Coca-Cola has solved multiple problems over history. Plus Coca-Cola has historically been fantastic with marketing, product development and supply chain.
Successful businesses don't just solve problems. They must also deliver on everything else.
Coca-Cola began in an era where soft drinks were created by pharmacists to cover up the taste of medicine. They were often promoted as having their own health benefits. They were also popular drinks for kids and promoted by the Temperance movement.
Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink. But it was the first soft drink to figure out how to bottle its product and thus could be served outside of its location.
Coca-Cola also invented a unique bottle for their product. There wasn't cans of soft drink at the time. Only glass bottles.
If you saw a photo of the Coca-Cola bottle, you knew it was the Coca-Cola bottle. No other bottle looked liked it.
Prohibition and WW2 transformed Coca-Cola into the brand we know. Coca-Cola is not as sweet as other soft drinks. This enabled it to become the best mixer for poor-quality alcohol aka "bathtub gin" in Prohibition cocktails. As I recall reading, Patton's favorite drink was rum and Coke.
The Coca-Cola company capitalized on this. They supplied the US Army with as much of their product as possible. They were one of the first viral products.
As the US Army conquered territory, Coca-Cola built factories. They also built a large factory and distribution network across the US. This is a problem most Internet entrepreneurs don't have to worry about.
The soft drink industry is dependent upon a distribution network. Nobody compares to Coca-Cola's distribution network even today.
Coca-Cola had a century of the best marketing in history. The way Santa Claus is depicted is because of Coca-Cola.
They had the best tag line of all-time "The Real Thing".
Their jingle "Let Me Teach The World To Sing" was a hit song.
They worked with McDonald's to develop a system (the size of the straw is optimized for Coke flavor) so that Coca-Cola tastes best at McDonald's.
They developed recipes that use their product.
Even their biggest mistake - aka "New Coke"- was a success. Diet Coke is the diet version of "New Coke". 20 years later when people wanted to drink sugar-free soft drink without being Diet - they launched Coke Zero (now Sugar-Free Coca-Cola). It is the classic Coke formula without sugar.
In conclusion - when studying successful brands, you must look beyond the basic question of "what problem does it solve."
Coca-Cola has solved multiple problems over history. Plus Coca-Cola has historically been fantastic with marketing, product development and supply chain.
Successful businesses don't just solve problems. They must also deliver on everything else.
Coca-Cola began in an era where soft drinks were created by pharmacists to cover up the taste of medicine. They were often promoted as having their own health benefits. They were also popular drinks for kids and promoted by the Temperance movement.
Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink. But it was the first soft drink to figure out how to bottle its product and thus could be served outside of its location.
Coca-Cola also invented a unique bottle for their product. There wasn't cans of soft drink at the time. Only glass bottles.
If you saw a photo of the Coca-Cola bottle, you knew it was the Coca-Cola bottle. No other bottle looked liked it.
Prohibition and WW2 transformed Coca-Cola into the brand we know. Coca-Cola is not as sweet as other soft drinks. This enabled it to become the best mixer for poor-quality alcohol aka "bathtub gin" in Prohibition cocktails. As I recall reading, Patton's favorite drink was rum and Coke.
The Coca-Cola company capitalized on this. They supplied the US Army with as much of their product as possible. They were one of the first viral products.
As the US Army conquered territory, Coca-Cola built factories. They also built a large factory and distribution network across the US. This is a problem most Internet entrepreneurs don't have to worry about.
The soft drink industry is dependent upon a distribution network. Nobody compares to Coca-Cola's distribution network even today.
Coca-Cola had a century of the best marketing in history. The way Santa Claus is depicted is because of Coca-Cola.
They had the best tag line of all-time "The Real Thing".
Their jingle "Let Me Teach The World To Sing" was a hit song.
They worked with McDonald's to develop a system (the size of the straw is optimized for Coke flavor) so that Coca-Cola tastes best at McDonald's.
They developed recipes that use their product.
Even their biggest mistake - aka "New Coke"- was a success. Diet Coke is the diet version of "New Coke". 20 years later when people wanted to drink sugar-free soft drink without being Diet - they launched Coke Zero (now Sugar-Free Coca-Cola). It is the classic Coke formula without sugar.
In conclusion - when studying successful brands, you must look beyond the basic question of "what problem does it solve."