Chapter 926 Reason

In the 1880s, an amateur pharmacist named John Pombotron developed Coca-Cola because of his research on headache potions, and magically turned it into a drink popular around the world.

The shrewd Pombotron then used his rich pharmacological knowledge and diligent research spirit to quickly determine the fourteen raw materials of Coca-Cola, and sealed the formula in a safe in an Atlanta bank, becoming a secret patent. He also asked Robinson, the accountant in his store and an outstanding calligrapher and painter, to design the trademark. Robinson carefully thought about it and drew it into an exquisite and unique trademark c. c Over the past 100 years, Coca-Cola has gone through ups and downs, and the trademark designed by Robinson is still in use today. It can be seen everywhere in the world and has become the traditional emblem of Coca-Cola.

A survey company once conducted a survey and found that Coca-Cola is the most recognized word in the world besides OK. As a German once commented, if movies are the soul of America, then Coca-Cola is its fuel.

In the first year after Coca-Cola was launched, the average daily sales volume was only nine cups. Now, people in more than 150 countries and regions around the world drink more than 7 to 2.5 bottles of Coca-Cola every day. But whether it is nine cups or 250 million bottles, the formula of Coca-Cola is always top secret. So far, less than ten people know the secret formula.

"The information you have now is the secret recipe of beryllium that an American plans to sell to Pepsi-Cola. It is said that it comes from the same source as Coca-Cola's formula. I don't know exactly how it was obtained, but the other party plans to sell it to Pepsi-Cola. , but Pepsi-Cola rejected his request and believed it was unethical, so they issued a public notice to Coca-Cola," Fan Wubing told Wuzhi Xiaoji.

Wuzhi Xiaoji looked at the information in his hand in astonishment and said to Fan Wubing, "I know about this matter. There was a lot of noise a while ago!"

As we all know, the mysterious ingredient that accounts for less than one percent of Coca-Cola is Coca-Cola’s absolute secret. Many chemists and competitors around the world have spent nearly a hundred years still not solving the mysterious formula of Coca-Cola.

Even now, companies around the world can only go to the United States to extract the mother liquor, and then go back to add other ingredients to produce localized Coca-Cola.

Originally, it was possible for Pepsi-Cola to unlock this secret, but in the face of the temptation of business ethics and interests, they chose the former without hesitation.

Coca-Cola's U.S. headquarters said in an interview that thanks to Pepsi-Cola, our secret recipe is well preserved and there is no danger.

Since the case is not over yet, Coca-Cola appears cautious. The manager of the company's external communication department said that Coca-Cola's secret recipe is safe at all times. Although Coca-Cola is built on a secret, they do not evaluate their own confidentiality protection measures. For such threats from the outside, Their attitude is very serious,

And will take all necessary measures to deal with this threat to protect their trade secrets.

"If Pepsi had accepted this formula at that time, what would be the result now?" Wuzhi Xiaoji said to Fan Wubing with some emotion.

"There will be no results." Fan Wubing answered directly. "When PepsiCo received this secret recipe of unknown origin, it realized that this was a great opportunity to once again enhance its corporate image. Not only did it inform its opponents "

A spokesperson for PepsiCo told the media after the incident that competition can sometimes be fierce, but it must be fair and legal. They are glad that the authorities and the FBI can identify those responsible.

Pepsi-Cola's approach not only received the thanks of its competitors, but also received praise from the public.

“In fact, as an excellent brand, Pepsi has its own values, and they also have their own unique formula. There is no need to rely on Coca-Cola’s formula. To make your own brand, you must have your own things, which is something that formula holders don’t have. Taking things into consideration, they wanted to sell Pepsi what they least wanted, which actually gave Pepsi the best marketing opportunity. Pepsi's handling of this matter was a good event marketing. "It is very beneficial to promote one's own brand values ​​through things," Fan Wubing told Wuzhi Xiaoji, "And from a risk perspective, accepting formulas from unknown sources is not only detrimental to the established brand, but also harmful to the established brand." It can easily lead to a lot of legal disputes, and if that happens, PepsiCo will be ruined.”

Wuzhi Xiaoji nodded and said, "Oh, ordinary people's ideas are always too simple. They think that after getting the formula of Coca-Cola, they can quickly occupy the market and make huge profits. In fact, the brand that Coca-Cola has used to maintain for many years is not Based solely on the formula, Pepsi-Cola was able to tie Coca-Cola in sales in the late 1970s, which naturally has its success.

Fan Wubing also agreed, "To be honest, even if Coca-Cola sells 200 million bottles every day, it will only be about US$4 billion in sales a year, and even if it is 80% of the profit, it will only be US$3B." , although it may seem a bit shocking to ordinary people, but for us, it is really not enough.”

Wuzhi Xiaoji also nodded. He estimated that the car production he was now managing would soon be able to exceed this profit standard.

It is said that some of Coca-Cola’s profits from beverage sales in China are the monopoly fees that are collected first and compulsorily. Each bottle of trademark receives a patent fee of 10 cents, each bottle of appearance patent charges 10 cents, and each bottle of secret recipe charges 10 cents. Cents, if you add the cost of drinks and bottles, it is probably a typical fifty cents party.

Coca-Cola's profits in China are naturally very generous, but the profits of domestic manufacturers, suppliers, and repackagers are very low, which can be regarded as the golden sign of domestic sweatshops.

Of course, the security loopholes in the peT Coca-Cola bottles still used by Coca-Cola still exist. Every year, there are many cases of poisoning and extortion of manufacturers, and consumers are often harmed.

The cap of this kind of beverage bottle can be completely unscrewed by boiling it with hot water, which is very easy to cause pain and poisoning.

Or cut the bottle off, bake to soften the bottle mouth, pinch the bottle mouth, and the bottle cap will fall off completely. It is simply impossible for ordinary consumers to reinstall a poisoned beverage bottle. It looked like it had been tampered with.

When talking about this issue, Fan Wubing told Wuzhi Xiaoji, “Actually, the invention of this kind of lid has some prospects for the Chinese market, because many people use empty bottles after drinking Coke. Containing something is also a habit of recycling waste. Therefore, although the lids of peT bottles are not safe, they are more acceptable. On the contrary, the sales of cans with relatively high safety have been unable to surpass peT in recent years. Beverage sales by bottle.

However, Wuzhi Xiaoji is still a little worried about Fan Wubing's behavior. "How safe is this formula? Can it really achieve the effect of Coca-Cola? Also, will the person who provided the formula leak this secret?"

Fan Wubing smiled and replied, "It has been tested and is safe and effective. As for the person who provided the formula, he actually didn't know about it at all, because the way I learned about this formula was a bit special, and no one knew that this formula had been It was leaked. And the person who got the formula didn’t know what it contained.”

Wuzhi Xiaoji expressed some emotion, "Fan Wubing said, "Everyone thought that the mysterious substance in Coke was so mysterious, but they didn't expect it to be so simple. "

Fan Wubing replied, "The magic is not the substance itself, but the entire set of processing processes. These processes are the most critical issue. If it is just a simple substance, how could it have been protected from being used by others for hundreds of years?" What? Don’t tell me that Coca-Cola employees are pure gentlemen.”

In fact, there are many secrets to Coca-Cola's success.

With the Coca-Cola Show so successful, there are now many lessons for business to learn from it, and overall, these lessons are both very simple and obvious.

For example, the product itself does not have to be able to speak, but it must have some useful function that can be widely accepted by people. Once you get used to the taste of Coca-Cola, you will find it very delicious and it will make people develop a hobby. Coca-Cola can make your nostrils feel itchy, quench your thirst, and has a little caffeine effect. Some believe it can treat headaches, nausea, and stomachaches, among other things.

The second is to believe in your own products, to establish a lofty image for the products, and to make the profession associated with it a sacred profession. Let the staff think that the product is world-class and that they are working for the best company.

Fan Wubing said to Wuzhi Xiaoji, "Salesmen should have the skills of missionaries, rather than just being paid salesmen. In the 1920s, the president of Coca-Cola summoned all the salesmen and unexpectedly announced that they They were all fired. The next day he rehired them in the new service department, with the caveat that they were no longer salesmen because they no longer had to promote the virtues of Coke; Great mix of Coke on the rocks.

Another thing is to create a sense of mystery. Although creating a mysterious atmosphere is unethical, it will help sales.

In fact, the secret formula does not mean much to them. The real secret of success lies in the impact of this product's trademark for more than a century, but the secret of the formula, the famous seven flavors, was once an important reason to attract customers.

"If it's just about drinks, there's no need to involve the clothing industry, right?" Wuzhi Xiaoji was a little confused about this.

"It's just a cover-up." Fan Wubing replied.

If something is done too obviously, it will easily cause trouble, and some work must be done to confuse the public. This is not a wasted effort.