Cola Wars:

Coke vs. Pepsi

• SUBMITTED BY-
• TANVII KUMAR
• PRABHDEEP BHALLA
• HARDIK AHLUWALIA
• PARV CHAWLA
• SHREYA BHATT
 • ‘Cola Wars’ is a term which emerged in the US in the
early 1980s which was basically about the battle between
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo for dominance..
• It was coined to describe the advertising and marketing
tactics of The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo against
each other.

Introduction • Coca-Cola was first introduced in 1886 in the US.

Its original recipe included cocoa leaves and a small amount
of cocaine. Its early advertising claimed that the cola cured
headaches.
• Pepsi arrived seven years later in 1893.
Its recipe contained a digestive enzyme called pepsin and
kola nuts. Early Pepsi ads claimed that it cured indigestion
and was ‘healthful.’
What is conflict?
• process that begins when one party perceives that another party has
negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the
first party cares about.

• What does these both companies care about?

• Answer is Market Share (where the conflict arise)

 • 1950: Coke have 47% and Pepsi
have 10% market share

• 1970:Coke have 35% and Pepsi

have 29%

• 1990:Coke have 41% and Pepsi

have 32%

• 2000:Coke have 44% and Pepsi

have 31.4%
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

• 2006:Coke have 43.1% and

Pepsi have 14.5%

Who has been winning the

war?
 Conflict in These
brands
• Perceived Conflict
Awareness by one or more parties of the
existence of conditions that create
opportunities for conflict to arise.

• Both brands are very keen about their

market shares, none of them has left any
chance to come with innovative marketing
strategies countering each other.
An example

• In 2008 U.S.
presidential elections
witnessed a switch
with Pepsi endorsing
democratic party’s
Barack Obama and
Coke backing the
republican candidate,
john McCain.
EXPLAINATION (MODE OF CONFLICT)

• In Context to respective
brands, PEPSI and COLA has
a highly competitive mode
on the market field with no
sign of any concern of
relationship with each
other which signifies high
competition and low
concern for relationship in
the mentioned graph.