshment "- "be sociable, have a Pepsi " They followed this positioning strategy up to 1960 and after realising that it is very difficult to capture the entire population as whole. So Pepsi after 1960 started target marketing and choose a different way to promote and to attract new customers by using huge marketing campaigns over the years and creating a brand personality associated with the adventure. Pepsi's goal was to attract a certain set of customers to buy the product by associating itself with young people who are energetic, fun-loving and daring. For Pepsi loyalists, leading an exciting life is much more important than leading a happy one which Coca-Cola (the market leader) was preaching at the time. Pepsi embraced a brand positioning to capture the excitement of now, and the campaign that has been developed carries the tagline, "Live for Now." It's already proved a potent rallying cry. a) Identify the brand identities in the passage. b) Identify the options and tactics for brand elements employed by Pepsi in its brand management campaign within the period under consideration? c) In order to achieve strong, favourable and unique brand associations in its positioning strategy, Pepsi needs to establish a strong basis for its positioning strategy by defining and communicating its competitive frame of reference. From the passage, what will constitute Pepsi's frame of reference? d) Assuming positioning is all it takes for Pepsi to overtake Coca-Cola as the market leader, identify the relevant positioning challenges that Pepsi will have to navigate in order to be able take over Coke's market leadership position after determining its frame of reference. e) If Pepsi succeeds in achieving its goal of attaining market leadership ahead of its leading competitor, Coca-Cola, through positioning, what other critical success factors in brand building should Pepsi employ to sustain its newly found market leadership