The Power Of Brand Accessibility

Coca-Cola used to focus its strategy on the three A’s: availability, acceptability, and affordability. While these provided for tremendous growth, they also led to lowered entry barriers. Today, Coca-Cola’s mantra is the three P’s: preference, pervasive penetration, and price-related value.

If you were another soft drink company, you might define your competitive frame of reference as the cola market or the soft drink market or even the beverage market. But Coke thinks of its business and its market share in terms of “share of human liquid consumption.” This makes water a competitor. In fact, a Coke executive has said that he won’t be satisfied until “there is a Coca-Cola faucet in every home.” Coca-Cola’s mantra is “within an arm’s reach of desire.”

An indication of Coke’s drive for brand accessibility, beyond the vending machines that seem to be everywhere, is illustrated in a recent trip I took to Peru. We had spent several days traveling down Rio Madre de Dios on a riverboat, moving deeper and deeper into the Amazon river basin, jungle, and Manu World Biosphere Reserve. When we finally encountered a riverside village of indigenous people and thatched huts, what was waiting for us? A Coke sign and fresh Coke.

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