There’s Poppi, Popwell, Olipop, Culture Pop, and now Simply Pop. It seems that soda drinkers cannot get enough prebiotic pops! With the brand recognition strategy that Olipop and Poppi have crafted in just a few short years, it should come as no surprise that the beverage giants would begin to take notice. For a mammoth like Coca-Cola, the question was always going to be, “How will it tackle this new trend?” rather than “Will it tackle this new trend?”
A Bit of Background
Coca-Cola reportedly expressed interest in purchasing Poppi in February of 2024, but amidst a class-action lawsuit regarding Poppi’s health claims, a deal was never finalized. This week, it became clear that the true suitor for the Poppi brand would be PepsiCo, who just finalized an acquisition. Now The Coca-Cola Company has announced their own prebiotic soda brand with the release of “Simply Pop, the soda for juice people.” This new pop will be sold not as an extension of Coca-Cola’s existing line of packaged and fountain sodas, but rather as a new product of their Simply fruit juice label, easily keying in on its ingredients of real fruit juice and natural flavors. Now, if you’re a listener of our Brand Shorthand podcast series, you should already be familiar with this news. Our hosts, Mark and Lorraine, discussed the advantages that Coca-Cola has over the existing beverage market, namely their presence as the #1 worldwide beverage distributor with ownership of nearly half of the soft-drink market. Even with the entry of PepsiCo, Coca-Cola still dominates in resources. Despite Poppi and Olipop’s early waves in a more health-conscious consumer base, The Coca-Cola Company has the early war chest advantage in distribution. While Simply Pop’s distribution is limited at the moment, only being sold in the western part of the United States, there is no doubt that you’ll soon begin to see them popping up in grocery stores nationwide.
How’s this for a Brand Recognition Strategy
If you’re a regular reader of PositionistView®, you should know that our goal here is not just to analyze generic business advantages, but to look deeply at the key to Simply Pop’s brand recognition strategy: their position! While the existing financial advantages that The Coca-Cola Company boasts will serve to enhance their position in the market, they’ll still need to strategize effectively to win the battle for #1 prebiotic soda. It seems that The Coca-Cola Company already has this in mind. Remember the positioning rule of thumb when entering an established market: if you’re not number one and you’re not number two, then you need to be something new. While the prebiotic soda industry is young, two strong contenders already exist as the number one and two brands: Olipop and Poppi, respectively. Naturally, Simply Pop needs to establish what makes it stand out from these other two brands, and their difference has already been made clear from the start.
The Soda for Juice People
In their tagline, Simply Pop immediately steers clear of any connection between the beverage and The Coca-Cola Company’s traditional soda drinks and capitalizes on their Simply brand. In fact, the use of the term “prebiotic soda” only serves to establish a connection between Simply Pop and its competition. Simply Pop is hardly a soda, but a sparkling juice beverage. Unlike Olipop and Poppi, Simply Pop offers no traditional soda flavor options like cola or root beer but instead avoids any association with classic Coca-Cola products altogether. Instead, stamped at the very top of the can in clear white print “WITH REAL FRUIT JUICE,” Simply Pop makes clear that its position is as the fruit-juice prebiotic soda, not just a healthier alternative to traditional sodas. It has no reason to shy away from its ingredients either, with over 99% of its makeup being exactly what it promises: carbonated water, fruit juice, and inulin fiber. This focus on real fruit juice not only enhances the Simply Pop product by establishing a meaningful position in the buyer’s mind but also embraces the new consumer trends that favor quality ingredients and transparency, all without compromising on the prebiotic qualities that lend to the industry's namesake.
Effective Use of the Line Extension
The Coca-Cola Company also proved its knowledge of another positioning rule with the release of Simply Pop, one that many companies usually struggle to get right. The line extension rule states that taking the name of a successful product, in this case Coca-Cola, and putting it on a new product you plan to introduce can be detrimental to a brand recognition strategy, especially if the position of each product does not match each other well. Considering the reputation of Coca-Cola as the classic #1 original cola, a new Coca-Cola branded prebiotic soda might generate some short-term sales but would likely fail in the long run considering its association with being a guilty pleasure that necessitated a soda alternative in the first place. Fortunately for them, Coca-Cola didn’t fall into this trap but instead extended off one of their brands that already has an established position as a real ingredient fruit juice: Simply. Simply capitalizes on being a low-ingredient and natural juice drink, which also happens to be a perfect line for a juice-focused prebiotic soda to extend off. A customer who already assumes Simply will deliver simple and natural fruit juices will have no problem assuming that Simply Pop will also deliver on its promises.
But that Name
Despite the good news for Coca-Cola so far, there is one glaring issue with Simply Pop’s branding that can’t be ignored. To point back to our Brand Shorthand episode, Mark and Lorraine discussed how the name “Simply Pop” is “simply” weak against its competition. With The Coca-Cola Company’s business advantage we discussed earlier, there is little doubt that they are aiming to take the spot as the #1 prebiotic soda beverage. One of the biggest keys in being #1 is that it isn’t a fight for first to the market but first to mind in the market. If Coca-Cola wants their new drink to be the first beverage to mind in the prebiotic soda market, a forgettable and complex name like “Simply Pop” will be a natural disadvantage against creative and peppy names like “Poppi” and “Olipop.” However, Coca-Cola may have felt forced between a rock and a hard place and thought that the need to align a healthier soda with their healthier brand, Simply, was the primary advantage to reap despite being forced to compromise on the name.
What’s the Verdict?
There’s a reason Coca-Cola hasn’t just remained popular for decades — it has retained its spot as the number one soft drink brand as well. They know how to plan their brand recognition strategy and understand the position for each of their products well and demonstrate that even when jumping headfirst into a viral soda trend. Simply Pop’s position in the prebiotic soda market stands out as not just an effective one but one that Coca-Cola can effectively deliver on in conjunction with their pre-existing brands. By releasing this new product alongside the pre-existing brand Simply, they’ve minimized the risk of entering blindly while taking advantage of the reputation of an aligning position. Though as a consequence of tagging up with their pre-existing brand position, they’ve been forced to use a weaker product name than the competition it will face off against. Coca-Cola must fire on all cylinders with the rest of their positioning strategy and war chest to ensure the weaker name doesn’t hinder their long-term success with prebiotic soda. Overall, The Coca-Cola Company has earned a conditional thumbs-up from our positioning experts, with the expectation that they follow through with the position they’ve established with Simply Pop’s release.