Mark Ritson on branding: Cola rivals are fighting a losing battle

The noughties have proved no different. Both Pepsi and Coke have
attempted to align their brands to the trends of the era. But this
decade is more challenging than most, as Western markets become more
interested in healthy products and more natural offerings.

Coca-Cola's latest response is a campaign designed to challenge
preconceptions of Coke as an unnatural beverage. The activity, which
centres on a 30-second TV ad called 'Pemberton', emphasises that Coke
continues to be made to a 122-year-old recipe and is, therefore, free
from modern preservatives or flavourings. According to Cathryn Sleight,
Coca-Cola GB's marketing director, the campaign originated from a
discovery that Coke consumers 'didn't know that it has no added
preservatives or artificial flavours. We felt it was important to
reassure them'.

Sleight and her team are in a tight spot because of Coke's secret
formula. Despite recent seismic changes in consumer tastes, she cannot
alter the formulation of Coke in any way. The last attempt to do that in
the 80s resulted in marketing disaster. Trapped between a fixed offering
on one side and a rapidly changing market on the other, the result is a
campaign that will achieve none of its revitalisation objectives. The
message that Coke is not as unnatural as one might think, because it has
no preservatives is not strong enough to take on the water and fruit
drinks that now populate Coke's category. At the same time, pushing the
'122-years-old' button is likely to speed up the dustification of Coke's
brand appeal.

Things are little better at Pepsi. Coke's ancient rival does have the
freedom to fiddle with its formula and has done just that with the
launch of Pepsi Raw. Corn syrup has been replaced with lower-calorie
cane sugar and a host of natural ingredients have been added to position
Pepsi Raw as a more natural, premium beverage.

It is the first new product in the Pepsi range for more than a decade
and the firm is sure that it is onto a winner. Marketing director Bruno
Gruwez calls it 'the most significant innovation from Pepsi UK in the
last 15 years.' This is a shame, because Pepsi Raw is a real dog of a
product.

Pepsi Raw will always be perceived as an artificial confection for the
masses because it is still, ultimately, a Pepsi. You can't spend 100
years occupying the spot on the perceptual map marked 'mass' and
'confection' and then launch an extension that migrates to the exact
opposite location marked upmarket natural beverage.

Pepsi might want that to happen, but it won't - ever. It wouldn't
surprise me if Pepsi Raw disappeared within a few months, leaving its
nervous marketers to prepare their resumes and the rationale for the
failure of the product.

The cola category has had its time and now faces a decline, but Coke and
Pepsi are finding it hard to face the truth that this is one battle
neither can win. PepsiCo and Coke both owe their origins to cola, but
their futures belong to a fresh generation of acquired brands that are
naturally natural and genuinely real.

- Mark Ritson is an associate professor of marketing and consultant to
some of the world's leading brands

30 SECONDS ON ... COCA-COLA AND PEPSI RAW

- Coke's 30-second TV ad 'Pemberton' was created by Argentinian agency
Santos and adapted for the UK market by Mother.

- The ad explains that because Coke has remained true to its
122-year-old secret recipe, invented by Dr John Pemberton, it contains
no modern preservatives or flavourings.

- Coca-Cola also intends to print the line 'no added preservatives or
artificial flavours' on all Coke cans and bottles.

- Standard Pepsi contains fructose corn syrup, sugar, artificial
colourings, phosphoric acid, caffeine, and citric acid. Pepsi Raw
contains apple extract, plain caramel colouring, coffee leaf, tantaric
acid from grapes, gum arabic from acacia trees, cane sugar and sparkling
water.

- Despite this, a 300ml bottle of Pepsi Raw contains only nine fewer
calories than a standard Pepsi, at 117 calories compared with 126.