Brand Bible

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BRAND BIBLE202

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T h e evoluTion

of Branding

Beverages



and

ThirsT

 taste test was

conducted by the perennial soda underdog Pepsi.

It was appropriately coined “the Pepsi Challenge,”

and in true battle fashion it seemed the goliath

Coca-Cola Company had nally been slain. Blind

taste testers gave a clear edge to Pepsi and with it,

claim to superiority. Subsequent tests, however,

confused the matter. Now presented with proper

identication, taste testers declared Coke the

overwhelmingly leader. Was the discrepancy in

the label?

In fact, it was. MRI scans revealed that taste test-

ers’ brain activity changed when subjected to a

brand image. Social psychology researchers refer

to it as the Pygmalion eect, whereby expecta-

tions tend to rule outcomes. It is a powerful agent

for psychology and, perhaps unsurprisingly, for

buying as well.

The test revealed the power brands hold, not only

in dening purchasing habits but also in their

ability to override the sense of taste. The strength

of brands and their multiple expressions via

labels, bottles, and other devices has played a key

role in deciding the successes and failures of every

variety of beverage brands.

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Carbonated Beverages

It’s dicult to imagine a product that has been able

to sustain popularity for over 200 years, overcom-

ing a multitude of practically identical competition

and evolving customer needs. Yet this has been the

extraordinary history of many carbonated bever-

ages, a history much indebted to brand. It is the

strength of brands like Perrier, Coca-Cola, and Dr.

Pepper that has made them immediately recog-

nizable to customers and has trained loyalists to

demand these brands throughout generations.

The idea of carbonated beverages extends back

to the 1700s when people traveled to carbonated

mineral springs that were believed to have cura-

tive power, but it was not until the mid-1800s that

carbonated beverages started becoming what they

are today.

The potential for carbonated beverages to become

the mass-produced goods we now enjoy began

with Dr. Joseph Priestley’s creation of the rst

drinkable manmade glass of carbonated water in

1767, but it wasn’t truly feasible until 1832 when

John Mathews rened a device to mass-produce

carbonated water.

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During this era, carbonated

water or “soda water,” as it was termed in 1798,

was marketed as a health tonic by companies like

Perrier, which began to realize the potential of

bottling and selling the water health seekers tradi-

tionally traveled to their spas to enjoy. As more and

Pepsi design through

the years

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