A comparative study and mother Brand influence on determining the consumer perception of Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi: A UK market perspective

The aim of the research is to identify and compare the level of customer perception towards Diet Coke and Pepsi, the influence of the mother brand on these product purchase decision and other factors that contribute to the positive and negative perception among the consumer. There are significant evidence from the literature that the global brand like Coca-cola and Pepsi has significant impact on its entire product line like Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi. For that the companies has given significant concentration towards establishing unique global brand as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Although there are also evidence that there are some differences in the marketing execution strategy across different countries due to the social and cultural factors. This particular research has investigated current market situation, brand strategy, communication attractiveness, customer perception from different literatures. Then it proceeds towards a deeper analysis of the research done in the past to have a proper understanding of the topic area. Some models about brand strategy and branding process has been drawn and explained so that the readers can get the subject matter very easily. For the analysis data gathered from both primary and secondary sources considered to evaluate customer perception towards these two brands and in doing so the research considered top of mind awareness, brand loyalty, availability, satisfaction with taste, pack design and sizes and product variants, perceived share value etc. Out of the market feedback there are strong evidence that although consumers perceive differences between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, however the key deciding factor is the mother brand image and reputation. In that case Coke has been rated quite higher than Pepsi in terms of taste, availability, communication means in both tangible and intangible factors. Apart from brand the companies also should more focus on adding value on product like taste, packaging, efficient distribution, retail management, loyalty scheme etc. But due to the health phenomenon these two brands have huge potential to grow and get the market share of regular version.