Coca-Cola, Pepsi Hold Top Beverage Spots in MBLM’s Brand Intimacy COVID Study

Beverages Ranks Seventh Out of 10 Industries Analyzed

As the beverage industry’s business performance rebounds in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, its Brand Intimacy performance is up 11 percent, according to MBLM‘s Brand Intimacy COVID Study, which analyzes brands based on emotional connections during the pandemic.

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Coca-Cola ranks #1 in the industry, while Pepsi rose to the #2 spot from #4 a year ago. The remaining top 10 are Mtn Dew, Jack Daniel’s, Heineken, Budweiser, Tropicana, Coors, Snapple, and Miller, respectively. Heineken and Tropicana also improved their positions, but Coors, Snapple, and Jack Daniel’s declined since MBLM’s 2020 COVID study.

Can’t live without – a measure based on a ten-point scale that determines how essential a brand is to consumers’ lives – rose dramatically by 75 percent for the beverage industry.

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“During the second year of the pandemic, beverage brands continued to provide comfort and gratification, becoming increasingly essential. Since many Americans have returned to dining out and bars, at least in some measure, the way we experience these brands has shifted back to a more expected paradigm.” noted Mario Natarelli, managing partner, MBLM. “How beverage brands adapt and build on the past two years will be critical to future success. The category, while improving, could still perform at a much higher level, by building stronger emotional bonds with customers and acknowledging the past two years.”

In the second year of the pandemic, Coca-Cola is showing strong results in the second quarter, while alcohol sales are accelerating with year-to-date 2021 performance trending higher than 2019, with projections to end at +3.8 percent in volume amid consumption that is seeing its most significant volume gain in almost two decades.

Additional significant beverage industry findings include:

• Daily usage in the beverage industry increased 17 percent since last year.
• Beverage brands perform better with men than women, and with consumers over 35 versus those under 35 years old.
• Coca-Cola continues to lead across all demographics – except among people aged 45-64, who prefer Pepsi.
• The number of Coca-Cola users who can’t live without the brand has doubled to 45 percent, compared to Pepsi’s 32 percent.

MBLM also analyzed the industry in an article entitled, “The Growing Emotional Bonds Between Consumers and Beverage Brands”. The piece looks at the beverage industry’s improved Brand Intimacy performance – with the industry average up 3.4 percent since the 2020 study – and provides a language analysis that explores how these brands have communicated to customers over the past year.

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