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•96 The 100 Greatest Business Ideas of All Time

But, the effect of the interiors, the concentration on families and children and
the classless décor and appeal give the most truly international brand of them all. It
knows no divides. For example, when Nato was bombing Serbia in 1999 both sides
could eat McDonald’s during the breaks.

Idea 54 – Coca-Cola

Many people are expressing some concerns over the continuing viability

In a world of the essential Coca-Cola brand image. In a world growing more cynical,

growing more the values of freshness and naiveté seem to require re-examination. But

cynical, the the Atlanta management team have more than a century of experience to

values of call on to steer this incredibly successful brand forward, and the central

freshness and message ‘Coca-Cola is a refreshing beverage with a great taste’ needs no

naiveté seem updating.

to require re- Coke’s mission in the 1960s that the world should live by love and

examination. that Coke was the spirit of love, made a whole generation take the drink to

its heart. Add to this the sheer embodiment of America that the red can

with it’s swirled Cs represents and one can see why the brand is distributed to more

than 195 countries through an innovative bottling franchise system.

Over the years the company took its understanding that branding was more

than packaging, but involved giving the product a personality, very seriously and

has produced a breadth of branding unequalled. It crosses age boundaries as effort-

lessly as it does national ones. This breadth reduces the threat to any brand of

changes in local tastes, regulation, or political or financial stability.

The final word on Coca-Cola probably belongs to its consistency of advertis-

ing. The contoured bottle was developed in 1915 and remains a part of current

advertising, which features it against the equally famous ‘red disk’ logo. Overall

Coca-Cola’s global dominance shows no sign of slowing down despite pressures

from its arch-rival Pepsi and the emergence of own-brand colas.