“Iconic brands” are always regarded as the original. They are in the position to claim something for themselves, be it a colour, shape, or logo. The stronger and more unique the brand characteristic codes are, the better the chances are to assert oneself in strong global competition. Coke has at its disposal a unique bottle shape, distinctive lettering and a colour – therefore, everyone who chooses Coke should enjoy this brand experience.

The Coke-colour-sense is not silver, not green, not black. It is simply red. To fail to unequivocally reserve the colour now would be foolish and risky. Competition in the beverage area has significantly increased in recent years.

There is a large risk of losing ground in brand communication by means of sub-brands and thus completely different colour codes. Therefore, it is fitting to place everything on a clear brand image and to promote one brand and one image.

Marketing funds can be bundled and instead of communication for many individual variants, the brand essence can be centrally supported. Communication is becoming ever greater and, in the case of the so-called Love Brands, is now shifting away from product communication towards image communication. Given this, what colour should the brand have? Red? The discussions in the individual marketing departments can be vividly imagined.

A brand needs a unique colour. Nivea followed the same principle several years ago with its brand management. The brand name was placed in a blue circle: the manifestation of the blue container and thus the visual brand essence. And if this is feasible for a product line of hundreds of individual cosmetic items, then it should be child’s play for a brand with few sub-ranges.

Coke’s move is neither particularly brave nor provocative; it is the logical move of value-oriented brand management. Thus, it lays the right foundation for the future, because the more digital brand communication becomes, a clear and, in this case, single-coloured brand image is required.

First published in German by Werben & Verkaufen