Unless you’re blind as a bat or have kept your head in the sand, ostrich style, you would have noticed the massive amount of advertising for the new Coke Zero. I’ve been watching this for a while, fascinated by the fact that now you can get Coke Zero and Coke Light. Why I find this fascinating is that both target the diet drinks market.
When out for dinner this Saturday I found myself sitting at a table with a person drinking Coke Zero. When I quizzed him about this his response was “it tastes more like real Coke without all the sugar”. Now I’m sure this is one reason but in the few years I’ve known the guy he’s never drunk Coke Light. This led me to make the following assumption: Coke Zero is positioned as a manly drink. If you look at the advertising of Coke Light it was mainly during female shows such as Desperate Housewife and the imagery was very feminine.
This brings us to the Coke Zero branding. It’s a bold, brash and “manly” image that Coke is using to appeal to the male demographic who is body concious but still would not lower themselves to the mockery surrounding Coke Light. To be fair, it does supposedly taste more similar to normal Coke but it’s still an interesting case study on brand repositioning.
An even more interesting case study is that of Johnnie Walker Red Label. Previously the poor cousin of the premium Johnnie Walker Black Label whiskey, Red Label is being positioned vastly down market. I’m not sure if anyone has heard the adverts on 5FM advertising themed Red Label parties but it’s an interesting station to advertise on. Now the typical 5FM target market is 18-28 (it’s lower but I will exclude them due to underage drinking issues) which is traditionally not a target market for Whiskey companies, let alone Johnnie Walker. The thing is, Johnnie Walker has such a massive brand association with it’s “keep walking” adverts it makes sense for the brand to attract a younger market.
The 18-28 market generally wants to be considered more upmarket than they are and will spend money to look cultured and worldy, an easy association with an “expensive” Whiskey. Whether this re-positioning will actually succeed is anyones guess but it’s an interesting look into the mindset of brand managers trying to sell their products.
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You hit the nail on the head on that one.
Great read, you have hit on the right thing there.
That’s a good point Saul, I’ve also noticed a huge amount of advertising!