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/Phoneseer]

The recipes of both are really intensely secret. Did you hear about the coke employees a few years ago that tried to sell the recipe to Pepsi, but just got reported and arrested?

To answer your question, though, the book SuperFreakonomics talked about taste tests between the brands a lot, and how Pepsi would usually be found to taste better, but even avowed fans of one brand often mistook it in blind taste tests with the other.

Edit: shoot, it wasn't super freakonomics... I'll try ad remember what book it was. Sorry...

[u/lacienega → u/Phoneseer]

It was the book "Blink." He said Pepsi did the best when it was a sip test, people preferred it in that small amount. But in a whole drink it seems they preferred Coke.

[u/Phoneseer → u/lacienega]

Yes, that's it! Thanks! Since I got an e-reader I've been confusing books more and more.

[u/lacienega → u/[deleted]]

Maybe it's the physical act of holding the book, and how ebooks don't take up space in the real world?

I use Kindle but I try and get real books whenever I still can, I just love the physical presence of them, a really good book doesn't feel right in a form that feels less definitive.