Pepsi lording it over Coke for a change Pepsi and Coca-Cola are grabbing headlines today in a big way after some Coke employee and accomplices offered to sell trade secrets to Pepsi, which promptly called in the feds. As a result, the perennial No. 2 cola maker is enjoying a PR bonanza. “Competition can sometimes be fierce, but it also must be fair and legal.” Pithy bits of wisdom like that, from a Pepsi rep, would be laughed out of newsrooms under almost any other circumstances. Today, however, Pepsi’s high-minded quips are in demand. The media, pardon the pun, are literally drinking it up. (OK, don’t pardon the pun. Either way.) As a dutiful cog in the media machine, I offer up two points to ponder: 1) What information did those bozos peddle that Pepsi couldn’t have figured out on its own? “Sugar’s the secret ingredient. Where’s my 10 grand?” “Pssst, the word on the street is ... lime”? 2) Sure, the folks at Pepsi turned them in. But can we be sure they didn’t take a peek at what they were selling? —Posted by David Gianatasio

July 6, 2006 | Permalink

Comments

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Right about #1. Better than the meeting between the Coke employees and the Pepsi people would be the planning session for this brilliant move:

“Hey, I know. We'll sell the Coke recipe to Pepsi, and they'll just change the formula to Coke, but, and this is KILLER, they keep all the existing Pepsi packaging. People will never know.”

Posted by: makethelogobigger | Jul 6, 2006 8:47:33 PM

“Competition can sometimes be fierce, but also must be fair and legal.”

This makes me think of a classic story involving Coke and Pepsi. For many years, Pepsi dominated in a certain Venezuelan market (or some other South American country). Coke tried everything, from promotions to sports tie-ins and more. But no matter what they did, Pepsi continued to kick Coke’s ass. Finally, Coke solved the problem. The solution? Coke bought the Venezuelan Pepsi bottling plant, then effectively shut it down.

Coke definitely uses its mammoth clout and power to regularly crush competition in many more ways. It’s all fair and legal. But the definitions of fair and legal have definitely been stretched when players like Coke and Pepsi are involved.

Posted by: HighJive | Jul 6, 2006 8:55:49 PM

This is Pepsi propaganda, which will be disclosed during the trial. Pepsi ‘hired’ the ex-Coke employee to play the role of turncoat and to be vilified in the media. Moreover, Pepsi never had the secret formula nor did they set out to get it. Pepsi wanted, and got, oodles of free, positive press for ‘doing the right thing.’ Brilliant marketing move.

Posted by: Jonah Hughes | Jul 7, 2006 11:03:08 AM

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