Pepsi was launched in the United States in 1898, 30 years after the original soda pop icon Coca-Cola, and today sells in more than 200 countries and is the third-largest food and drinks company behind only Nestle and Kraft.

Pepsi's revenue in 2004 was US$29.2 billion compared with Coca-Cola's US$21 billion. But Pepsi's sales are higher largely because of its ventures into food and restaurants, while Coca-Cola has decided to stick a little closer to the knitting. Coke still sells more cola.

"Global branding is behind the success of Pepsi. It is about how to manage a global brand successfully and add value to the brand," boasted Ron Coughlin, senior vice marketing president at Pepsi, in remarks at the World Marketing Conference held yesterday by the Marketing Association of Thailand.

Coughlin said in 1996 Pepsi faced financial trouble and its brand was weak particularly in Latin America where with Pepsi bottling firms in Brazil and Argentina suffered heavy losses.

"Competence and value underlie our turnaround," said Coughlin.

He said that the company had adopted the "Pepsi Recipe Book for Brand Building", which consisted of six important chapters.

The first chapter focuses on knowing the basic ingredients of a product. He said that basic ingredients of Pepsi are integrity, trust, knowledge, and operational excellence. The company has tried to keep a "challenger" mentality, which he said includes staying ambitious, rational, emotional and creative.

The second chapter focuses on attracting the best people, which the company divides into central teams, field teams and agency teams.

Coughlin said that the third chapter focused on knowing "who you are cooking for" - in other words, knowing your target market.

The core target of Pepsi is teens. Teen, he said, are at the centre of change driven by revolutionary changes in media and communications technology such as SMS, mobile phones, Web communications and an erosion of traditional television viewing.

The fourth chapter focuses on using a global strategy that does not forget local tastes.

Coughlin said that fifth chapter was entitled "Blast your taste buds". He said that a brand is the sum of its input.

"Good enough…is not enough. Pepsi builds its brand using a 360-degree marketing model by developing a marketing mix at every touch-point of consumers," said Coughlin. He said that big ideas would be brought to life in a mix of media outlets including the mobile phones, radio, entertaining television commercials and the Internet.

The sixth chapter is called "Mix it with innovation". Coughlin said that Pepsi never stops changing its marketing approach, including packaging, which it constantly redesigns.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation