The world's first bottle of Coca-Cola was born in the United States on 1886. This magical drink was originally invented by a pharmacist accidentally. He tried to treat a cold with it, but unexpectedly it conquered the world with its irresistible charm. Coincidentally, Pepsi was also invented as a potion. 1898, Brad, who is also a pharmacist, prepared a medicine for treating indigestion and became the predecessor of Pepsi. The names of these two cokes are similar. The name "Coca-Cola" is the click sound when coke is poured into a cup, and the name "Pepsi-Cola" is the click sound when coke is opened. For a long time, Pepsi followed Coca-Cola to catch up, and even hoped that the other party would buy itself, which was rejected by Coca-Cola. After the 1960s, Pepsi adopted an offensive strategy, on the one hand, to compete at reduced prices, and on the other hand, to focus on developing the market of the younger generation with the slogan of "the choice of the new generation", which successfully shortened the distance between them. Pepsi has also achieved great success in snack food through a series of mergers and acquisitions, but in the traditional carbonated beverage market and brand value, the blue Pepsi has always been in the shadow of the red Coca-Cola.

By 2 1 century, this situation seems to have begun to change. In April, 2004, Forbes magazine named "America's most valuable corporate brand", and PepsiCo ranked in the top ten with 56 1 billion dollars, surpassing Coca-Cola, which has always been proud of its brand value, for the first time. For Pepsi, a company that once asked Coca-Cola to buy itself, it is undoubtedly "revenge for a gentleman, ten years is not too late" and it is a beautiful turnaround.

In fact, in addition to brand awareness and reputation, brand value also reflects the potential of a company's future development and the confidence of the public and the market in the company. Corresponding to the net operating income in the past three years, Pepsi-Cola with more products has been ahead of Coca-Cola, and the average growth rate of about 5% is much higher than the latter. Since 200 1, PepsiCo's share price has risen by 20%, while its rival's share price has not changed significantly. Besides being a famous Coca-Cola producer, PepsiCo, which owns Frito-Lay, is also the largest snack food producer in the world, such as potato chips. In fiscal year 2003, PepsiCo's sales revenue increased by 8% to US$ 27 billion, and its operating profit increased by 65,438+00% to US$ 5.8 billion, making it one of the four largest food and beverage companies in the world. At present, the company's development in carbonated drinks, non-carbonated drinks, snack foods and other departments is balanced, showing the potential for long-term sustainable development, while Coca-Cola has only succeeded in carbonated drinks market.

Steve, the 55-year-old chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Group, led PepsiCo to succeed in market battles again and again. Steve Raymond. CEO, who took office in May 20001,graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1970, served in the US Navy for five years, and then obtained an MBA from the University of Virginia. Raymond joined PepsiCo's Pizza Hut on 1984 and became the CEO of the branch two years later. Raymond was transferred to Frito-Lay, the most important food production department of PepsiCo on 1992. Through a series of promotion and management measures, PepsiCo has occupied 60% of the potato chip market in the United States. During his tenure, it was also the fastest developing stage of Pepsi snack food. Among the best-selling 10 snack food brands in supermarkets, 9 are owned by Frito-Lay International, which contributes 40% of the company's profits. 1999, Raymond was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of PepsiCo.

Guide the situation and transform health.

In fact, looking back on the development of Pepsi in recent years, its external market environment is not smooth. In addition to the global economic weakness, government health and health officials and the public are increasingly worried about unscientific diet. Anti-obesity fighters constantly accuse manufacturers of pure calorie foods and high-sugar drinks such as McDonald's and Pepsi. As a giant whose products are mostly carbonated drinks, potato chips and other high-calorie foods, Pepsi is facing great challenges.

Over the years, Coca-Cola has been pursuing "delicious combination", while Pepsi has advocated "longing for infinity". The former emphasizes "classic eternity", while the latter emphasizes "passion and dream". Pepsi-Cola has always been firmly loved by young people who pursue independence because of its brand positioning full of personality and passion, but now people want health besides personality and taste. Raymond is well aware of such market changes. He did not escape the market's criticism of Pepsi's food health problems, but promoted Pepsi's development in a healthy direction with a positive attitude. He said: "This is an opportunity for our business to grow. Many industry examples have proved that pursuing healthy products and lifestyles has better commercial benefits. Consumers want to buy healthier and better-tasting convenience foods, so Pepsi and the whole food industry should make changes to meet the needs of consumers. "

Since 200 1, Raymond has been committed to re-introducing more than 50% of the company's food and drinks "for your health". He advocated that the R&D department of Frito-Lay Food Company should devote more energy to the research of healthy snacks. They removed trans fats harmful to human body from biscuits and potato chips, turned fat oil into vegetable oil in the production process, and added healthy and nutritious raw materials such as broccoli, carrots and tomatoes. In May this year, PepsiCo also launched a new product line of Doritos and Tostitos brands, which will be produced with soybean protein and will taste more refreshing.

In terms of drinks, Pepsi vigorously promotes Coca-Cola's improved product, Diet Pepsi. In order to improve the low-sugar taste of this cola, the researchers also added vanilla and lemon flavors. Recently, PepsiCo is about to launch a new product-Pepsi Edge. Its calorie content is half that of ordinary Pepsi, but its taste is the same as ordinary Pepsi. Katie, vice president of beverage marketing for Pepsi-Cola North America? Katie Lacey said: "Some consumers don't like the taste of Diet Coke, so they are going to give up all coke products. Pepsi Edge is specially built for these consumers. With it, these consumers can enjoy the taste of ordinary cola while drinking low-calorie cola. "

Tropicana Juice Company, which was acquired by PepsiCo as early as 1998, is more conducive to Raymond's promotion of health concept. Tropicana's Dole brand, which uses pure natural fresh oranges, apples, grapes and other raw materials, is deeply loved by people who pursue a healthy life. The brand is also widely known in China. Less than a year after Raymond became CEO, he led the acquisition of Quaker Qats. The mineral content of Gatorade, Quaker's main sports drink product line, is quite consistent with the concept of healthy drinks.

Besides working hard on products and R&D, Raymond also proved to the society that Pepsi advocates the concept of health in other ways, such as making TV programs to promote Pepsi's "Let America Move" lifestyle and inviting some Kenneth, Dr. Cooper and Dean, who advocate eating low-fat food? Well-known experts such as Onish provide guidance for the company's researchers.

Through various efforts, Raymond and PepsiCo have successfully turned crises and challenges into new opportunities, making PepsiCo's image fresher and healthier. The market also responded positively to the adjustment of Pepsi-Cola: the sales of Frito-Lay series foods increased by 30% in the third quarter of 2003, and increased by nearly 65,438+00% in the whole year, and the sales of its natural food products also exceeded 6,543.8+billion US dollars. Fortune magazine and Financial Times respectively rated it as "the most respected company in American beverage industry" and "the most respected food and beverage company in the world".

Buy and sell, focus on the core

In the development process, Pepsi has always attached great importance to the linkage effect of multi-brands, and in order to maximize this effect, it has used a lot of merger and acquisition strategies.

Historically, PepsiCo acquired Frito-Lay from 65438 to 0965. This company owns brands such as Layers, Doritos and Cheetos, and its products include natural potato chips, shrimp strips, corn rings, wafer cakes and millet cakes. Since 1977, PepsiCo has successively acquired three fast food restaurants, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, and once surpassed McDonald's to become the first fast food restaurant in the world. 1998, PepsiCo acquired Tropicana Beverage Co., Ltd., which owns Dole 100% juice series. Now, with the strong sales network of PepsiCo, Tropicana has become the largest brand juice operator and producer in the world, and its products are distributed in 63 countries. These brands have played a good synergistic effect under the umbrella of Pepsi Group.