THE ENJOYMENT

No matter how big the advertising campaign for a product, it's hard to fault Coca Cola. Other beverages are offering taste challenges, promising "you'll know" when you drink them, implying you'll be more popular and more attractive if you drink them. But for Coca Cola, all they need to say is "enjoy". Really, enjoy Coca Cola. That's all you have to do.

It's not much of a slogan. It's just a suggestion. There's nothing forceful about what they expect here. Doctor Pepper feels it's important that you "just try it", because, who knows, you might like it. Might not. No one really knows. Please, just give Doctor Pepper a chance. Just one chance. That's all he's asking. He spent years at medical school before he created this drink. Please, oh please, can't you just have a sip?

Or, enjoy Coca Cola. No pressure. You want to enjoy one now? You go ahead. If not, hey - enjoy it later. We'll leave it in the fridge for you, okay?

Coca Cola is the real thing. I'm not sure what the other things were, the surreal things, the unreal things, the imaginary things, the Ben Grimm Things, but, the folks at Coca Cola hq are pretty sure that this is the real thing. And you can enjoy it. Or not. Really, they still don't mind. They're not doing a hard sell here. If you don't feel like one just now, they're fine with that. Enjoy it later on.

It's tough to compete with that kind of non-pressure. No matter what the other drinks companies do to get noticed, they'll always look like they're trying too hard.