My wife and I got away late last month for a vacation to Southern Italy’s Amalfi Coast. I was taking some time off but couldn’t help making a few casual beverage observations.
First, when it comes to carbonated soft drinks, Coca-Cola appears to dominate the region. From the small local market near our Airbnb rental in tiny Conca dei Marini, to the trendy restaurants in mid-size Sorrento, there was always a Coke for sale. We didn’t stumble on a Pepsi until we hit a market in the much larger city of Naples.
While this was no formal survey, the disparity actually makes sense to me, knowing something about Coca-Cola’s and PepsiCo’s global strategies. PepsiCo’s global beverage expansion strategy has historically focused...
Coca-Cola is learning once again what it’s like to have a target on its back as the world’s largest soda maker. In less than a month, the company has faced threats against its flagship cola and its super successful dairy business, Fairlife.
Back in mid-2023, I wrote about a group called Save Tab Soda. They were cajoling Coca-Cola to revive the saccharin-sweetened diet cola that was discontinued in 2020 after almost 60 years on the market. Save Tab Soda went so far as to buy billboard space near Coke’s Atlanta headquarters to beg, “Please bring it back.” I referred to the Save Tab effort as quixotic. I still think it is.
That said, the tenacity and dedication of this band of hardcore fans and its followers is impressive. Just this past December, the group sent me a spiral bound 2025 Dreaming of Tab Calendar, with images of Tab in various holiday settings. They also shared “market research” and a survey of 206 people that they used to predict an initial market opportunity of almost $43 million should Tab return...