Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola has a simple job that almost everyone understands: a bottled soft drink with a very specific taste, sold through restaurants, shops and vending machines all over the place. By our assessment, the brand’s big strength is recognition so deep that the red label and the contour bottle can do a lot of the selling before the first sip. The obvious downside is also part of the deal: this is sugary soda, not a health drink, and the flavour profile leaves little room for surprise. In practice it is a standardised, highly repeatable product; that consistency is exactly why it travels so well through bottling networks and fast-food menus. Against Pepsi and the rest of the cola shelf, Coca-Cola is the reference point, the one most people use as the comparison. It suits people who want a familiar cola and do not need the drink to be anything else.