A Study on Pepsi
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Research Article, ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online); Prefix 10.18034 Rethinking Brand Identity to Become an Iconic Brand - A Study on Pepsi Reaz Hafiz* Lecturer, School of Business Studies, Southeast University, Dhaka, BANGLADESH *E-mail for correspondence: [email protected] Cell Phone: +8801614336620 Received: Jul 14, 2015; Accepted: Aug 03, 2015 ABSTRACT One of the leading brands, Pepsi has battled time to time for getting success in the Cola industry by developing different slogans, ideas, celebrity endorsement, campaigns and other marketing efforts. These never ending quests for growth and market share are not always ended with positive notes because of miss fire of strategies. The focus of the paper is to identify current position and rebranding issues regarding Pepsi along with the ways to make it an iconic brand. In the first part of this paper, Holt’s concept has been used to analyze Pepsi Cola’s history and current position to establish whether and if yes to which extent this brand has managed to become iconic. The second part is dedicated towards developing and suggesting a future course of action for the company that would enable it once again becoming an iconic brand. Keywords: Pepsi, Brand Identity, Rebranding, Myth JEL Classification Code: M31 INTRODUCTION covers three brand building blocks of national ideology, populist worlds and cultural contradictions. Another In order to stay relevant, and connect with (post)modern objective is to find out a new populist world for Pepsi to consumers and other stakeholders, brands must be embody a new brand myth to become an iconic brand. engaged in the negotiations of cultural identity in society (Csaba and Bengtsson, 2006). Since its introduction in 1898, Pepsi has battled for success, both on its own and METHODOLOGY in comparison to its main competitor Coca-Cola. The paper tries to highlight the problems of image Throughout the years, the company has used number of positioning of a world famous brand “Pepsi” and ways to slogans, ideas, celebrities, campaigns and ways of market come out from the crisis to become an iconic brand. So the itself to the public in a never-ending quest for growth total work is exploratory in nature. The research method is and market share. Sometimes, the campaigns worked, adopted to find out the relevant articles to address the sometimes they failed, the underlying causes of success problems and possibilities in the cola market. The study is or failure mostly remaining a mystery to executives, compiled by secondary sources of data such as books, marketers and consumers. online journals publications and internet sources. The study New insights have been gained now a day, one of the is concentrated towards the field of brand management. approaches is being the concept of brands as cultural The references are given in the end section of the paper. icons by Holt (2004). Using this approach, positive or negative brand achievements can be explained based to SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY the extent to which a company or brand manages to This paper can be ideally significant to address the address and resolve relevant cultural contradictions in possibilities of positive image positioning of a brand that is society. In connection with concepts such as authenticity, popular but confusing to its customers. According to Holt relational branding, identity; this approach has been concept, the author tried to focus Pepsi’s past, current proven to be a useful tool in both explaining and position and future possibilities in US market. To become forecasting (un) successful branding strategies. an iconic brand, Pepsi’s struggle is clearly depicted in the study. The paper significantly addressed the problem of OBJECTIVE losing position of Pepsi Cola by overusing celebrity instead The major idea of this paper is to address Pepsi’s brand of addressing relevant contradictions in society and helping position in the mind of US target market under the citizens to build their identity. Beside this, the author also concept of brands as cultural icons by Holt where it tried to find out the possible ways to rebuild the brand Copyright © CC-BY-NC 2014, Asian Business Consortium | ABR Page 97 Hafiz: Rethinking Brand Identity to Become an Iconic Brand - A Study on Pepsi (97-102) identity of Pepsi to become an iconic brand. It may provide The Cultural Brief a platform for empirical evidence to address the ways for The cultural brief can be stated as creative brief of a positive influence in the firm’s constructive image in brandscape of a brand (Holt, 2004: 63). There are three today’s competitive market. elements that have to be considered; myth treatment, populist authenticity and the charismatic aesthetic. More PART I – THE PAST in detail, it can be said that the brand’s proposed role in the culture has to be figured out. Also, authenticity has Pepsi’s Brandscape to be demonstrated. According to Holt a company The definition of a brandscape can be expressed as “the should use a distinctive and charismatic style to be competitive and consumer environment in which your successful in delivering the message (Holt, 2004: 64). brand must perform and compete” (Kilmer & Kilmer, 2001). It is clear that the geographic and product field of research has to be defined. This paper focuses on the US THREE MYTH MARKETS market. Furthermore, this paper centres on the “black” 1st: “The American Dream” (1950-1960) caffeinated drinks and does not consider other soft The first analyzed myth used by Pepsi started around the drinks such as Sprite, Fanta or Mountain Dew. 50s until the 60s and is in this paper called the “American Using the classical product perspective, Coca-Cola is the dream”. The myth treatment or the story that embodies the main competitor for Pepsi on the US market. In other brand’s proposed role in culture is tied to the American countries, local brands may have an important role, as for Dream. The national ideology in US at that time was instance Mojo in Bangladesh in hot summer or Julmust in marked by national pride, freedom, power, and equality. It Sweden in the winter season or Afri Cola in Germany. was emphasized that everyone, even the underdog, could However, there are no relevant local brands on the US make it. Pepsi took the role of helping the people to reach market. Rather, substitutes such as tea, sports beverages this ideology (Wikipedia, 2015). The company showed for and juices have lately started to play an increasing role instance through its advertisements what people have to do and have to be taken into account (Elliott, 2008). to ‘make it’, implicitly stating that by just following the ads As Holt emphasizes, identity brands compete with cultural command, people could be successful. products as films, sports and books to perform myths that Iconic brands have to gain authenticity in the populist fill the gap between the national ideology and the personal world via their actions. They have to deliver on ‘literacy’ standpoint (Holt, 2004: 39). That means, it is not enough for and ‘fidelity’ to earn the respect of the populist world Pepsi to consider Coca-Cola as their competitor on the US they are mining (Holt, 2004: 65). It demonstrates that market. Based on Holt`s idea, it has to be considered that Pepsi cannot just rely on populist worlds but also has to the company is participating and competing in myth find a way to be authentic. In the case of the “American markets. Coca-Cola would therefore only be a competitor if Dream” myth, Pepsi relied on strong patriotism, they were competing for the same myth. politicians and American icons, which helped them to achieve the desired American dream. The advertising The Myth Market was patriotic and uplifting too. The charismatic aesthetic The structure of the myth market as Holt argues is built on of Pepsi during this time (and still today) was the use of three blocks; national ideology, populist worlds and the colours of the American flag for their brand. It cultural contradictions (Holt, 2004: 56). Holt described focused and underlined that Pepsi is a real American national ideology as a system of ideas that forges links drink. Also, this type of decor enabled people to show between everyday life and those of the nation. The their national pride by using Pepsi. identity myth is based on populist world – often marginalized worlds characterized by their inhabitants 2nd: Youth Frontier / The Pepsi Generation sharing a special way of life (ethos) which creates the (1961-1982) foundation for all their actions. The cultural contradictions Next, Pepsi started to focus explicitly on building a myth increase, because citizens often do not inhabit the nation’s connected to young generations who are heavily ideology. It is stressed that “many people aspire to the polarized choosing between Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The nation`s ideals, but have trouble seeing how their live period 1960-1990 has been known as the period of the matches up” (Holt, 2004: 57). It explains why these 'Cola wars'. In this period Coca-Cola was engaged cultural contradictions create a demand for myths. So excessively on building upon themes related to Pepsi has to find myths to bridge the gap, allowing people universality, traditional, conformity. Pepsi's formulation to work successfully on their identity projects. was built on concepts such as young, independent, It is thus of utmost importance for Pepsi to consider the adventurous, leading edge, future oriented & present national ideology. Due to the long history of Pepsi, entertaining – more explicitly 'the choice of a new the brand has experienced changing national ideologies of generation' (Franzen and Moriarty, 2009). the USA over time.