It took decades to establish that legacy. Its erosion is happening by the minute. Coca-Cola, as a brand, is losing its empathy for the customer. Although its stock symbol excites the investor, it's slowly losing its connection to the psyche and the heart of soft drink consumer. Today, it is companies such as Nike and Disney that are capitalizing on the lessons that Coca-Cola no longer follows.
Soft drinks are the most deal-driven category in the supermarket.
Today, Coke outsells Pepsi only when it is cheaper or commands overwhelming shelf space. At a time when Coke is the most respected, desired and liked product name in the world, as many surveys indicate, it can't outsell Pepsi when priced at parity or higher. Today, they're at 59 cents. Coke and Pepsi both dropped their price to 35 cents to stay alive. When we read that the incursion of private labels into the soft drink category was halted, we should realize that it was done at the expense of drastic price-cutting.