What are you Drinking?
(To see the interview, click on the picture)
I lived in Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola, for 20 years and I still visit there frequently. I’ve never been to see the World of Coke Exhibit, though. It’s pretty expensive for a ticket. And all I really need to know about Coke is how it tastes. In 1985, Coca-Cola tried to put one over on its loyal consumers, me being one, and came out with New Coke. The backlash caused the company to return to the old formula, now called Coca-Cola Classic, in only three months of marketing. My Girl Scouts used to think it was funny that I preferred Coke-in-a-green-glass-bottle. They didn’t believe I could tell the difference. One year they gave me a surprise birthday party and they gave me a carton of green-glass-bottled Coke. Dave sat next to a Coke salesman one time on a flight. Dave told him I was an obsessive Coke fan who thinks there’s a difference between can and glass. The salesman said, “She’s right; there is a difference. The formula had to change when bottlers moved to cans. The new process replaces the use of granulated sugar for syrup with less effervescence. There’s more effervescence in bottles. Chattanooga is the only bottler to still use sugar and bottles.” So there. And if I can tell the difference in the can formula, don’t think for a minute I don’t know you’ve slipped me a Pepsi. Pizza Hut, I’m on to you.
I have lived in North Carolina now for 20 years, but I lived close to the Georgia and Tennessee borders where Coke reigns. Now I’m living on the Coastal Plain, near the birthplace of Pepsi Cola. Pepsi was invented in New Bern, NC, nearby, in Caleb Bradham’s pharmacy in 1898, twelve years after Coke. On their 100th birthday, 1998, they opened The Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola Store. I haven’t seen that exhibit, either. Just like Coke, all I really need to know is how it tastes.
Coke and Pepsi have been in a brand - marketing - PR battle since the beginning. But, it’s the consumers who make the difference. My Girl Scouts toted home Coke from Europe labeled in other languages as souvenirs. There are one billion cans of Coke consumed daily in the world. That doesn’t include plastic or glass bottles. Just cans. Pepsi says 300 of every 1000 soft drink consumers drink Pepsi. The only place in the world that has overall consumption of Pepsi is Quebec, Canada. I’ve not been there; they probably have a lot of Pizza Huts and Taco Bells, or maybe they just prefer sweeter things in Quebec.
The latest engineering design change for Coke is the little 7-ounce cans. I still prefer the taste of the green glass bottle, but the mini cans are great. Nobody needs a liter of anything! I noticed that Pepsi products now offer minis as well. But, it’s not the package, folks, it’s the taste. What are you drinking?