The document is a report submitted by Adnan Kitabi, Avishek Mehra, and Gaurav Agarwal to Professor Srinivas Govindrajan on July 29, 2012 regarding a brand tracker project on Coca-Cola. It includes an executive summary of Coca-Cola's 125-year history and current brand status based on quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative research used a modified Brand Asset Valuator questionnaire to analyze Coca-Cola and competitors on brand strength and stature. The qualitative research used a customized Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique to understand how consumers relate to the Coca-Cola brand through pictures.

1. A report
submitted to
Prof. SrinivasGovindrajan
In partial fulfilment of the requirements of the project
Brand Tracker of Coca-Cola
On 29/07/12
By
Adnan Kitabi
AvishekMehra
GauravAgarwal
Ranabir Pal
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2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Coca cola is a 125 years old brand which was invented in Atlanta Georgia in the year 1886 by Dr John
S Pemberton. Over a period of time the drink transform itself from a drink of medicinal value to the
most recognizable brand in the world today.
Coca cola is a highly respectable brand and is considered as the drink of the nation in which in which
was originated. Further all over the world it is regarded as the symbol of happiness and celebration.
Today it thrives on its goodwill which it has able to create over a period of more than century.
In the first phase of ‘Brand Tracker’ we have attempted to determine the current status of the brand
and the brand identity in the minds of the consumer. A variant of the famous Brand Asset Valuator
(BAV) was used to identify the current status of the brand while the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation
Technique (ZMET) was used to identify the brand identity.
The BAV model measures the value of the brand along 4 Dimensions namely Differentiation,
Relevance, Esteem and knowledge. Differentiation and Relevance together comprise the brand
strength Esteem and Knowledge build up the Brand stature. For BAV, 53 samples were surveyed
using a questionnaire.
Coca cola has the highest percentile score of 100 in awareness parameter & an esteem score of
66.67 percentile in comparison with the other major brands i.e.; Pepsi, Thumps up and Sprite. But it
has left behind in the Relevance and Differentiation parameter with a percentile score of 33.33 in
each. From this we can say that although the brand has a high stature but has lost ground in vitality
in comparison with its above mentioned competitors.
The ZMET technique was used as a qualitative research tool to gauge the brand identity of Coca cola.
A sample of 10 respondents was chosen to execute this process. The technique is based on the fact
that most human communication is nonverbal, much of which is visual. Each step in ZMET provides a
different opportunity for identifying and understanding metaphors, thereby gaining a deeper
understanding about the consumers. The ZMET technique identified Coca cola as follows
“It is concluded that Coca-Cola is not merely a Numero Uno brand but “The Perfect Brand”. It has
stood through thick and thin and this evergreen quality has made Coca-Cola a brand that symbolizes
celebration and happiness. It is a refreshing brand that quenches the thirst and can be shared with
both family and friends.”
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3. INDEX
Sl. No. Content Page No.
1. Early History and Evolution 4
2. Quantitative Research Model – BAV 5
3. Qualitative Technique-ZMET 13
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4. Early History and Evolution
Coca Cola was invented by Dr John.S.Pemberton (pharmacist from Atlanta Georgia) in May 1886. He
concocted the formula in his backyard. Carbonated water was added to syrup to make it a refreshing
drink. The flowing letters which has become the logo of the company today is the gift of Frank
Robinson (bookkeeper of Dr Pemberton). Till 1905 the drink was served with cocaine & was
supposed to be the remedy for headache.
In 1887 Asa Candler (another pharmacist from Atlanta Georgia) bought the formula from Dr
Pemberton for 2300$. Due to his aggressive marketing strategy Coca Cola’s sale went up by 4000%
between 1890 and 1900. By the turn of the 20th century the product was being sold in US & Canada.
In 1915, Pepsi went for bankruptcy & was offered to Coca Cola to take over as it was the only other
major soft drink in the country. But Coca Cola didn’t accepted that offer as they thought it to be a
liability to take over a loss making company. A blunder that haunts Coca Cola till date.
Coca Cola elevated itself from just a product to a symbol of patriotism during World War-II when
they decided to sell the drink to the military men for 5 cents per bottle (thereby obtaining the
license of unlimited cultivation of sugar). This made it the drink of America.
In 1963, Pepsi positioned itself as a product of youth. The strategy was so influential that it became
like a trend in US that a person with a bottle of Pepsi in his hand was considered to be hip identifying
himself as a new age American & a person with a bottle of Coca Cola in his hand was considered to
be orthodox old age American. Coca Cola identified this trend & again invoke the patriotic
sentiments of the American by identifying itself as the drink of America which helped them retrieve
the market which was lost to Pepsi.
In 1985, Coca Cola did something unthinkable. They changed the taste of Coca Cola & the new
product was launched in the name of Coca Cola refresh. The strategy failed big time as there was not
only drop in the sales but there was wide spread feeling of dissatisfaction among Americans who
proclaimed that Coca Cola had robbed the drink of America. The issue was finally settled, as they re-
launched Coca Cola in the name of Coca Cola classic.
In India Coca Cola was 1st launched in the late 1970’s. But FERA Act (1973) compelled them to
discontinue their operations in India. In early 1990’s in the new liberalized Indian economy, Coca
Cola came back with vengeance, acquiring dominant market brands like Thumps up (a product of
RPG) laying a platform for its operations in India.
Initially, it targeted the high income group with high price & eye catchy advertisement. Later it
repositioned itself as a drink for the masses and slowly as the cost of operations became cheaper it
penetrated the market of middle & lower middle income group with the reduction in price.
It has distinctively positioned itself in urban & rural India. With the yawning mind-set gap between
the two markets, Coca Cola in urban India has positioned itself as a symbol of style & celebration,
while in rural India it is essentially a product which quenches thirst.
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5. Quantitative Research Model – BAV
Refer to EXIBIT 1 (BAV-Quantitative Technique), which is attached
Research Methodology
The BAV model is a proprietary tool designed by Young & Rubicam. The BAV model is used to
measure the current and future status of the brand vis-à-vis its competitors. The current status of
the brand (also known as Brand Stature) is measured keeping in mind two main attributes -
Knowledgeand Esteem. And the future status of the brand (also known as Brand Vitality) is
measured keeping in mind two other attributes – Relevance and Differentiation.
As the BAV is a proprietary tool an independent questionnaire was designed to gauge the
consumer’s perception across the 4 pillars on which BAV is based. Each pillar is assigned 100%
weightage and this is split amongst the questions pertaining to them. Weights are assigned on the
basis of how direct and how comprehensive is the information that could be derived from the
question.
The calculation is done by totaling the number of responses (in some cases only the correct
response) and adding them after the weightage of the question is allocated to a particular attribute
or a brand. This is done for every question to arrive at a score for each brand. All the scores from the
questions pertaining to a specific pillar for a particular brand is added to get the final score for that
pillar for that brand. Once this is done, percentile is assigned on the basis of the final score received
by each brand.
In Q.5 and Q.7 we tried to check how the products are different from each other. So in Q.5 we gave
some attributes with which the products are already associated with. And in Q.7 we provided a set
of corporate personalities, along with the name of the corporate, with which the products are not
related and asked people to relate them. The product getting the highest response for a given
attribute/corporate personality was set as a standard and then it is being deducted from the
responses that other products gets for that following attribute/corporate personality. The difference
between the entire product for the same attribute/corporate personality is then added and then
given a weightage.
Similarly Q.4 and Q.9 is framed. In Q.4 the respondent is asked a close ended question so that
he/she gives a response that comes certainly in his/her mind. And a same kind of question is asked
in Q.9 but in a different manner and it is kept open ended so that the respondent think a little and
then give the response. Thus in one case we get a pseudo response and in one we get a true
response.
The questionnaire is being deliberately jumbled so that it looks that the questions are not related to
the previous question and also because the respondents should look at all the questions as an
individual question. Similarly the options given in all the questions are jumbled.
Sample Size
53 respondents
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6. Sampling Plan
All the respondent in the sample size are non-MBA students. This is done because the brands that
we have taken are well known brands and management students knowing about the brand, about
its positioning and marketing strategy will have a biased opinion. So we took non MBA’s to ensure
that the sample is unbiased.
Instrument of Data Collection
Questionnaire (Online Survey)
Questionnaire
Q1
What is the first brand that comes to your mind when you hear the words ‘Happiness’?
Sprite Pepsi Coca-Cola Thums UP
Q2
Identify the brands with their associated taglines?
Not
Sprite Coca-Cola Pepsi Thums Up Applicable
Rasta Clear Hain
Change the game
PyaasBhujaao
Open Happiness
Aajkuchtoofanikartehain
Believe in a brighter
tomorrow
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7. Q3
Which soft drink would you prefer to serve your guest during small get together?
Pepsi Thums Up Coca-Cola Sprite
Q4
With which soft drink brand you associate yourself with?
Sprite Coca-Cola Pepsi Thums Up Others
Q5
Which brand would you associate with the following attributes?
Not
Pepsi Thums Up Sprite Coca-Cola Applicable
Macho and daring
Youth
Pride and respect
Street smart
Q6
While buying a soft drink which are the factor important to you?
Availability Taste Peer Pressure Thirst Quenching Fizz/Burp
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8. Q7
Associate the following personalities with 4 different brands
Pepsi Coca-Cola Sprite Thums Up
Ratan Tata (Tata
groups)
Mark Zuckenberg
(Facebook)
Vijay Malya (Kingfisher)
Lakshmi Mittal
(ArcelorMittal Steel)
Q8
To which soft drink would you like to give an award as the “soft drink of the nation?”
Pepsi Sprite Thums Up Coca-Cola
Q9
The soft drink which you have consumed the maximum number of times in the last 3 months?
Q10
Explain yourself in one/two word(s)
Q11
Name of the respondent
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9. Results and Analysis of BAV
Individual Analysis
The percentile score of all the individual brands across differentiation, relevance, esteem and
knowledge was calculated and then converted into graphs. Then the graphs are comparedto find out
in which category (new, unrealized potential/niche, leadership, declining, eroded and unfocused) do
these brands lie. The brands that were analyzed are Pepsi, Thums Up and Sprite as they are the
competitor of Coca-Cola.
Pepsi
Pepsi
Awareness Esteem Relevance Differentiation
33.33
0 0 0
1
In this case we can clearly see that the awareness level of Pepsi is the second lowest, second to
Sprite. Mainly this thing happened because both Pepsi and Sprite use the youth culture in
advertising their product. This brand has low stature and low vitality. So it is advisable that the
company should look for a better option than Pepsi.
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10. Thums Up
Thums Up
Awareness Esteem Relevance Differentiation
66.67 66.67 66.67 66.67
This is a brand which has high stature and high vitality and thus has a high potential. It is a very
strong brand and a consistent one also.
Sprite
Sprite
Awareness Esteem Relevance Differentiation
100 100 100
0
This is a brand which have high potential but lack in the awareness attribute. The reason why it has
very low awareness are: a)In the last 1.5 years Sprite has changed their advertisement campaign 3
times-Sprite bujhaye only pyaasbaki sab bakwas, University of Freshology and Rasta Clear Hain
(present one) b) Both Sprite and Pepsi emphasizes on the youth, so people get confused with which
to associate youth c) Limca presently came up with a tag line called ‘pyaasbarao’ which is similar to
Sprite’s previous tag line ‘Sprite bujhaye only pyaasbaki sab bakwas’
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11. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Awareness Esteem Relevance Differentiation
100
66.67
33.33 33.33
Coca-Cola being a 125 years old brand proves how much strong presence it has in the minds of
people. Again in the case of esteem it is second best to Sprite. But when it comes to future of this
brand it looks little shaky. The reason why it has low vitality might be the following: In the top 4 soft
drink brands, 3 products are Cola product.
Overall Analysis
Brand Asset Valuator
100 50, 100
75
Brand Stature
66.67, 66.67
Coca-Cola
50
Pepsi
83.34, 33.33
25 Thums Up
Sprite
0 16.67, 0
0.00 25.00 50.00 75.00 100.00
Brand Vitality
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12. If we look at the overall BAV Grid then we can see that the best brand here is Thums Up. The score
of this brand is constant in all the attributes. The next best brand is Sprite because it has a good
potential. Coca-Cola being a old brand have high brand stature but low brand vitality.
From the survey done by us few things were very clear to us, Taste(58%) and Thirst Quenching(40%)
are the two major reason why people drink soft drink. And Spite automatically relates itself with the
above mentioned attributes because it has been positioned like that and fulfills the need of the
people.
One more thing that came to our notice is that both the sex prefers Spite. Generally the fair sex do
not like cola drink. But they like to have a drink which has fizz. And Sprite caters to that need. Again
as both the sex like Sprite, so during small get together Sprite is more demanding.
We adopted a customised version of ZMET (Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique) for the
Qualitative Research of our Project of Brand Image Perception on Coca Cola. This was because of the
limitation we had in terms of selection of population.
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13. Qualitative Technique-ZMET
Refer to EXIBIT 2, which is attached
We have chosen ZMET over R&G’s Laddering Method because of the following reasons:-
• Our brand was Coca cola which is a lifestyle product and in addition to taste a lot of other
things make the consumer buy the product which can be expressed more clearly by Elicitation then
normal Q&A.
• The customized model of ZMET which we developed was helpful in determining how and
why the consumer relates itself with brand.
• In addition to the previous point we were also able to find out what are the other attributes
which consumer think the brand has which our respondents don’t relate to.
Steps Followed in Qualitative Research
1. Story Telling about the pictures- We asked the respondents to select 10 pictures out of set
of 32 which they think relates to their own character or personality. A bit of laddering was done to
find out how it relates to their personality.
2. Connection with the brand- We asked them to select 3 pictures out of those 10 pictures
which they think relates to the brand Coca cola. This was done to find out how respondents connect
their personality with the brand. Similar process was repeated with other brands like Pepsi, Thumps
Up and Sprite to remove biasness among the respondents.
3. Missing Image- We ask the respondents to select 1 more picture either from the selected 10
or from the initial 32 or any other picture which they can describe, which they can relate to the
brand. This was done to find which all other attributes, which they think the brand has, but not
necessarily related to their own personality. The same process was repeated for other brands to
remove biasness.
4. Audio visual image- The respondents were then asked to describe any audio visual, be it
movie, scene of the movie, song, play, etc which they think connects with the brand. The objective
of this exercise was same as mentioned in point 3. The same process was repeated for other brand
as well to remove biasness.
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14. Pictorial Analysis
Similarities among respondent
• Family Oriented
• Fun Loving
• Perfectionist
• Responsible
• Friendly
• Innovator
• Attention Seeker
• Focused
• Happy
• Positive Attitude
• Refreshing
• Reserved
• Socially Responsible
Attributes which connect the consumer with the brand
• Family Drink
• Friend Drink
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15. • Happiness
• Perfect Brand
• Refreshing Brand
The brand has the following attributes in addition of the above
• Celebration
• Evergreen
• Numero Uno
• Thirst Quenching
The feedback of the respondents can be interpreted as the following:-
It is concluded that Coca-Cola is not merely a Numero Uno brand but “The Perfect Brand”. It has
stood through thick and thin and this evergreen quality has made Coca-Cola a brand that symbolizes
celebration and happiness. It is a refreshing brand that quenches the thirst and can be shared with
both family and friends.
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