Beverage Brands
The beverage industry – with its product range from soft drinks to milk and all the way to wines – is constantly trying to win customers with countless nearly identical products and to influence the customer's willingness to buy more at higher prices. Nearly all beverage producers suffer from the same problem: The surplus in the market. This is why only very few dairies can sell milk for more than €1 per liter, and the average price for a bottle of white wine in Austria is only about €3.50.
Nevertheless, there are some players in the market who manage to achieve a significant price and volume premium: Weihenstephan, Red Bull, and Coca-Cola, for instance. This success is only partially due to the taste of the products, which is regularly evidenced in blind taste tests. The real reason is: These beverage producers have evolved over the years into not merely well-known but also attractive brands.
How do you become a valuable beverage brand? Certainly not through superficial marketing – colorful campaigns, creative slogans, or a new logo – but by conveying values that are based on performance and through clear positioning in the market. Coca-Cola stands for "joy", Red Bull represents "boundless freedom", which the company repeatedly proves through athletic performance. With their clear direction, these beverage brands give their consumers orientation amid the overabundance, and also provide an additional benefit beyond the product, for which customers are willing to pay more.
Accordingly, successful beverage brands are performance batteries. Customers associate them with positive preconceptions and are thus willing to buy at higher prices. It follows that beverage brands are value drivers for the producers - and for customers they are beacons giving direction amid excess.