ATLANTA (AP) – Pepsi is pouring it on in Coke\u2019s house – injecting some fizz into its biggest rivalry during the buildup to the Super Bowl. While\u2026<\/b>
\nATLANTA (AP) – Pepsi is pouring it on in Coke\u2019s house – injecting some fizz into its biggest rivalry during the buildup to the Super Bowl.
While the visitors had called for a \u201ccola truce\u201d on social media with the NFL title game in the shadows of its competitor\u2019s Atlanta-based headquarters, it seems to have been more of a Trojan Horse subterfuge designed to lure Coke into lowering its defenses.
Billboards all around Atlanta call for Pepsi to \u201cpaint the town blue\u201d and announce \u201cPepsi in Atlanta – how refreshing.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019d say Pepsi\u2019s had a great heritage of being a challenger brand,\u201d Todd Kaplan, Pepsi\u2019s vice president of marketing, said Thursday. \u201cThe Pepsi-Coke rivalry has been going on for years. As a marketer, it\u2019s been a fun, friendly kind of a thing. As a challenger brand, it\u2019s really embracing the role to show everybody we\u2019re the official NFL sponsor. Do it in a fun way with a competitor that we respect.\u201d
But while Pepsi has been intent on having fun at Coke\u2019s expense, Coke will be tapping into its home-field advantage: Because it owns the \u201cpouring rights\u201d at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Coke products will be for sale at the fountains during the game between the Patriots and Rams. But the drinks will be served in NFL-themed Super Bowl cups.
That hasn\u2019t deterred Pepsi. The company, based in Purchase, New York, wheeled a life-sized statue of its founder, Caleb Bradham, in broad daylight to toast a soda with none other than the statue of Coca-Cola founder John Pemberton. The meeting came just outside the World of Coke museum in downtown Atlanta.
And it didn\u2019t last long.
Pepsi was asked to leave a few minutes after setting up on the Coke property that\u2019s located just a couple of blocks from the stadium.
But Coke believes it has home-field advantage and has gone out of its way to stay above the fray.
\u201cI think certainly they came and they used Atlanta as an opportunity to have an Atlanta-focused message, and what I would say is that we have a message that is uniquely Coca-Cola,\u201d said Brynn Bardacke, vice president of content and creative excellence for Coca-Cola North America. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to leave the rumbling to the football.
\u201cWe\u2019re going to use our advertising to talk about what\u2019s important to the brand.\u201d
The latest chapter in the decades-long rivalry between Coke, the longtime leader in worldwide soda sales, and its not-quite-as-massive rival has been entertaining.
Ask almost anyone around Atlanta – anywhere, really – and they have very strong opinions about the soda giants.
Mark Meek, a Carolina Panthers fan from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, wasted no time choosing a side.
\u201cI like being the little guy, fighting for his place in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cI like it because it\u2019s from my home state and we\u2019ve got a little rivalry thing going with Georgia anyway. I like Lowe\u2019s more than Home Depot. I like Pepsi more than I like Coke. I like the Panthers more than I like the Falcons. I like Bojangles more than I like Chick-Fil-A.\u201d
His friend Keith Priest, also Panthers fan from Winston-Salem, is a Coke man all the way.
\u201cPepsi\u2019s too sweet, way too sweet,\u201d he said. \u201cThe carbonation seems better in a Coke. Every now and then I\u2019ll get Cherry Coke, but other than that, it\u2019s always just Coke.\u201d
Lest anyone forget that, Coke has bought the time slot right before the national anthem to roll out its big Super Bowl ad, \u201cA Coke is a Coke,\u201d a strategic move it would\u2019ve made regardless of Pepsi being in his hometown.
\u201cWell, we are here to welcome everybody to the city, Pepsi included,\u201d Bardacke said. \u201cOur effort is really focused on what our brand is and means to people and really what we offer. The message at a high level is that Coke is for everyone.\u201d
Maybe so, but not for Kaplan. Pepsi knows where it stands in pecking order, and has launched a marketing campaign that Pepsi is \u201cmore than OK.\u201d
\u201cEvery day there\u2019s a cultural truth that people get asked this question when they\u2019re in a restaurant.\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cSometimes they will order our competitor\u2019s beverage and they\u2019ll be asked the question, \u2018Is Pepsi OK?\u2019 That\u2019s a question that, for years, people get asked, and we wanted to take that truth and flip it on its head. Absolutely, Pepsi is more than OK.\u201d
But not for Atlanta resident Jack Jessen.
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to go with the hometown teams,\u201d he said. \u201cCoke and Falcons.\u201d
For Houston resident Zephra Belle, there\u2019s no way she\u2019s drinking Coke.
\u201cI\u2019m Team Pepsi all the way,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s sweeter. It makes me feel better. I haven\u2019t adjusted to Coke. I don\u2019t understand the Coke people.\u201d
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