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/another_old_fart]

I remember waaay back when the Iranians released the embassy hostages, and I read that when they got on the plane out of there the first thing some of them asked for was a Coke, and I actually got all teary-eyed. Some of the commercial images that pop up in the America song at the end of National Lampoon's Vacation have the same effect on me, and I'm sure a lot of other people.

[u/[deleted] → u/another_old_fart]

I always figured it would've been a better line to have Tony Stark in the first Iron Man - after he gets rescued and returns to America - to say, "First, I want a Big Mac and a Coke. Second, I want a press conference..."

Instead, they had him say something really awkward sounding like, "First, I want an American cheeseburger..."