Every company has its ups
and downs that have bring them to where they are standing right now. A well
established and now a successful company like Apple and Coca Cola are not
excluded as well. Looking into both of the organizations’ company background.
From once just a computer
company, the company has now evolved and expanded their scope that specialized
in much more than just computers. Yes, it is none other than, Apple Company. Apple
Inc. was established on 1st April 1976 in Cupertino, California. It
was then incorporated on 3rd January 1977, which is less than a
year. The late Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were the founder and co-founder of
the company. Both of the founders has their own strength and each of them in
charged in a certain area. Steve Jobs was in charged in the conceptualizing the
products; whereas Wozniak handled all the technical stuff and make it happened.
The company was actually started in the garage, instead of some grand business
location.
In the nineties, the
company finally produced some of the best personal computers that could be
found in the market, such as, the Apple brand, Macintosh and Power Mac
computers. However, as the competition among the competitors began to increase,
a downfall in the sales hit the company and it was then trying to think out of
the box in keeping the company on going. There was when they came out with the
idea of bringing in other products, instead of just sticking with only
computers. They first come out with iPod, a portable music player. Not long
after they release it, in the year of 2001, Apple dominated the market of music
player, whereas in 2007, they released Apple version of mobile phone and named
it iPhone, which has also been a huge successes. Therefore, the company is now well known
worldwide for their Macintosh computers and notebooks but also iPod, iPhone and
even the tablet, iPad. With that, “Apple products now really did help to propel
the company in the eyes of many consumers.” (No Stop Technology, 2013) In
short, it can also be said that Apple as a brand, already gained the
credibility of the publics by maintaining the products’ quality as well as keep
on improving their Apple’s technologies in keeping it updated.
Coca Cola on the other
hand, is a totally different type of company compared to Apple Inc. Apple
selling technologies, whereas Coca Cola selling soft drinks. The global Coca
Cola Company was founded and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1886, a
pharmacist named John Pemberton created soft drink, which is now called Coca
Cola by combining soda water, lime, cinnamon, coca leaves and Brazilian shrub
weeds. So, how exactly the trademark of the drink came by? Well, it was
actually suggested by Pemberton’s partner and also the bookkeeper named, Frank
M. Robinson, where he thought that a name with two “C” would look nice in
advertising. Coca- Cola was originally sold in Atlanta in Jacob’s Pharmacy for
five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink. The sales for the first year itself,
about nine servings of soft drinks per day were a loss. Why? It was because of
the overall sales on the first year was $50 and the expenses that cost
Pemberton was over $70.
In 1887, Asa Candler,
another pharmacist of Atlanta interested in the formula of the soft drink. He
then bought the formula from John Pemberton for $2300. 3 years later, Coca Cola
had became one of America’s most popular fountain drinks, largely because of
Candler’s aggressive and strategic marketing plan to market the drinks out to
the publics. Thanks to him, Coca Cola Company sales increased drastically in
between the year of 1890 and 1900. Coca cola soft drink formula was improved
and released on April 23rd 1985 in improving the tastes and quality of
the drink. Since then, Coca Cola has remained dedicated to offer quality for
every lifestyle and occasion, as it is a drink that suitable to drink anytime,
anywhere. The company also provides information and market the beverage
responsibly that somehow managed to gain the publics trust. Hence, today, the
products of the Coca Cola Company are consumed at the rate of more than one
billion drinks per day.
Coca Cola has always been
the top 1 brand worldwide for many years. However, in the year 2013, things
began to change. Coca Cola is no longer the top 1 brand. “Apple has emerged as the most valuable brand
in the world, passing Coca Cola which held the top position for 13 years”
(Riberio, 2013). Coca Cola is now slipped to third place of most valuable
brands, behind Apple and Google. According to Cruz (2013), Apple value jumped to
28%, which is $98.3 billion in just 1 year, while Google was valued at $93.3
billion and Coca Cola fell to $79.2 billion. Actually, Coca Cola managed to rise
their percentage by 2% but it is not good enough to give Coca Cola the 14th
years as the most valuable brand. Hence, it can be said that not only that
Apple replaced Coca Cola on the top 1 ranked of most valuable brands, Apple
also managed to beat Coca Cola in their financial performance. It is indeed a huge
achievement for the Apple Company because they actually climbing from number 8
in the 2011 annual report. Their effort paid off as the journey of making the
brand ranked number 1 within 2 years times, surpassing the former top 1 brand
for over 10 years was not easy.
There are times when Apple
faced a downfall moment, especially during the death of Steve Jobs. It had
caused the revenue of Apple dropped. So in order to bounce back the revenue,
the new CEO of the company that took the position of Steve Jobs came out with
the idea of new iPhone. He made changes in all of the features and adding in some
new specs to the brand new iPhone 5S. Not only that he did that, there are news
stated that Apple is trying to expand their plan by introducing the iTunes radio
which can attracts many investors. They targeted to launch it in some of the
big cities worldwide, such as United Kingdom and Australia. This lead to the financial
results of the company quarterly revenue gained to $35.3 billion, whereas the
quarterly net profit gained is $8.8 billion. The products sold by Apple are the
main reason why they could gain that much revenue. The company managed to sold
31.2 million of iPhones, 14.6 million of iPads and 3.8 million of Macs in a
quarter year. “We are especially proud of our
record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in
revenue from iTunes, Software and Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
Basically, I
personally believe that, the revenue increased is because of the capability of
the Apple Company in stimulating the customer demand for products, featuring
new programs and technological innovations on a timely basis. Since technology
is still growing, Apple tends to follow up the updates of the technology
available in making their products even more advanced. For example, they came
out with a finger print iPhones 5S, which is the main reason why public tend to
be interested in owning such an innovative smartphone. Besides that, Apple
keeps and maintains their company reputation. Not only their face-to-face
service is at their very best but also the logistics services provided for the
online buyers are taken care very well. They make sure that each of their products
is delivered to the buyers with good conditions. By doing so, they tend to gain
the public trust in buying their products. With such great services, people
tend to come back to Apple Company in buying more of their products, which will
then indirectly increase their sales and revenue.
Nonetheless, it is
undeniable that Coca Cola is efficient in marketing their outstanding brand but
Apple as well as the other leading technology brands is not that weak either.
They are all still competing among each other to be on top, surpassing one and
another. In other word, “they have becoming a very much the poster child of the
marketing community“ (Elliot, 2013). Likewise, technology is the main thing in
this era and everyone highly depending on it. Hence, when Coca Cola Company mentioned,
“nothing lasts forever”, they actually aware that this era is already dominated
by technology, which can also be one of the reason that Apple managed to beat
them in taking their place as the top 1 most valuable brand across the entire
nation. Who would not want to be on top and enjoy those glorious moment
forever? From their “nothing lasts forever” statement shows that there is
nothing much can they do in changing that facts except to just congratulating
Apple and Google for surpassing their company. Did they just give up after
being the top 1 for 13th years straight?
In conclusion, if you asked
me, most of the companies that are not doing such a great job in maintain their
ranked in the list somehow failed in marketing and maintaining the quality of
their products, which will then caused the value of the company drop in the
market. Blackberry for instant, they came out with various types of technology
products like Apple, but the quality and durability that could satisfy the
needs of the public are just not there. Their processors keep on corrupting, which
incomparable with Apple and even Samsung processors. This indirectly caused their
ranking to fall vastly as people does not prefer Blackberry devices anymore. Coca
Cola on the other hand should not have just given up just like that. It is
shameful for company as huge as Coca Cola to have just given up in gaining back
what was once theirs. Yes, congratulating Apple and Google for gaining that
splendid position was all right but they still need to work hard in getting
back on top by thinking out of a box just like how Apple did it when they
invented their first iPod. Nobody during the era where Apple was first started
expect that someday, the brand itself will be the top 1 brand in the future
either. Why? People tend to look down on the brand as it was founded in a
garage instead of some luxury business location. Well, Apple has finally proved
them wrong! If Apple can do it, why not Coca Cola and the rest of the companies
do the same as well?
References:
Aroneb 2013, Apple
Background of Company, viewed 7 October 2013, <http://www.slideshare.net/aroneb/apple-background-of-company>
No Stop Technology 2013, The History of Apple Inc., viewed 7 October 2013, <http://www.nostoptechnology.com>
The Washington Post 2013, Apple: A History ofthe World Most Valuable Company, viewed 7
October 2013, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/apple-a-history-of-one-of-the-worlds-most-valuable-companies/2012/02/29/gIQA1VFVmR_gallery.html#photo=1>
Bellis, M 2013, The
History of Coca Cola, viewed 8 October 2013, <http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/coca_cola.htm>
Coca Cola
2013, History of Coca Cola, viewed 8
October 2013, <http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/history-of-coca-cola-1982-1989.html>
Elliott, S 2013, Apple
Passes Coca-Cola as Most Valuable Brand, viewed 8 October 2013, <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/business/media/apple-passes-coca-cola-as-most-valuable-brand.html?src=mb&_r=0>
Ribeiro, J 2013, Apple
Ends Coca-Cola’s Reign as the World’s Most Valuable Brand, viewed 8 October
2013, <http://www.techhive.com/article/2050580/apple-beats-cocacola-to-emerge-as-most-valuable-global-brand.html>
Cruz, DS 2013, Apple
Passes Coke as World’s Most Valuable Brand, viewed 8 October 2013, <http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/news/2013/10/apple-passes-coke-as-world-s-most-valuable-brand.aspx>
Apple 2013, Apple
Reports Third Quarter Results, viewed 8 October 2013, <http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/07/23Apple-Reports-Third-Quarter-Results.html>
