---
title: "Coca-Cola is the Originator of Scene Marketing"
description: "Coca-Cola's success is attributed to its scene-based marketing, as exemplified by the OBPPC theory and the 'popcorn and Coke' phenomenon in cinemas. The article argues that scene marketing, which focuses on occasion-based solutions, is more effective than simple user orientation."
author: "刘春雄"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-02-02"
language: "en"
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---

# Coca-Cola is the Originator of Scene Marketing

> Coca-Cola's success is attributed to its scene-based marketing, as exemplified by the OBPPC theory and the 'popcorn and Coke' phenomenon in cinemas. The article argues that scene marketing, which focuses on occasion-based solutions, is more effective than simple user orientation.

**First Encounter with Coke: Scene Segmentation**
The first time I drank Coke, it tasted like Chinese herbal medicine. If it weren't a world-famous beverage, I wouldn't have been able to drink it.
**For an ordinary drink, if you can't get used to it, it's the drink's fault; for a world-famous drink, if you can't get used to it, it's your mouth's problem.**
Later, when I got into marketing, I learned that world-famous drinks are all hard to drink: Coke, coffee, kvass, tea, beer, and baijiu are all hard to drink.
Although they are hard to drink, they are all addictive. That's the paradox.
Later, I summarized a sentence: **What sells in volume is tasteless (like mineral water), and what is addictive is all weird-tasting.**
Around 1998, I accidentally got a Taiwanese traditional Chinese version of Coca-Cola's sales manual, which I treasured. The manual divided Coca-Cola's outlets into 17 sales (consumption) scenes, each with standard actions. I was amazed—it was brilliant.
At that time, I was serving a large enterprise (now with a global scale of 170 billion), and I also imitated Coca-Cola's sales manual to write a sales manual for the enterprise, giving one to every salesperson.
I have kept several copies of this enterprise's sales manual, and the last one was borrowed by a friend last year.
**From a marketing perspective, my understanding of Coca-Cola is that its scene segmentation is exceptionally well done.**
Later, I heard that when Coca-Cola's top executives visited China, they discovered many new consumption scenes, reaching over 20 scenes. For example, at that time, there were many street vendors selling tea eggs in China, and the executives asked: Why can't tea egg vendors sell Coca-Cola?
How many scenes there are, how much sales there is. Later, when I heard Li Qingchuan, chairman of Mingren Soda Water, say this, I resonated deeply, and it is actually related to Coca-Cola.
This is my first professional understanding of Coca-Cola's marketing.
**Second Encounter with Coke: Scene Marketing**
Later, I got to know Ms. Lu Xiuqiong, former CMO of Coca-Cola Greater China, and also learned about the OBPPC theory she proposed. She said, **Coca-Cola has become a century-old brand precisely because of scene marketing.**
OBPPC is the abbreviation for Occasion based brand/pack/price portfolio by cluster. This is a scene-oriented marketing mix.
Occasion means scene or context. Marketing based on scenes is scene marketing.
Seeing this viewpoint, I couldn't help but be deeply impressed. What impresses me is: **This analytical logic has an offline handle.** Previously, most scene marketing was nothing more than scene positioning.
Most people know that multinational companies do well in branding, but cases of powerful brands failing in China are numerous. Coca-Cola's strength also lies in its channel power. Channel power is not just about deep distribution (although Coca-Cola's deep distribution is very good), but about building a marketing mix around scenes.
Some say Coca-Cola became a century-old brand because of its strong brand, but that is a reversal of cause and effect. I am more convinced by the success of the OBPPC model.
From this perspective, Coca-Cola is the originator of scene marketing.
I heard from Ms. Lu Xiuqiong that she has recently evolved her views on OBPPC theory, but unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to ask her in person.
The basic starting point of modern marketing is user orientation, but Coca-Cola is scene-oriented. **Scene orientation is one dimension higher than user orientation.**
**Eat Popcorn, Drink Coca-Cola**
In 1957, James Vicary conducted a fascinating experiment in a movie theater called the "popcorn experiment." On the screen, he flashed messages like "Eat popcorn" and "Drink Coca-Cola" so quickly that audiences barely noticed. However, this obscure scientist revealed the powerful influence of the subconscious through this experiment, successfully guiding audiences to choose popcorn and Coke.
I have heard this story many times, and there are many interpretations. Recently, I have felt deeply about this story because it involves scene marketing.
Coca-Cola is a beverage, and beverages are primarily consumed on the spot. When thirsty, there is a physiological need.
For immediate consumption, the sales scene is the consumption scene, which is the simplest consumption scene, with relatively simple tasks and solutions.
But Coca-Cola has two very special scenes: one is the **cinema scene**; the other is the **McDonald's scene**.
When going to the cinema to watch a movie, whether hungry or not, whether thirsty or not, it seems that "eating popcorn and drinking Coca-Cola" has become the standard, unrelated to physiological needs.
How does this need arise? Using the analytical logic of scene marketing: **What is the task to be done? What is the solution?**
Going to the cinema is not for eating, and popcorn doesn't fill you up. However, moviegoers are either couples, families, close friends, or classmates, etc. Watching a movie is actually socializing.
When I talk about the essence of alcohol, I say that alcohol is a social lubricant. This is true for alcohol worldwide. Similarly, watching a movie is also socializing, and socializing requires a lubricant. **So, the needs in social scenes are often not physiological but social needs.**
The task to be done is to identify the "unfinished part" of the task in a specific scene. Entering the cinema, buying a ticket is the "finished part" of the task, while socializing is the "unfinished part."
"Eat popcorn, drink Coca-Cola." This solution, which basically does not satisfy physiological needs, is so reasonable.
Sometimes, the solution is a product. Sometimes, it is a product combination. Sometimes, it is a product combination plus value-added services.
Eating popcorn and drinking Coca-Cola is a product combination solution. It is the same logic as the solution for Guolifang's "wild wine" scene (Guolifang + Shuicheng C100).
Similar solutions include McDonald's combo meals. Whether I go to a McDonald's store or order delivery, I tend to choose the combo.
The Coca-Cola in the combo has actually become a habitual response, unrelated to quenching thirst.
Twenty years ago, I read a book called "The Profit Zone." It mentioned that Coca-Cola's bottled beverages were losing money, but the 2B model was particularly profitable. The 2B model is all about solutions.
Why do I specifically mention the above two cases? Because scene marketing has several key elements: **time, place (location), role (relationship), process, task to be done, emotion, and ritual.** The most important are the tasks determined by roles and processes. For immediate consumption, the role (relationship) is relatively simple, and the solution is relatively single. The above two cases are somewhat special in Coca-Cola's consumption scenes, touching on the three souls of scene marketing: **task to be done, solution, and UGC.**
The reason scene marketing is effective is precisely because it accurately identifies the "task to be done" and proposes a "solution." In addition to the above two cases, Coca-Cola's solution is a product combination based on different scenes, including brand, packaging, and price—this is OBPPC.
Recently, Zhao Bo, founder of New Distribution, proposed a viewpoint: **Don't use one set of products to solve all channel problems, which received many responses. Isn't providing solutions based on scenes exactly this?**
As for how to do scene marketing, that is only a tactical issue. The core task is to understand the "task to be done" and propose a "solution."
**Looking Forward to Criticism**
I have many friends in the Coca-Cola circle on WeChat, all of them are experts. A person outside the Coke system talking about Coke is somewhat laughable. I look forward to criticism.
I have always believed in a viewpoint: Think like an outsider, act like an insider.
**【New Order · Symbiosis】**
**The 10th China FMCG Innovation Conference**
**Time: March 17-19, 2025**
**Location: Chengdu, China**


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