For decades, Pepsi has won blind taste tests over Coca-Cola. Nonetheless, Coke dominates soft drink sales year after year. Coke’s market share among soft drinks is 17.8% — more than double Pepsi’s market share of 8.4%.
In fact, until last year, Pepsi wasn't even the second best selling soft drink. Want to know what was second?
Diet Coke.
So why do customers’ taste buds prefer Pepsi, but their pocketbooks prefer Coke by a margin of more than 2-to-1?
Coke isn’t less expensive. Unless your grocery store is having a special, there is only a few cents’ difference in price.
Coca-Cola dominates sales because it has better top-of-mind awareness. You see the iconic Coca-Cola brand so many times that you don’t even realize how often you’re seeing it. When people are thirsty for a soft drink, they reach for a Coke because it’s the first brand that comes to mind.
The Internet age has brought with it an increased desire for instant gratification. Yes, the Internet has changed how we consume news and information, and how we interact with each other. But one thing hasn’t changed: There is still no shortcut to building top-of-mind awareness. It cannot be accomplished by anything other than steady and consistent repetition over a long period of time. The Internet is a valuable tool for building that top-of-mind awareness.
Quick: What is the first brand you can think of — any brand that offers any product or service.
Have your answer? (To be continued, below the ad.)
I am willing to bet this brand belongs to an organization you learned about more than five years ago. I am also willing to bet that you have been reminded of its existence multiple times since then — sometimes consciously, sometimes subconsciously.
We want your brand to be top-of-mind among your target customers. Ready to get started? Email me at jacob@archersbowmedia.com.
Jacob Brower is the president of Archer’s Bow Media. He has 20 years of experience in mass media, many of which he spent as the chief executive of a state and national award-winning media group in southwest Missouri. He was named among the nation’s top 25 media professionals under age 35 by Editor & Publisher magazine in 2016. He can be reached at jacob@archersbowmedia.com.
