Volume 263 [The King Is Critically Ill]

For more than half a century, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been at war.

Until 1978, Pepsi won its first victory, surpassing Coca-Cola in sales in the United States. Facing the defeat, Coca-Cola hastily launched new products, but to no avail, it has been rubbed on the ground by Pepsi for eight years.

How did Pepsi do it?

They invited a group of people to do a street test, poured two glasses of unlabeled Coke for people to drink, and everyone said they prefer Pepsi. Immediately, Pepsi frenziedly promoted this street test, and the advertising madness bombarded it for several months.

Do you think the means are low-level? Pediatrics?

However, it allowed Pepsi's local sales to soar by 233% within six months, surpassing Coca-Cola in one fell swoop.

By the mid-1980s, Coca-Cola had spent 18 months and invested more than 4 million US dollars to develop a new formula. The new formula has been approved by more than half of consumers (market research), but resisted by at least one-third of old customers (actual situation). Coca-Cola received 5,000 complaint calls every day, and in the second month it received 8,000 complaint calls every day, and it also received 40,000 complaint letters within one and a half months.

One of the complaints read: "Can the Constitution and the Bible be rewritten? To me, changing the formula of Coca-Cola is as serious as rewriting the Bible."

Coca-Cola was almost on the verge of losing its local market. Forced to do so, Coca-Cola had no choice but to announce the resumption of production of the old formula, so unexpected situations appeared.

The old formula, which has been discontinued for more than a year, received unprecedented support from consumers when production resumed, and achieved amazing sales in a short period of time. Many old customers deliberately drank several bottles of Coke every day to express their attitude.

feelings!

It is only when you get it back that you know its value. Coca-Cola just put Pepsi to the ground again.

Buffett, the stock god, bought Coca-Cola stock after that, bought the stock at the bottom, and it grew against the sky, creating an investment myth.

In the 1990s, Coca-Cola and Pepsi competed frantically for overseas markets, among which the battle between South America and the Soviet Union (Russia) was the most intense. Pepsi once took the lead, but was defeated by Coca-Cola's various magical operations. Coca-Cola couldn't do it in the market, and immediately cooperated with local snakes, and even turned the local government into its own partner.

This summer, the cover title of a certain issue of the US "Fortune" magazine was: "How Coca-Cola Kicked Pepsi's Ass?" ". The article quoted Guo Sida, chairman of Coca-Cola, as saying: "They (Pepsi) have become insignificant, and I don't need to take them to heart."

In China, the sales volume of Coca-Cola is already twice that of Pepsi. Coupled with the fact that Song Weiyang came to disrupt the situation with Coke, Pepsi was almost unable to hold on.

This is the global background. Pepsi not only launched a counterattack in China, but also launched an attack on Coca-Cola in South America and Europe.

...

United States, Coca-Cola headquarters.

"The situation is like this, Mr. Guo Sida, we must fight with all our strength," Li Lisheng, the president of Coca-Cola China, stood in front of the boss and said, "Coca-Cola must lower its price, otherwise sales will continue to decline."

Guo Sida, the global president of Coca-Cola, is a Cuban. Like Li Lisheng, he is a chemical engineer of Coca-Cola. He is at the pinnacle of his life at this time, and he is partying to his old rivals in various markets around the world, and even told reporters that "Pepsi is insignificant."

Guo Sida lit a Cuban cigar, bit his mouth and said, "We can't lower the price. We should increase our advertising investment in the Chinese market, continue to improve our brand image, and at the same time make friends with Chinese local governments."

Li Lisheng said: "However, most of Coca-Cola's promotional expenses in China need to be negotiated and distributed with cooperative enterprises. Our partners are probably not very willing."

Guo Sida breathed out the smoke and said: "Then change this situation! The headquarters sets up a special fee for the China region every year. This year, I can give you 2 million US dollars, which is specially used for advertising and event funds in the China region. The money, Is it enough?"

"Enough!" Li Lisheng was overjoyed.

"That's it, let's execute it immediately." Guo Sida said.

Li Lisheng left the CEO's office and immediately called China: "Immediately plan publicity and marketing activities, and the headquarters will pay for it. I will spend all the 2 million US dollars within half a year!"

"Mr. Li, I have to report the latest news to you," said the other end of the phone.

"Tell me." Li Lisheng suddenly felt bad.

The other end of the phone said: "I just got the news that Pepsi has launched the latest channel incentives. They divide the discount rebates of distributors into three types: cash deduction, annual deduction and special rewards, and they are distributed in cash!"

"What? Pepsi is crazy!" Li Lisheng was shocked.

Pepsi is really crazy. Even for local beverage companies in China, the rebates given to distributors are settled in the form of commodities. That is, how much Coke you helped me sell, how much rebate I should give you, and how much Coke can be purchased with this money. But now Pepsi directly pays money, some money is distributed in the current month, and the remaining money is distributed at the end of the year. Monopoly promotions are also immediately rebates and money.

This kind of channel stimulation method has greatly increased the financial pressure of production companies. Companies with little money can't bear it at all. The company's cash reserves are likely to be multiplied several times.

Historically, Pepsi in the mid-1990s almost used this method to monopolize the cola market in Xikang Province.

If we say that Pepsi's price cuts are aimed at Coca-Cola. So now the channel cash rebate is aimed at Xifeng Company, and it will open fire on two opponents at the same time!

Li Lisheng hurried back to see Guo Sida, and after reporting the situation, he said: "Mr. Guo Sida, there are only two ways to deal with it now. Either cut the price and fight a price war; or reduce the annual profits handed over to the headquarters in China and fight a channel war with Pepsi!"

Guo Sida had a headache and said, "Has Pepsi been stepped on the cat's tail?"

"The dog jumped the wall in a hurry." Li Lisheng's Chinese has improved rapidly recently.

"A dog is forced to jump over the wall. Is this a Chinese proverb? It's very interesting," Guo Sida laughed. "You stay in the United States for a few days first, and I need a meeting to make a decision. Well, you also have to attend the meeting, and the Chinese district clarify the situation.”

"Okay, but please hurry up." Li Lisheng said.

Guo Sida lit his cigar again and said, "I will...cough cough cough!"

As soon as he took a puff of his cigar and said only two words, Guo Sida began to cough crazily, covering his mouth and almost coughing out his lungs.

"Sir, what's wrong with you?" Li Lisheng asked with concern.

Guo Sida spread the hand that covered his mouth just now, looked at the blood in his palm, frowned and said, "I think, I should see a doctor first."

Hospital examination results: lung cancer...advanced stage!

The global president of Coca-Cola went to the hospital for chemotherapy. A big event in the Chinese market turned into a trivial matter in an instant, and Coca-Cola's executives were caught in a conspiracy, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the throne of the global CEO.

Even the presidents of the Far East, Europe, and South America began to inquire about the headquarters.

Since then, Coca-Cola's management has been in a state of chaos for more than two years. Although Guo Sida knew that his fate was not long, and let his deputy Yvester succeed him, it didn't help the matter at all.

Guo Sida is the legendary CEO of Coca-Cola. He took over the mess when the company was at its worst, and then increased the market value of Coca-Cola's stock from US$4.8 billion to US$18.5 billion. At Coca-Cola, he is God, he is the monarch, he is everything.

Just last year, Guo Sida often repeated a sentence said by a certain shareholder: "You should never retire like the Pope of Rome!"

Guo Sida has never thought of retiring. Those who are qualified and capable of threatening his status at the top of the company have been forced away by him, and the rest are executors who only know how to obey orders. Even when Guo Sida was in the advanced stage of lung cancer, he was still unwilling to hand over the power in his hands, but let his deputy issue orders on his behalf.

Ever since, after Guo Sida died of illness next year, Coca-Cola's CEO handover was a mess.

Although the deputy Ivester succeeded in taking the position, he was not enough to convince the crowd, and he always lived in the shadow of Guo Sida. If the work is done well, people think that he is not good enough, far worse than the legendary CEO Guo Sida;

Ivester is a tragedy. During his term of office, he was criticized in various ways, and he was even accused of having a problem with his character. In order to force him to abdicate, other high-level executives tried their best, both obediently and deliberately, causing Coca-Cola's global business to shrink wildly, and Pepsi, which was almost unable to recover, took the opportunity to invade the market.

In just two years, Ivester's global CEO position was gone, replaced by Du Dafu, president of the Far East Region, who accompanied Song Weiyang to visit the museum.

From the autumn of 1996 to the winter of 1999, Coca-Cola was a sick giant who lost the ability to think and execute. It was unresponsive, inefficient, aggressive and conservative.

This is also a good opportunity for Song Weiyang and Very Coke to develop!