The Tyrant Billionaire

Being overtaken by Pepsi, which they considered a copycat, is hard for everyone at Coca Cola to accept, especially since last month, Pepsi was still begging Coca Cola to acquire them.

The president pointed to the Pepsi bottles on the table.

"They've changed their packaging and sales strategy. The products are here, so let's study them carefully and find a way to respond."

A senior executive picked up a bottle of Pepsi.

"The packaging is no different from ours, and the bottle shape is the same. They just changed the bottle cap design and added a lottery activity~~pop."

As he spoke, he gently pulled the ring, and the bottle opened easily.

Admittedly, this easy open feature is quite pleasant.

Then he noticed a line of small text under the cap.

"Reward: $1."

"Wow, I won a dollar," the executive said excitedly, showing off the cap to his colleague.

Suddenly, he sensed a tense atmosphere in the conference room.

Looking up, he saw that the surrounding executives were staring at him, their eyes suggesting that his excitement over a dollar was unwarranted. The president's gaze, in particular, carried a hint of anger.

This senior executive was quick witted and immediately said:

"I think that only by experiencing what makes our competitor's product appealing and understanding how they attract customers can we find a way to respond. Don't you agree?"

Hearing this explanation, the president's expression softened considerably.

"What did you sense?" the president asked.

The executive immediately replied, "I saw Pepsi's ad on ABC. It's very creative. They've changed their promotional strategy, focusing not on taste and price but on youthful energy, positioning Pepsi as the drink for young people."

"And they're mainly promoting this easy open cap in their ads, which differentiates them from Coca Cola's key selling points. This is quite clever."

"Anything else?" the president asked.

"The lottery. This is Pepsi's most brilliant idea. Previously, they promoted themselves as cheaper, offering double the cola for the same price. We countered by branding them as the drink for the lower class, as 'black cola,' which effectively damaged their reputation.

"This time, they've used the 'win another bottle' strategy, giving customers a sense of unexpected reward, which is more attractive than just lowering prices."

"This saves a lot of raw material costs, which can then be used for the lottery. Don't underestimate the appeal of a ten or twenty cent prize. Kids, who generally don't have much money, really care about these winnings and enjoy the thrill of winning."

The president nodded, thinking this executive's analysis was good.

Seeing the president's nod of approval, the executive secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he had successfully navigated the situation.

"What do you all think we should do to counter Pepsi's strategy and win back our customers?" the president asked the senior executives.

"Increase our advertising budget, run more commercials on TV, and ramp up Coca Cola's promotions. I believe TV ads have a significant impact on soda sales," one executive suggested.

The president nodded, knowing this was an obvious suggestion.

"We should also do easy open caps and a lottery," another executive said. Explore new worlds at m,v l'e-m|p y r

Another executive shook his head, "Pepsi has probably already applied for patents. If we use easy open caps, Pepsi will definitely sue us. The lottery concept is likely patented as well."

"The lottery can be done differently, as long as the format is different, they can't win a lawsuit against us," someone suggested.

"And what method would that be?"

"Uh~~I haven't thought of it yet."

Many gave this person a disdainful look, realizing he was just talking without substance.

"Pop, pop, pop!"

Someone else opened a few more Pepsi bottles, studying the prize labels underneath. "This lottery idea is really brilliant. I wonder who came up with it. It's not just the young people buying Pepsi, even I find it fun and can't resist opening more."

The Coca Cola president looked at the bottle cap in his hand and said, "I've heard that this idea came from Jon Hardy, the owner of Hardy Group, who is now Pepsi's largest shareholder."

"Jon Hardy, the owner of ABC?"

"Yes, that's him."

"No wonder. This Jon Hardy always comes up with great ideas. That Las Vegas casino lottery he introduced attracted gamblers from all over the country. It's said that advertising revenue on Las Vegas TV has surpassed that of the other two major networks.

"It's not surprising that Jon Hardy came up with a lottery idea he is the uncrowned king of gambling."

The president, somewhat irritated, looked at his team, "I'm asking you to study how to counter our competitors, not discuss how great they are."

Everyone immediately fell silent.

Just then, the executive who won a dollar earlier had an idea and excitedly said, "President, I have a creative idea."

"Let's hear it."

"We can also run a lottery, but our format will be very different from Pepsi's. We'll keep our traditional bottle caps but add a design on the back."

"My idea is to put the twelve zodiac signs—Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Virgo—on the back. Instead of an instant win, the rule would be to collect all twelve signs to win a dollar."

The president frowned slightly, "Collecting twelve signs for a dollar. Last year, Coca Cola sold 600 million bottles. One twelfth of that is 50 million. Are you suggesting Coca Cola should pay out 50 million dollars in prizes?"

The executive quickly shook his head, "No, not that much. First, not every cap will have a design. We can set it at one third or one fourth."

"The caps will have a year printed on them, like '1948 Taurus,' and can only be redeemed within that year. Once 1949 starts, they're no longer valid."

"And our prizes require a complete set of twelve zodiac signs. We can release more of some signs and limit others, for example, only releasing 1 million Virgo caps. Even if every single one is redeemed, that's only a million dollars in prizes."

"My idea is to pick two signs each year and release only 500,000 of each. This means the maximum prize payout would be 500,000 dollars, and because the distribution regions won't overlap, it's unlikely that anyone will collect all twelve signs. The prize payout will likely be far less than this."