Cola is under pressure to perform better and serious money is being spent to shore up its position in the face of upstart rivals says Sheila Eggleston This summer looks to be one of sheer effervescence if the money spent on reinvigorating cola does the trick. Cola has been facing fierce competition from other sectors. Flavoured carbonates, energy drinks and sophisticated adult drinks have all helped to erode cola's share of the soft drinks market, hence the major players' diversification into non cola areas such as bottled water, sports drinks and juices. Leading the fightback, in the red corner is Coca-Cola, splashing out £23.2m on Coke and Diet Coke, and in the blue corner is Pepsi with £15m. Coke outsells Pepsi by three to one, selling 1,500 million litres compared to 500 million litres. Coca-Cola has also embarked on massive price cutting deals to drive volume further. Armed with formidable properties such as Harry Potter and Bridget Jones, Coca-Cola is focusing its energies across the ages. The movie Bridget Jones' Diary has been a sure-fire hit at the box office and the company is certain it will have a winner on its hands with the tie-up on Diet Coke. The latest coup, however, has been to scoop up all the advertising billboards left vacant when the general election was postponed. Ian Deste, Coca-Cola Enterprises' marketing director, says that wasn't a spur of the moment decision. "The company had always planned to have a poster campaign. It just took advantage of the valuable sites that existed and increased the weight of it." These ads and its new TV campaign will help promote the company's new thinking and its new slogan for Coca-Cola ­ Life tastes good'. "It's all part of our think local, act local strategy. These ads are the first to be produced in Britain featuring British people in British locations which makes it much more real," he adds. Most of the intense promotional activity is focused on the summer. Coca-Cola's ad spend for May, June and July has increased 42% to £19.2m compared with the same period last year. Music is a key mover in the market and CCE claims its Music4You will be the biggest promotion run in the UK this year. It kicks off in June and is an on-pack collector scheme, offering music through various prizes and events. Britvic, which handles Pepsi in the UK, says its policy isn't dissimilar to the competition's and it, too, is planning a major assault this summer. Most of Pepsi's marketing budget is spent on its huge music properties. "There is an irrevocable growing consumer trend for other soft drinks, especially non fizzy ones," says director of category planning Sue Garfitt. "We've seen this happening for some time but it's now started to crank up a gear. We haven't backed away from the cola category. We are giving it as much support as we can using the music genre as a pull." "We are working on Pepsi in the same way as we have done for more than two years. We've always linked with music and this year is no different. Cola is still a heavily youth oriented drink which is why our marketing programme is youth driven." It has signed up teen idols pop group S Club 7 to front its summer Ask For More campaign, and for the first time Pepsi has got involved with schools. Called the Pepsi Tune In, this initiative is aimed at encouraging kids to develop creative skills using music as the theme. "We also have a lot of heavyweight activity planned this summer which will kick off in store in July. Plans are also in hand for our new target, 15 to 18-year-olds. Next year may see the arrival of another teen idol, Britney Spears, signed by Pepsi globally for an alleged $65m," says Gariff. Coca-Cola and Pepsi may be the best performers in the cola brand stakes, but Virgin Cola is also a significant brand. This year a high profile campaign for Comic Relief using special packs featuring a red nosed Rollercola Girl helped to raise more than £100,000 for the charity. It has also concentrated on new product development. Its latest line is targeted at kids. Called Mini-V, it's a reduced sugar cola which is also caffeine free. {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}

Topics