Has anyone else noticed how the soda/pop/coke aisle in the grocery store is beginning to resemble the toothpaste aisle??? There's really only a small handful of company-brands but there's about ten million versions of virtually the same product. Coke, Diet Coke, Diet Coke with Splenda, Coke Zero, Coke with Lime, Coke with Lemon, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Cherry-Vanilla Coke, Diet Cherry-Vanilla Coke, Coke Shaken Not Stirred, Coke Stirred Not Shaken, Coke With A Twist of Pepsi, Caffeine-Free Coke... And of course Pepsi has a brand to compete with each of Coke's.The reason I bring this up is because Coke is looking for a new ad agency (and it's about time!). Before anyone over at Ogilvy gets all het up and puffy, I will provise that Coke's recent wave of crap advertising is NOT the agency's fault. Rather, this time around it's Coke that is to blame.
As soon as I heard Coke was looking for a new agency, I thought of one of my darling ad professors who would postulate ridiculous hypotheticals in lecture like "If you were the Creative Director for Anheuser-Busch...". What would I do if I were pitching for Coke's account (aside from count my lucky stars and be the biggest suck up ever)??? Of course this is a multi-million dollar question, my answer to which is based entirely on my opinion/gut feeling and no research whatsoever. Simplify.
In my relatively short lifetime, the tagline I best associate with Coke is "Always the Real Thing, Always Coca-Cola."
Apparently this was never actually a tagline, more of a mental mesh of "Always Coca-Cola" and "The real thing", but at the end of the day, all that matters is what I, as a consumer, remember. Anyhoot, Coke's current tagline is "Make it real", which I had to look up, and certainly doesn't resonate with me, as I thought Coke was already the "real thing" (they spent almost the entire 1980's selling it as such) and did not know my participation was required. Of course, now Coca-Cola can't really go back to "Always Coca-Cola" or "The Real Thing" taglines. Why? Because they are no longer selling just one product - and therein lies the crux of their marketing/advertising problem.Yes indeed, coming full circle, Coke has successfully offered the consumer too many choices. Advertising 101 lesson: Advertising exists to distinguish otherwise commodities; to make it so that in a consumer's mind Coke is way different than Pepsi and neither is an acceptable alternative for the other. Coca-Cola execs should know, too, from their history that Coke's success as a brand is hugely dependent on their advertising, moreso than almost any other brand. They're at a distinct disadvantage right off the bat, because in blind taste tests, people prefer their competitor. Coke's past execs did know this, and hence the creation of the "real thing" tagline (back in 1941) - taste be damned, if you want the "real thing", you got a Coke. By introducing Coke with Lime, Coke with Lemon, Diet Coke with Splenda, Cherry-Vanilla Coke, Coke Zero, etc., Coca-Cola just told consumers that there's actually a lot brands that fall into the "real thing" category. They have told consumers that there exists an acceptable alternative to Coca-Cola... and once consumers have made that leap, there's very little to stop them from jumping over to Pepsi. Certainly, today, the Coca-Cola brand is not strong enough to keep consumers "within the family" so to speak.
So, my advice to Coca-Cola in my little hypothetical world? Phase out the Coke with Lemon, Coke with Lime, Coke Zero, etc. (but you can keep Cherry Coke around if, and only if, you keep their advertising exactly the same - virtually nonexistent - so that only the die-hard Cherry Coke fans buy Cherry Coke). Let Pepsi keep their artificial-flavor-added versions. That's certainly not the Real Thing. And they taste like crap anyway. I enjoy a twist of lime in my Diet Coke, but Diet Coke with Lime is absolutely disgusting. And while you're at it, bring back some simple simple simple campaign that emphasizes "Always The Real Thing, Always Coca-Cola" (tagline suggested).
P.S. I never explained why this is not Ogilvy's fault. To start a new brand, it takes beaucoup bucks, so Coca-Cola's ad budget has been reallocated to these newer brands, thus giving Ogilvy quite the challenge of producing legendary advertising on a relatively tiny budget. It's possible, but not probable.
