ELI5: Why does Coca-cola still advertise?

[u/bigdubsy]

Why do companies that have seemingly maxed out on brand recognition still spend so much money on advertising? There is not a person watching TV who doesn't know about Pepsi/Coke. So it occurs to me that they cannot increase the awareness of their product or bring new customers to the product. Without creating new customers, isn't advertisement a waste of money?

I understand that they need to advertise new products, but oftentimes, it's not a new product featured in a TV commercial.

The big soda companies are the best example I can think of.

Edit: Answered. Thanks everyone!

Edit 2: Thanks again to everybody for the discussions! I learned alot more than I expected. If we weren't all strangers on the internet, I'd buy everyone a Pepsi.

[u/p7r]

Starbucks is the public face of mass consumerism.

The Ad Busters line (remember, they are in Vancouver, just up the road from Seattle), is that they started out as a cosy little coffee shop doing something with care, passion and a sense of community.

And within a few decades they were this huge lifestyle-selling money machine that were pushing down prices farmers received on their crops and pushing every street corner into a sense of what their lives should be.

That's the Ad Busters line. You might not agree with it, but you have to give them something for pointing out that life could be better with a bit more individualism within the brands available to us.

So, yeah, "Capitalismo" is their nod to the banality of thinking you are making a statement about yourself when walking into a Starbucks but in fact you're just buying hot water and coffee grains packaged in a way they've told you is highly valuable.

Like I say, not everybody's cup of tea (or coffee!), but I love it. :-)

[u/tomrhod → u/p7r]

I'm not saying they don't have some valid points, but I think it's presented in such a puerile fashion that it turns me off.

[u/mickey_kneecaps → u/p7r]

the banality of thinking you are making a statement about yourself when walking into a Starbucks

Who the hell thinks this? You know what I think when I go into a Starbucks: "I want a coffee."

[u/p7r → u/mickey_kneecaps]

Nobody goes into a Starbucks just for a coffee in the same way they don't buy a BMW because they just want a car.

There are a huge number of brand, cultural and identity images battling away in your head behind every brand choice. Clever brands manage to make it almost entirely subconscious - you're not meant to walk in thinking you are making a statement, that's the point.

[u/Dry_Farmed_Tomatoes → u/p7r]

Slavoj Zizek calls this Cultural Capitalism. RSA Animate - First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

[u/grwly → u/Dry_Farmed_Tomatoes]

Which stems from the ideas written about by the Frankfurt school on Late Capitalism. Reading Frederic Jameson's "Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" is very relevant regarding this topic.

[u/mickey_kneecaps → u/p7r]

And the fact that there is only one coffee shop on the street that I happen to be on makes no difference? Give me a break.

[u/Expected_Inquisition → u/mickey_kneecaps]

You're still discounting the value of advertising. If you have one place to buy coffee in town, then sure, maybe advertising plays a smaller role in your choice (if any), but there is still more influence than you think. Perhaps you don't seek out other coffee houses because you have accepted Starbucks as the best option, or you have been influenced by advertising and decided you're better off drinking Starbucks than buying a coffee machine and drinking your own brew. The idea behind advertising, especially with well-known brands and small-investment purchases such as a drink, is not that you are consciously choosing a product based on the information in an ad, but rather that this product is established as superior or the most logical choice in the back of your mind.

[u/swiftfoxsw → u/Expected_Inquisition]

While I agree advertising has a huge effect on people, there are times when it really has little to no effect.

Working downtown, there is a starbucks right next to your building. There is the nice local coffeeshop 10 blocks down. They both have decent enough coffee. Sometimes you just don't want to walk.

Now if it was the other way around then it would be an effect of advertising. Walking 10 blocks to Starbucks when you have a closer option next door.

But even still, sometimes people want something different than their usual routine, and maybe they felt like taking a walk.

[u/typemantype → u/Expected_Inquisition]

Or maybe I want an espresso and I don't want to bother making it for myself.

[u/mickey_kneecaps → u/Expected_Inquisition]

You are contesting a point that I never made. All I said was this: when I am out and about, and I decide that I want a cup of coffee, I go to the nearest place. Often, that place is a Starbucks. I never said that advertising has no effect, all I said was that I am not "making a statement" by getting a cup of coffee from the nearest cafe. I don't only drink coffee at Starbucks, I neither consciously avoid it or seek it out. I don't understand why a simple statement like the one I made above must be misinterpreted so badly. It's as though you people can't even fucking read.

[u/digitalsmear → u/mickey_kneecaps]

There's probably a gas station with perfectly good coffee (Green Mountain Coffee is everywhere in New England, for example) - but why would you go someplace like that for a cup of coffee? It's not good coffee; how could it be? It doesn't have it's own shop.

[u/meatsocket → u/digitalsmear]

There are gas stations with decent to good coffee, but the variance is pretty crazy, mostly because gas station owners don't have a lot riding on the caliber of their coffee. Dedicated coffee shops are far, far less likely to give you something awful, watery, with the distinct burnt taste of coffee that's been on a hotplate for eight hours.

The variance for Starbucks, Peets, and other chains is a lower still. They train their employees on how to make coffee, and brew fresh pots regularly. They have 'superautomatic' espresso machines that require no skill- and that you can't fuck up.

I drink gas station coffee a lot on roadtrips, because trying to figure out the cafe situation in small towns is a waste of time. But lets not pretend that gas station coffee and chain coffee are equivalent, or that people who go a couple minutes out of their way for Starbucks are brainwashed.

[u/[deleted] → u/meatsocket]

McDonald's lattes aren't half bad. They aren't great. Or really even very good. But they are consistent and, imo, a better option than rolling the dice with a gas station in the middle of nowhere on a roadtrip.

[u/Species7 → u/meatsocket]

Exactly what Starbucks wants you to believe.

[u/Illadelphian → u/digitalsmear]

How can you compare a cup of gas station coffee to a Starbucks coffee? The quality varies wildly in a gas station but is consistent at Starbucks. That plus the shitload of choices will make Starbucks preferable to many people. I don't even like coffee and I can see that.

[u/digitalsmear → u/Illadelphian]

Congratulations, you've been sold.

[u/Illadelphian → u/digitalsmear]

Like I said in my reply, had you bothered to read it I don't even drink coffee. I do however, know how coffee gets treated in a place like a gas station and it's completely hit or miss. You might get an old ass pot of coffee that's been sitting there for 3 hours. You definitely can't get any of those fancy coffee drinks.

[u/digitalsmear → u/Illadelphian]

But that's exactly what I'm talking about - the Starbucks image has you so sold on what a good cup of coffee is supposed to be that as an outsider (someone who doesn't drink coffee), that's the only thing you understand as supposedly "good." There are LOTS of places where you can find something like this - those are options; and those pots are not cooking on a hotplate making for burnt coffee. Local roasters like these typically have much higher quality coffee than Starbucks, even though they don't have mermaids and frappuccinos and a fancy lounge to make you feel good about your purchase.

If you ask a true coffee buff, they will tell you that the only thing Starbucks really has going for it, coffee-wise, is that internationally, you can find the same level of mediocre at any location. Much like Apple computers - the "why" is more valuable than the "what" in the way they sell.

[u/onsos → u/mickey_kneecaps]

So you are getting a 'coffee'? Why not a coke or energy drink? Why not a carton of ice coffee from a store? Why do you call it a coffee, anyway? Why don't you go to a restaurant or diner?

All of these are wrong for me. I struggle to recognise the product as coffee. I prefer a coke or an energy drink, or to go to a restaurant or diner. Or a cafe, where I can get espresso.

Advertising explains the difference in our attitudes. I respond to one set of advertising, but not Starbucks. Someone else looks at me drinking an espresso with confusion--or contempt.

[u/swiftfoxsw → u/onsos]

Because he likes coffee better than sodas or energy drinks? I hate sweet beverages except in rare cases (Only when eatings something greasy/salty to balance the extremes.)

Also he calls it "a coffee" because that is what it is. Coffee beans extracted in hot water. He never said he was getting an espresso or some other drink.

Advertising can have a huge impact on people, but I think some people are trying to overplay its influence over people.

[u/onsos → u/swiftfoxsw]

Why does he like coffee better than energy drinks? This is a cultural practice. Coffee is pretty bitter, and usually unpleasant when people first try it. Most people will add substantial amounts of sweetener and milk--Starbucks also specialises in adding flavours. It's a long way from the coffee that I grew up with; my parents (who are serious coffee drinkers) don't recognise it as coffee.

Is it the air of sophistication? The warm comforting feeling that you get when you get to Starbucks, and when you drink their products? Is it the sense that Starbucks is healthier than other products, like energy drinks? These are the products of advertising, and they produce patterns of consumption.

When I go to Starbucks, I don't see what I recognise as a 'coffee'. There are a huge number of options, but they don't touch on my reference points for coffee. Obviously, a lot of the products are coffee-based, but that is not the experience I have experientially.

When I order a coffee, sure enough there is a coffe--bad, but not particularly so. It pans out that my alienation from the Starbucks experience is a product of advertising, too.

Starbucks didn't become a global success because of its excellent products, just as McDonalds didn't. It's a global success because of marketting.

[u/mickey_kneecaps → u/onsos]

You sure do read a lot into nothing. The only coffee that I drink is drip coffee, no flavors, with some cream and sweetener. It is a cultural thing, since I love in Seattle and that is what people around here like to drink. However, Starbucks did not invent Seattle's coffee culture, there are many, many coffee shops around here besides Starbucks. Starbucks is simply the one that we have chosen to impose upon the rest of the world.

I do not deny that advertising is important, and responsible for Starbucks global success. All I said, and this is not hard to understand even for you, is that when I want a cup of coffee, I go to the nearest place (since I am not picky), and often that place is a Starbucks. This is not "making a statement." That is all that I was trying to say.

[u/onsos → u/mickey_kneecaps]

I'm not going to accuse you of being influenced by marketing, or making irrational decisions about drinks purchases, but I wouldn't be surprised if Starbucks, in Seattle, bases its advertising on these things:

1. Starbucks is a Seattle thing! There's nothing more Seattle than going to Starbucks. It's part of Seattle's coffee culture. The most successful part, but just a part. Thanks, Seattle, for being the place where we could become great--for being awesome and sophisticated in your coffee drinking habits, so that we could take it to the rest of the world!

2. Starbucks is a local thing. It's the coffee shop that is nearest, that always provides just what you want when you just want a coffee. No need to be picky and boutique about it--just get a good coffee from your local store. Relax about it!

This is not about making a statement. It's about the feeling one gets when one goes there, and gets the familiar taste of home.

PS: Lighten up with the insulting tone. It weakens your prose, and makes your arguments look defensive rather than effective. Please don't accuse me of reading a lot into nothing, and don't use phrases like, "even for you."

[u/k1down → u/onsos]

Because it's some damn good coffee

[u/onsos → u/k1down]

The Starbucks or the espresson? I'm confused.

[u/jigglypuffed → u/p7r]

I go into Starbucks for dat pumpkin spice latte.

[u/[deleted] → u/p7r]

Nobody goes into a Starbucks just for a coffee . . .

Hyperbole much?

[u/p7r → u/[deleted]]

Consciously, no.

But why didn't you make up a flask before leaving? Some people hate the blandness of the Starbucks coffee they insist on grinding their own at home and taking it with them. It's worth the inconvenience to them.

Some people love Starbucks so much they'll pass an indie coffee shop selling better coffee for less money next door just to go in.

I very, very rarely go into a Starbucks. Given a choice, I'll go to a Costa Coffee or Cafe Nero (both big players in the UK), and will tell myself a story of it being better coffee, but in fact it's probably just because I identify with those brands better - on a blind taste test, I would struggle to tell the difference.

Consciously, I'm not making a statement.

Subconsciously, the statement has already been made. The part of the brain that deals with emotional reasoning can't help you verbalise it. It's a gut instinct. If you thought you were making a point, that's not advertising at work, it's something else.

[u/[deleted] → u/mickey_kneecaps]

You know what I think when I go into a Starbucks: "I want a coffee."

When I want a cup of coffee while walking around in Manhattan (where I do most of my work), I just stop at literally the first place I come to. This means I drink about 1/3 of my coffee at starbucks, 1/2 at the crappy little deli/convenience store type places that're everywhere, and about 1/6 at Dunkin Donuts or some other random upscale-ish place.

[u/[deleted] → u/p7r]

Also remember that people in Vancouver tend to be elitist and douchey.