Cocacola Is the Market Leader in Beverage

Cocacola is the market leader in beverage and fuzzy drinks category in United States. Pepsi co. is 2nd in the lead to coke. Despite being a multi-brand company, comprised of Pepsi cola and Frito Lays, the brand Pepsi hasn't been able to knock off Coke from the top spot for a long time now. Tropicana, Gatorade and Aquafina bottled water are other brands that Pepsi Co relies on. Combined revenue from all these leading brands make PepsiCo. The biggest non-alcoholic company.

Pepsi has always been a market innovator in terms of advertising and media communications. Recently heavy expenditure has been done on internet display advertising and community engagement through social media. Other than that the traditional media mix comprises of leading Television and radio networks. Cable television advertising and national TV / Radio advertising deliver the maximum spots for Pepsi. Advertising is being done on leading national newspapers and magazines, industry magazines and regional language magazines as well.

For a brand like Pepsi creating a thorough media communications strategy that would reach the masses, was an important factor. Being a global brand Pepsi wants to maximize the reach of its advertising messages, since campaigns are done for a global audience therefore it is important that the big idea of the campaign remains consistent across all mediums, because, for a campaign idea to be successful, it has to be adaptable across multiple mediums. Whether the execution is done via television advertising or printed ads, the campaign needs to deliver the right message.

A holistic media communication strategy deployed by Pepsi meant that maximum propagation of the campaign could be achieved. According to Statista, in 2010, PepsiCo spent 35.3 million U.S. dollars on internet advertising in the U.S. alone (Statista, 2010). Pepsi has an astonishing budget of $600M for advertising; therefore all the major sources are utilized. Advertising done through magazines, newspapers, outdoor, TV, Radio, and Internet account for more than 2/3 of the spent done. But 1/3 of the expenditure from the $600 goes unmeasured. (Bloomberg, 2012)

Consumers base their decisions on the message they receive from all these mediums. Thou the sales for Pepsi cola only haven't been that good, a lot of factors can be held accountable for it thou. Better alternatives such as juices other than carbonated drinks, preference over the taste of coke, emergence of new drinks as a better substitute than Pepsi.

Pepsi can improve on how to communicate their advertising messages better with the help of a more effective media mix strategy. Also the franchise running in the Pepsi co has its own disadvantages. In the competitive market of today, Pepsi needs to be able to keep up as one unit instead of several separate units. The franchise system has become a hurdle to Pepsi because many of these franchises have become very strong and will not be dictated by PepsiCo on how to handle their operations. Some of these franchises are unwilling to support certain Pepsi products and at times produce their own private label products that are in direct competition with Pepsi products.