Instagram’s entry into the short-form content market is reminiscent of Richard Branson’s attempt to compete with CocaCola— it ended in a crushing defeat for the Virgin Group boss. However, with the current political dispute surrounding TikTok, will Instagram, with Reels, come out on top in the Instagram Reels vs TikTok battle?
Virgin Cola vs CocaCola: A short story
In 1994, a soda maker gave Richard Branson a blind taste of his cola, CocaCola and Pepsi; he then asked Richard Branson to pick the one he liked the most – Branson liked the unknown brand best. Branson then repeated the test at his children’s school – the result was the same.
This led to the roll-out of Virgin Cola; and in an instant, it was a success in the UK. Naturally, as any entrepreneur would do, Branson looked for expansion – Virgin Cola entered the US. The makers of Virgin Cola were so confident, that they launched their product in the US by driving a tank through a wall of CocaCola cans.
Success, as with other of Branson’s ventures, came streaming in. Customers loved the product and sales were booming; then suddenly, a mystery occurred – supermarkets no longer wanted to stock Virgin Cola on their shelves. That mystery was the might of CocaCola. The drinks giant had realised the threat posed, and with the efficiency of a powerful army, they crushed their target to bits.
You may be wondering what the relevance of this story is to TikTok and Instagram, but with the TikTok being an established player in the market and Instagram an unwanted intruder, we may be witnessing a fight similar to that of CocaCola and Virgin Cola.
In an interview, Branson said he learnt this from the whole episode: “I learned only to go into businesses where we were palpably better than all the competition”. So is Instagram’s Reels ‘palpably’ better than TikTok?
Reels vs TikTok, which is better?
Until recently, if you wanted to publish a short video with effects, you only had one choice – TikTok. The Chinese-owned company (this is important, we’ll tell you why later), has over 800 million active users and over 2 billion downloads on smartphones; and most analysts think it is worth well over £1bn. With such numbers, it’s easy to understand why Instagram was keen to get involved.
Although both offer short-form content, there are some differences between the two: Whilst TikTok gives users the chance to impress in 1 minute, Reels offers you 15 seconds. Also, whilst Reels short-form content is an addition to the wider Instagram platform, it’s all Tiktok has.
That, in addition to Instagram’s already huge popularity with the same audience that uses TikTok, could make it the victor. Unlike Virgin Media, Instagram isn’t entering into a completely new market – it’s a very powerful and popular platform with similar products already.
Trump, China and TikTok
If you haven’t heard, Donald Trump, the US President, is no fan of TikTok. That’s because TikTok is a Chinese-owned company. Since his inauguration, Trump has been locked in an argument with China about any and everything. Recently, he moved to ban the app in the US due to privacy concerns.
With growing suspicion and a negative spotlight squarely on TikTok, Mark Zuckerberg realises that his chance to steal the limelight, and with it, TikTok’s dominance is now; and unlike Virgin Cola, he has the US government and other powerful global voices, doing half his work for him.
The final showdown
After launching, Instagram Reels has already seen massive engagement, especially from Influencers. There’s no explicit sign on TikTok’s popularity falling as a result of the launch of Reels; but, it’s only been a month since the launch of Reels.
The battle between CocaCola and Virgin Cola proved the might of a dominant player in a particular market. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook are no small players in the wider social media market, but they are, where short-form content is concerned. Reels vs TikTok is due to be a fascinating corporate fight.
Even so, if history is to be a guide, Mark Zuckerberg isn’t afraid of eliminating threats – the invention of Instagram stories (coincidentally similar to Snapchat) should come to mind.
Our money is on Reels.
If you’re looking for more business stories, why not read up on how Gymshark became the King of fitness wear here