Coca-Cola. #1 in Your Program, #1 in Your Heart

Last week Interbrand released its 2008 Most Valuable Brands report. The returning champ, Coca-Cola, has held the number one position for the eighth year in a row. This doesn’t really surprise me. The Coca-Cola brand has not only incredible longevity but they, as an organization, have maintained their position in the global market as a leader; not only in the soft drinks and beverage industry but as good corporate citizens of the world. While they have consistently expanded their product base they have not waivered from their core identity. An identity that is not only red and fun and tasty, but good-natured, helpful, and progressive. These are personality traits that Coca-Cola has managed to conform to and maintain since the early 1900s. New to this list is sustainable which, I believe, is part of the good-natured and helpful characteristics.

I remember watching Coca-Cola ads as a kid and loving them. Their jingle, “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” rose to #13 on Billboard’s Top 100 and #5 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary charts in 1971. Long before corporate responsibility was the hot issue it is today, Coca-Cola waived royalties to the song and instead donated $80,000 to UNICEF.

This is a brand that has understood, for much longer than many others that their product is not about brown fizzy carbonated sugar-water pouring slowly over ice into a tall iced glass. They understand this product will not make you cooler, stronger or smarter. They understand that this product is a choice its consumers make every day and choose it over every other soft drink on the market whenever they can.  They love that their product has risen to the top of the soft drink heap and let consumers know it.  How? By behaving like a friend would behave. By taking care of the communities in which they live. By advertising to their consumers in a way that is fun and likeable just to remind them they’re still there, not to push or sell more product. Even with the launch of new lines, the ads are tasteful and fun. And if the products aren’t accepted, they pull them. And if the consumers ask for the real Coke to come back, they bring it back and call it “Classic”.

Coca-Cola is a brand that understands that it’s part of its consumers lives and respects being there. I love Coca-Cola – and I don’t even drink the stuff.

Here's a link to the full report. Enjoy!