Market cap

* For banks, enterprise value is substituted with market cap. Source: Bloomberg Finance L.P.

Performance of the brand

Coca-Cola is the world’s best selling soft drink by volume and one of the most easily recognisable brands in the world. The company’s drinks are sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. Approximately 74% of the company’s volume sales stem from outside the USA.

According to our study, the brand is now the 16^th most valuable in the world, down 13 places from last year’s study in which it ranked 3^rd. A few factors help to explain this.

First, the market for carbonates is under pressure from a strong health and wellness trend. Non-carbonates continue to prevail as consumers opt for bottled water, fruit juice, and RTD tea. Coca-Cola has responded by pushing its low calorie caffeine free Coca Cola, but growth in the carbonates sector (low calorie or not) is falling way short of soft drinks as a whole. Moreover, Coca Cola’s parent company – The Coca Cola Company (TCCC) – is over reliant on its carbonates sector. TCCC has a vast portfolio of carbonates brands, and only a few that are really geared towards health and wellness.

Another factor that may explain Coca Cola’s poor 2011 performance is its 2010 acquisition of Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE), TCCC’s largest bottler. Although the move may well give long term benefits to TCCC – products can be brought to market faster and for cheaper – the deal has landed TCCC in a substantial amount of debt. Thus, in the short term, and whilst the company reorganises its already complex infrastructure, the effect is likely to be negative.   

Last changed September 5, 2011

League tables

Coca-Cola appears in the following brand league tables:

Rank 16 in the Global 500 2011.
Rank 3 in the Global 500 2010.
Rank 2 in the Global 500 2009.
Rank 1 in the Global 500 2008.
Rank 1 in the Global 250 2007.