Coca-Cola is a truly global brand whose history began in 1886 during the civil war.

The
Confederate colonel, John Pemberton, wanted to create his own version of coca wine and later
sold the idea of non alcoholic drink to Asa G Candler in 1889. Asa later converted it into a soda
drink i.e. Coca Cola. At present, not only it is at the top of Interbrand's global brand league and
has been consistently voted a Superbrand, it is the best selling FMCG brand in Great Britain and
is considered as the UK's second most popular soft drink brand and eighth biggest grocery brand.
From the star ‘Coca-Cola’ drink to Inca Kola in North and South America, Vita in Africa, and
Thumbs up in India, The Coca-Cola Company owns a product portfolio of more than 3500
products. With the presence in more than 200 countries and daily average servings to 1.9 billion
people, Coca-Cola Company has been listed as the world’s most valuable brand with 94% of the
world’s population recognizing the red and white Coca-Cola brand Logo. Moreover, 3.1% of all
beverages consumed around the world are Coca-Cola products.

Diet Coke too is a major brand in its own right. While carbonated soft drinks account for over
47% of all UK soft drink sales, GB per capita consumption of soft drinks (194 8oz servings per
person per year) is somewhat below other European consumers and significantly below that of
US consumers (340 servings). However per capita consumption has grown by 20% in the last
seven years (Source: Canadian 2001). Coca-Cola aims to refresh consumers with their choice of
non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages and has a broad range of soft drink brands, including
juices, waters and carbonated soft drinks. The Coca-Cola Company's products continue to
perform well, displaying steady long term growth and are consumed over one billion times a day
in over 200 countries. It has a Market capitalization of $192.8 Billion (as of May 2016), has had
more than 53 years of consecutive annual dividend increases and the revenue is over $44.29
billion. Hence, Coca-Cola is not just a company but an ECONOMY.

All this recognition because of its great marketing strategy. It’s consistency can be seen from the
logo to the bottle design & the price of the drink (the price was 5 cents from 1886 to 1959).
Coca-Cola has kept it simple with every slogan revolving around the two terms ‘Enjoy’ and
‘happiness’. Apart from that, the company has also followed the same branding strategy till now
starting from Candler. The progressive marketing strategy of Coca-Cola is based on a simple
message -- which it wants to refresh surprise and inspire everyone who touches the brand.
Unlike other big companies, Coca-Cola has maintained its positioning as a social brand. It talks
to the users. With its iconic advertising ideas which include “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke”
& “Share a Coke”, it has maintained a special spot in the heart of its users. Coca-Cola is
everywhere and hence has the world’s most renowned logo. The world knows and has tasted the
coca cola products. In fact, out of the 55 billion servings of all kinds of beverages drunk each day
(other than water), 1.7 billion are Coca-Cola trademarked/licensed drinks. 

As a leading marketer Coke continues to innovate with impactful promotions on a big scale that
engage and appeal with broad consumer audiences. 2001's 'Music4You' was the biggest ever
music promotion, run in conjunction with The Sun and News of the World newspapers. This
opened up a massive range of music items and money-can't-buy experiences for consumers for
which they collected tokens and made online bids. In 2002, Coca-Cola linked with one of the
most credible music magazines in Great Britain, NME, to launch an on-pack promotion offering
thousands of gig tickets and 'access all areas' experiences to music fans. Coke is a brand which
also has the ability to work in ways which capture the imagination and bring a progressive feel to
its activities. Christmas 2001 saw Coca-Cola unveil the record-breaking World's Biggest Advent
Calendar on the side of Birmingham's Town Hall: the huge scale of the 3D calendar gave a sense
of festive drama to the city centre, while themed events brought the community together as each
window came to life every day with music, fireworks and, on Christmas Eve, Santa appeared
with 'real' snow. The brand used its global link with Warner Brothers' Harry Potter films to
'Bring the magic of reading alive' -- a three-year worldwide partnership launched with the
opening of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. As part of this commitment, Coca-Cola in
Great Britain pledged to distribute 300,000 books to schools and community libraries. Coca-Cola
has a long-standing heritage of supporting sport and in particular football, where the brand
invests at every level of the game - from international tournaments right through to community
and grassroots levels. In the global arena, Coca-Cola has sponsored every World Cup tournament
since 1978 and has maintained an unbroken presence at every Olympic Games since 1928. Coca-
Cola regularly offers consumers the chance to do things they would never normally be able to:
the FIFA World Cup 2002 activation saw Coca-Cola encouraging fans to 'Eat Football, Sleep
Football, Drink Coca-Cola' through a multi-faceted programme of innovative marketing activity
- including bringing the FIFA World Cup Trophy to England for fans to touch and lift in a
whirlwind one-day tour. In a world first, Coca-Cola invited consumers to design a perimeter
board ad to support the football teams out in Japan and Korea. The winning design from England
- by a seven year old boy from Huddersfield - featured pitchside at all England's World Cup
matches. 2001 saw a further strengthening of support from Coca-Cola of top level English
domestic football in the signing of a three year deal to sponsor ITV1's The Premiership weekly
football highlights programme. With an eye on the future of football, the brand has created a
number of major grassroots tournaments which encourage children to get out and enjoy playing
the game - including the English Schools Football Association Coca-Cola English Schools Cup -
the biggest tournament of its kind open to boys and girls under thirteen - and the Scottish
Schools Football Association Coca-Cola 7s', an U12s 7-a-side football tournament. Diet Coke
has a sexy heritage built from the 'Diet Coke Break' ads, starting with the hunky window cleaner
now developed on to the lighthearted 'Taste the Moment' advertising campaign. Diet Coke in
2002 turned its bottles silver and invited consumers to take a chance at winning a 'Silver Spree'
with a £100,000 spending spree up for grabs.