Saturday 14 June 2008

Coke marketing

Shopi - rue de la république This is a photo I'd never thought I would ever take, let alone publish. Four linear metres of Coke in a small supermarket located in the most touristy part of town. I am not a Coke fan to say the least, but my young Aussie friend Ben is, and he was fascinated by all the varieties he'd never seen before. He was familiar with Coke original, diet Coke (called "light" here), Vanilla Coke (his favourite) and the much advertised Zero, but Cherry Coke, Coke light plus vitamins, Coke light plus antioxydants and Coke light Sango (blood orange) were all unknown to him. Ben was happy to line them up for us to see. Is it specific European marketing? Are there any other varieties in North America that we don't have here? How many of them do you have in your country? I'd be happy to use your feedback for a little study in globalization (sigh).

Voila une photo que je n'aurais jamais imaginé prendre et encore moins publier : quatre mètres linéaires de Coca Cola dans un petit supermarché du centre ville très fréquenté par les touristes. Je ne suis pas une fan de Coca, c'est le moins qu'on puisse dire, mais mon jeune ami australien Ben en fait une grosse consommation et était fasciné par les variétés de Coca qui n'existent pas dans son pays. Bien sûr il connaissait déjà l'original, le light (appelé Diet Coke ailleurs qu'en France), le Coca vanille (son préféré) et le célèbre Zéro, objet d'une énorme campagne de publicité mondiale, mais le Cherry Coke, le Light Plus avec des vitamines, le Light Plus avec des antioxydants et le Light Sango à l'orange sanguine étaient nouveaux pour lui. Il les a alignés et nous les présente fièrement.
Je me demande si ces variétés correspondent à un marketing spécifiquement européen. Y a-t-il d'autres variétés encore en Amérique du nord ? Qu'en est-il chez vous ? Ca ne me déplairait pas d'utiliser vos infos dans le cadre d'une petite étude sur la mondialisation...

avignon photo Coca Cola

31 comments:

Nathalie H.D. said...

With Ben is her mother Sally of Sydney Daily Photo of course.

Avec Ben voici sa maman, Sally de Sydney Daily Photo bien sûr.

claude said...

Je ne pourrai pas répondre à ta question car je ne m'intéresse qu'au coco classique pour mes petits-enfants. Moi, j'en bois très peu ou alors avec une ptiote goutte de scotch. C'est assez impressonnant ce rayon de coca à toutes les sauces !

CaBaCuRl said...

Great to see Sally & Ben having such a great time visiting you. Did Sally get to have a swim there?

Anonymous said...

La pub Coca Cola est partout !

Comme Claude : très peu ou alors avec une goutte de scotch !

Chuckeroon said...

Now, Nathalie....I'm no Coke expert but I get the impression that the French have a love affair with Coke that has a degree of intensity and depth that does not exist on the Anglo-Saxon-Norman side of OUR Channel (not your "Sleeve"). This is very surprising and has got me thinking. Can it be that the "gourmet" sentiments of the French have permeated the psyche of the local Coke team...or is it something else that Chirac failed to notice? Whatever the answer...vive La France, this truly is the Citroen of the Coke range.

Anonymous said...

Beurk, pas d ecoca pour oi, même l'odeur sur mes doigts quand je lave les verres m'insupporte...
Fabuleuses tes photos du mariage à l'église Saint Pierre et puis pensée hier pour toi au Pont du Gard, merci pour ce tuyau, nous avons adoré, moments magiques et de pure poésie, je garderai longtemps ces images dans les yeux!

M.Benaut said...

It's great to see Sally and Ben enjoying their brief and whirlwind stay in Avignon.
Happy travels Sally !
Young Ben looks far too healthy to drink the stuff.

But like Claude says, a scotch and Coke is very good for the constitution sometimes.
I think I probably had one or two Cokes in the last ten years. It has however, a much better use, in bathrooms, they say !!

M.Benaut said...

By the way, you'll have to tell us where we can look, next, to follow Sally's travels.
Si une telle chose est possible ?

Jilly said...

Oh dear I'm ashamed. I managed a plain ol' coke for Ben and that was that. All the village had. I'd absolutely no idea all these other varieties exist. Just shows you can walk down a supermarket and not see a thing!

Fascinating post and lovely to see Sally and Ben with ALL THAT COKE!

Louis la Vache said...

Sacré bleu! Coke is taking over le monde. You have varieties we don't have aux Ètats-Unis - par exemple "Light Sango".

Flag Day.

Alex said...

Tatie, tu donnes de la coco à tes petits-enfants, bizarre comme grand-mère ;)

Moi j'aime le coca avec sucre et caféine, le vrai quoi !!
Tu en montres que je ne connais même pas...

Tash said...

Now that's classic (no pun intended). I've never seen so many Coke bottles in one place. I recall that as a novice American tourist in Paris in 1986, we ordered the most expensive Coke we've ever had & then wised up & ordered wine or bottled water.
I think it's so great that you've all become friends through CDP!

MmeBenaut said...

Go Ben! Try them all.

Dina said...

Oh mon Dieu! That's way too much Coke. I never paid much attention (until now) but I think regular and Zero are all we have in Israel.

Marie-Noyale said...

Je ne mets jamais les pieds dans le rayon des sodas,mais par curiosite, j'irai voir cet apres midi...
je n'ai pas l'impression que ces parfums existent ici...s'ils existaient,j'aurais vu de la pub!!

Squirrel said...

Although I live in 'the land of Coca Cola" I think I probably drink one once every 2 years. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of coca cola! or that it was a big seller -- as a child my sister and I would get 'coke floats' at the corner luncheonette (a scoop of vanilla ice cream into a coke) but she liked them more than I did.

Squirrel said...

HAA! i just noticed the coke avec antioxydant !!!

!!!!!

Thérèse said...

J'irai voir avant de m'envoler pour la France par curiosite mais je ne pense pas que nous en ayons autant de categories aux US. Question de benefices bien sur!

Olivier said...

Je ne savais pas que les linéaires de coca cola faisaient partis de la visite touristique d'Avignon ;o).

Bergson said...

Tu ne devrais pas tenter de gagner de l'argent avec des publicités telles que celles ci.

Je vote eau du robinet même dans le RICARD

Anonymous said...

I live in Atlanta, GA...home and headquarters of Coca Cola. We even have a World of Coca Cola museum here. I must say that we don't even have Coke Vanilla here anymore, much to a friend's dismay. We have Coke, Diet Coke, Caffeine free Diet Coke, Diet Coke Plus. Coca Cola Zero, and a few flavored Cokes. No blood orange though and nothing with antioxidants as far as I know. Check out the following link if you'd like to see what Coca Cola brands there are throughout the world. http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/brands/brandlist.html

Sacrilege, I'm sure...but I don't drink Coke!

Chuck Pefley said...

Hah! This one really made me smile :)

I actually drank a coke on Saturday although it had been many months since my last Coke. Looks like you and your Aussie friends had a lot of fun improving the store display. Good on ya!

Anonymous said...

ben en italie non plus, on ne connait pas les 3 deniers, le vanille non plus d'ailleurs !
je regrette le cherry coke ..:)

Maxime said...

Celle-ci n'est pas pour moi : mes papilles sont incapables de faire la différence entre un coca et un pepsi ! Par contre, entre un Pommerol et un saint-Emilion ...

Anonymous said...

Bergson, me crois-tu capable de faire la course à l'audimat? Allez, je t'offre un pastis.

Erin, what a list!

Ming the Merciless said...

I'm partial to super cold Cherry Coke myself. Warm Cherry Coke simply tastes nasty.

They introduced Vanilla Coke in the US about 5 years ago. It didn't do well so it's been discontinued here.

Anonymous said...

In South Africa we have Coca Cola, Vanilla Flavoured (although I am not sure if we still have it), Coke lite and Coke Lemon Lite.

I did not know that such a variety was even thought off, never mind existed. Although if I have it twice a year that is probably a lot.

Tomate Farcie said...

That is a lot of coke. I don't work for Coca-Cola or anything but I will say this: a nice classic Coke tastes 100 times better than a Pepsi! Go figure. I haven't had one in maybe 10 years, though, not a big fans of soda drinks.

Technodoll said...

wow look at all those flavours! I love a nice cold coke on a hot day... I know I know it's baaaad but yum, I can't help it.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Personally when I'm thirsty I'll have a glass of water over an icy cold coke any day; coke just doesn't work for me.

Anyway thanks to all for your feedback - very interesting indeed to see that Europe seems to be the leader for those new "PLUS" drinks - antioxydants and vitamins, mmmm - who comes up with such ideas? It'll be fun to see if they are here to stay. I personally doubt it.

Unknown said...

oh how nice for them to visit.

wonder if anyone's crazy enough to fill a bathtub with coke and you get to soak in it. haha...

we dont have the extra varieties of coke in Singapore. only the plain old regular ones..

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