Over the course of the next few blogs, we are going to break down different aspects of marketing such as advertising, logos, branding and much more. This series will look at popular brands and why they have risen to fame.

To start, what do Toyota, Louis Vuitton and Microsoft all have in common? They are all brands. A brand is a service or product that has a distinctive name, design, color or concept that consumers can immediately identify from competitors.

Let’s take a look at one popular brand and break it down.

Coca Cola
Over the past 138 years, Coca Cola has created a brand that consumers not only recognize but also trust. Consumers recognize the Coca Cola brand, from its signature glass bottle, colors, creative concepts and logo. The first Coca Cola drink was sold in 1886 at a pharmacy in Atlanta and has since grown into a multi-product, international conglomerate that serves billions of beverages each and every day.

Coca Cola is a unique entity in that it continually changes and listens to its consumers. For example, when “New Coke” debuted, consumers were furious with the recipe change and demanded the recipe be changed back. The Coca Cola company did not realize the significance of what the brand meant to consumers. Consumers felt that when the recipe changed, the Coca Cola company was essentially changing what the brand meant to the public. Generations of people had grown up having a Coca Cola with family and friends. Having a Coke was a way to relax, visit with friends and enjoy life. The Coca Cola company listened to consumers and changed the recipe back within months of the “New Coke” launch. Bringing back the original recipe helped consumers once again instill trust with the brand. To this day, consumers know that when they see or drink a Coca Cola product, they are getting a quality product that they can rely on. To learn more about the significance of “New Coke vs Classic Coca Cola”, check out the video below.

Another way consumers can recognize brands is from ideas, logos and creative concepts. Coca Cola has a few creative concepts linked to their brand, one being the Coca Cola polar bears. The polar bear campaign became popular in the 1990’s and was shown seasonally during the winter months. For a time, the polar bears were linked to winter in consumers’ minds. Consumers looked forward to seeing what the polar bears were up to each year, and the commercial became a favorite memory for many consumers. Over time, Coca Cola phased out the polar bears and moved onto other creative concepts. However, for many, polar bears will be forever linked to the Coca Cola brand.

Branding can have a significant impact on not only sales and marketing but in consumers’ minds. Brand loyalty is real and is hard to break. Once a consumer has an established brand preference, they are loyal for years to come. If you need help creating a brand that not only makes an impact but that also sticks with consumers, call Impact Marketing today!