Pepsi-Cola Attacks Coca-Cola

Japan

"My trip from Osaka to Moscow is now six hours shorter," said one of the first passengers, a Japanese businessman from Osaka, who frequently travels to Moscow. "Now, I no longer have to waste time by first flying from Osaka to Tokyo to get to Moscow."

In Osaka, aircraft land at Kansai International Airport, which is located on a man-made island.

The flight to Moscow takes 10 hours. On board the comfortable European Airbus, passengers sink into seats ideal for work and relaxation. The service is superb and the Aeroshop duty-free goods are inexpensive. In fact anything you buy on board flights to Japan will be delivered to your home address in Japan.

The schedule is convenient for passengers, departure from Osaka at 10:00 pm and arrival in Moscow the next morning at 5:00 am. After that, you can continue your journey to Paris of other European cities.

Osaka has a lot of events coming up - the International Athletic Games in 1997, the p7 summit in 2000. The Eastern Asian Games in 2002 and the Olympic Games in the summer of 2008.

We are flying to Japan on Aeroflot's new Paris - Moscow - Osaka route. If the wind is blowing against us, out journey takes ten hours. It is blowing from behind, we arrive up to 40 minutes later.

In Japan, there is nothing which is merely good. Everything is at lest perfect or even ideal. Compared in the traditional pagodas, the buildings in Osaka seem like "skyscrapers". Some of these gleaming constructions have luscious gardens of their rooftops. Monorail trains in Osaka travel as fast as aircraft, unnatural cleanliness on the streets washed with soap surprises every newcomer, so do coconut palms growing right in the hotel room.

Everyone here is extremely laid-back and natural. The feeling of freedom is imbued into the Japanese in their earliest childhood. Children are allowed to do everything: that's why they are so disciplined when they grow up. In the middle of the day, an exhausted man can simply spread out his newspaper on the pavement, take off his jacket and lay down for a nap among the skyscrapers.

Close to the "Osaka Grand Hotel" two well-dressed gentlemen in dark suits and with impressive attache cases took off their shoes, washed their socks in the river and hung them out on a bush to dry. At the same time, they were talking into their mobile telephones.

The main food in Japan is seafood and rice, which is healthier and more delicious, than meat. You'll only find bread in the restaurants of hotels where foreigners stay. That's why the Japanese people usually do not have a weight problem.

Japan's national dishes are sushi and sashimi, raw freshly cut fish, tuna, salmon, prawns, lobster or squid. It's even tastier the chilled Northern Russian dish called Stroganina (salted raw fished).

Seafood is served in all restaurants, although you can also eat it in small fast food kitchens decorated with Japanese lampoons. Laid out on numerous platters, the strips of raw fish on lettuce and ice cubes are packed into small boxes. As far as I could see, the people here love beer.

We were impressed that the Japanese are extremely clean. Whenever you enter a restaurant, a public toilet of a sauna, you are given a hot towel to wash your hands, just like on board Aeroflot flights before a meal is served. At the department stores, there is a girl dressed in a uniform, whose task is to wipe the entire rubber ribbon of the escalators with a damp cloth. Not to mention the taxis waiting patiently in long queues everywhere. The taxi drivers are all neatly dressed in black suits, snow-white shirts, ties and gloves. The seats are fitted with white lace covers. Even here, the taxi driver will give you a towel after you get in.

In the personal relation are characterized by exaggerated respect for each other. This has

something to do with some sort of a cult. The Japanese are extremely tolerant of other people's self- esteem. While talking, they look into each other's eyes and constantly repeat the word "Hai", which means "I am listening to you attentively, my friend." If a person is already in a lift, he or she will get out before you come in and them enter it again himself of herself. If you ask the way in English and don't understand the answer, the person you ask will drop everything and personally see you

оff to the point you are looking for. This reflects everything: tradition, upbringings and discipline. By the way, when rain is forecasted on TV, all Japanese leave home with an umbrella, even if the sun is shining.

In addition, the Japanese have a high self-esteem. When, 33 years ago, the congenial conductor, Seiji Ozawa, had an argument with the superb national symphony orchestra with the upshot that the musicians refused to play with him the maestro performed a "concerto for quietness without orchestra" on the empty stage. The overcrowded hall listened to the silence, intently following the conductor's arm movements.

Thereupon, the insulted conductor moved abroad and did not return until 33 years later, after the terrible earthquake in Japan, to conduct the same orchestra. The concert was broadcasted throughout the entire country and people were moved.

In Japan there is really a shortage of land. That's why Osaka has many skyscrapers with a multitude of underground levels and entire road networks, large enough to fill the entire town. It is a mirror reflection of the city with artificial gardens, stores and restaurants, including a gigantic artificial sun.

If a house owner has a two meter plot of land outside his frontdoor, he does not only make a miniature garden, but also a tiny waterfall complete with a pond full of goldfish and multi-colored carp. Space of seven square meters, between two buildings, is enough to construct a 50-floor skyscraper.

A few words on reconstruction and living: the Japanese traditionally live in a large common room divided by mobile paper walls. (The houses are constructed of light materials to avoid injury in case of earthquakes).

Generally speaking, the grandparents, parents and children live together as a single family. That's why a special type of "rendez-vous hotel" offers rooms by the hour. Not only lovers, but also husbands and wives go there during the day, because it is rather difficult to find any privacy at homo everyone hears and sees everything. These "love hotels" are more expensive during the day than at night. These facilities are easy to recognize: dark windows, concealed car parks. Even employees keep out of the lobby or the corridors not to embarrass the guests. The bill is send to the room by the tube man.

It is really surprising that it is not usual to tip in hotels, restaurants or taxies. If you do however feel the urge to give the bellboy five dollars, he won't know what to do with it.

In Japan, there ore hardly any thieves. Thousands of bicycles and fancy motorcycles stand on the streets unsecured. Even many cars are not locked. In fact, the crime rate is very low. When a police officer was accidentally shot dead on the job last year, the bandits handed over the murderer themselves to the police to avoid prosecution.

Japan is not simply, but on enourmously high-priced country. A kilogram of meat costs a million roubles (or 200 dollars), a bottle of vodka one hundred thousand roubles (20 dollars), an apple about fifty thousand roubles (10 dollars) and a Sony Trinitron TV set can be sold for 4000 greenbacks.

But the Japanese earn enough money to afford it. Employees here are extremely loyal to their companies. As soon as you have proven yourself and don't do anything foolish at work, there are no obstacles of promotions and wage rises. You can more of less tell what a Japanese earns according to his age: at 50, he gets exactly twice as much as he did when he was 25. The employer pays for health insurance, food and trips to work by public transportation. For this reason, most people prefer to go to work by underground train of bus, rather than driving their own cars.

Ancient and ultramodern traditions stand side by side here. For example, the oldest daughter must marry the man approved by her parents, whereas the second one can do what she likes (which explains why the younger daughter has been married for years while the older one becomes an "old maid"). Even so, it is quite common for Japanese couples now to live together without getting married.

Although you see many young Japanese women wearing the traditional kimono with the backpack, you* 11 notice that a lot of them now prefer hair-dos dyed red. Super-fashionable mini

skirts were popular last spring. Japanese women wear nice make-up: it won't be obvious but their faces seem to shine from the inside. By the way, if a girl catches your glance, she will have to bow.

Two particular features characterize the Japanese: curiosity and a penchant for playing. The Japanese are highly respectful of all living creatures, even going as far as to talk to stones and trees as if they were people.

In the main streets of the cities, you will come across rows and rows of dazzling, ringing arcades full of people passionately pressing buttons of pedals and pulling levels. The sophisticated electronics gives them the complete illusion of being at the heart of the action: at a car, horse race of on the ski slopes. In this three-dimensional game, the player will start shivering, with the earth seeming to disappear from beneath his feet. When he gets up again, his heart is beating strongly and the mountains collapse over his head.

The people here are friendly and happy: you will constantly hear laughter in the streams of people passing by. A TV host might easily fall on the floor hysterically laughing. It is not true that Japanese are reserved or have faces of stone. On the contrary, not even the French gesticulate more of have more lively mimicry.

We witnessed one million yen being buried in a sand mountain similar to Fujiyama, with all Japan happily digging up the entire mountain in search of the money (not to mention a whole series of additional prizes).

When we returned to Moscow on board Aeroflot, the management informed us that tickets from the Osaka - Moscow - Paris route were selling well. "Kampai!" is what the Japanese would say to congratulate us. It is a joy to fly to Japan on board the extremely comfortable A-310 to see all the wonderful miracles the country has to offer.

Pepsi-Cola Attacks Coca-Cola

Before World War II, Coca-Cola dominated the American soft-drink industry. There was no second-place firm worth mentioning. "Pepsi raised hardly a flicker of recognition in Coke's consciousness." Pepsi-Cola was a newer drink, costing less to manufacture and with a less satisfactory taste than Coke's. Its major selling point was more drink for the same price. Pepsi emphasized this in its advertising. "Twice as much for a nickel, too." Its plain bottle carried a paper label that often got dirty in transit, adding to the impression that it was a second-class soft drink.

During World War II, Pepsi and Coke both enjoyed increased sales as they followed the flag around the world.

After the war, Pepsi's sales started to fall relative to Coke's. A number of factors contributed to Pepsi's problems, including poor image, poor taste, poor packaging, and poor quality control.

Furthermore Pepsi has to raise its prices to cover rising costs, and it became less of a bargain than before. Morale was quite low at Pepsi toward the end of the 1940^s.

At the point, Alfred N. Steele came to the presidency of Pepsi-Cola with a great reputation for merchandising. He and his staff recognized that the main hope lay in transforming Pepsi from a cheap imitation of Coke to a first-class soft-drink. They recognized that this turnaround would take several years. They conceived of a great offensive against Coke that would take place in two phases. In the first phase, which lasted from 1950 to 1955, the following steps were taken: First, Pepsi's taste was improved. Second, the bottle and other corporate symbols were redesigned and unified. Third, the advertising campaign was redesigned to upgrade Pepsi's image. Fourth, Steele signed out twenty-five cities for a special push for market share.

By 1955, all of Pepsi's major weakness had been overcome, sales had climbed substantially, and Steele was ready for the next phase. The second phase consisted of mounting direct attack on Coke's "on-premise" market, particularly the vending machine and cold-bottle segments, which were growing fast. Another decision was to introduce new-size bottles that offered convenience to customers in the take-home and cold-bottle markets. Finally, Pepsi offered to finance its bottlers who were willing to buy and install Pepsi vending machines. These action during 1955 to 1960 led to considerable sales growth for Pepsi. Within one decade, Pepsi's sales had grown fourfold.

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