Don't You Wanta Fanta

While American products are everywhere, I wanted to focus on one specific company today and their movement to become a global organization. In 1988, a study was done and found the Coca-Cola Company to be the best known name and trademark in the world. In 1919, the first European bottling plant opened and by 1928, Coke was at the Amsterdam Olympics. I was hoping the company's website would have more information on its globalization, but this was not the case. The history of globalization provided by the company was one success story after another and reinforced the idea of the company's heroes as well as how well their product sales are. To read this for yourself, check out http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/chronicle_global_business.html or http://heritage.coca-cola.com/.

But how did Coke become popular here? What techniques did the company use to enter a European market and what obstacles did they encounter? Did they have to change their social influence appeals for Europeans? It is interesting to look at the social influences used in this water commercial, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g9ffBjL1MQ. This commercial could easily be shown in the US, even the background song was made in America.

For just a second, I want to look at Pepsi instead of Coke. Check out these commercials at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxEkGbyNM_Q&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEc5foJ9plE&feature=related. While Youtube does not say where these commercials were played, they are in English so they were most likely shown in America. It is interesting to see how Pepsi shows Europeans drinking their product to make Americans also want to do it. While the boys in the togas were most likely American, it still depicts a Roman style toga party. I reviewed these commercials also but Pepsi had to break into the same market as Coke and create an international name for themselves.

Over the next few days, I am going to try to find the questions that today’s blog formed for me.