Various Marketing Strategies Employed by Coca-Cola Company through Its History - Case Study Example

COCA COLA Name Class Instructor Institution City State Date COCA COLA In the year 1886, a doctor by the name of Dr. Pemberton designed a soft drink and Frank M. Robinson, his partner and a bookkeeper, credited with the naming of the drink. From such humble beginnings, the servings of coca cola have grown to an estimated to be about 1.9 Billion Globally in 2003. The biggest challenge being imitations by competitors, the early bottlers approved a unique contour bottle in 1916. The single design which could be recognized in the dark set coca cola apart from the competition. And today Coca-Cola is synonymous with almost all life events and celebrations. Over the years, Coca-Cola has employed various marketing strategies taking into consideration factors such as the sustainability of the consumer and various public commitments one such example being carbon emission reduction. The marketing strategies included free samples to the public, newspaper advertisements, distribution of various promotional items with the Logo of coca cola amongst others. (Askew, 2011, p.37).With the ever changing and expanding the market, the strategies employed have continued evolving based on the target market and the different regions. In the 1970s, the brand began to be associated with fun, friends and good times. The value of Coca Cola has continues to grow over the years. Positioned to consumers as a carbonated drink, it is currently placed third in the list of top brands with a value of $79.2 Billion in 2013. It is a Global Brand. Coca-Cola has put in place a Responsible Marketing Policy that clearly outlines the Dos and Don'ts in its marketing campaigns. Some of the policies described in the guide include encouraging consumption that boosted real dietary plans and active lifestyles for consumers, reasonable use and ensuring honesty and transparency. The company's marketing strategy has continued to be based on the principles of acceptability, affordability, and availability. (Fägerskiöld, 2006, p.323). This has always been maintained in accordance with coca colas mission and vision. The mission of the company has been to refresh the world, inspire moments of optimism and to create value and make a difference everywhere. Some of the values associated with the company include integrity, accountability, passion, leadership, innovation and collaboration. The company has also diversified its products based on the preference of the consumer. For example they currently have different kinds of coca cola on the market namely coke zero, coca cola classic and diet coke. Fanta has different types with the orange, strawberry and fruit taste being the post dominant. Other products include dasani water, Schweppes tonic and water and minute maid fruit juice. Different bottling types have also been adopted with different sizes and designs. The most recent marketing strategy employed in various countries across the world is names on bottles. Consuming one of their products with your name printed on the side increases the feeling of acceptability amongst the consumers. It is important for brand managers to take into consideration various factors that could affect marketing of the brand in different areas. Some of these factors include; political environment, country’s tax policy, government regulations, social welfare policies, customer loyalty’ fear of retaliation amongst others. Innovation in marketing has continued to be beneficial to companies, and this has not failed the Coca-Cola community. It is very essential to consider many aspects while developing a marketing strategy. Firstly, understanding and demonstrating the benefit of consuming a Coca-Cola product has proven to be a real attraction to consumers. Secondly, identifying the target population, and subsequently developing marketing gimmicks to the various demography is key. Thirdly, considering the message that is being passed to the populace as a means of publicizing the products. (Nazroo, 2003, p.44). This would involve creating and fellow-feeling between the consumer, the message and the product. Create a lasting impression, something catchy, easy to remember and relate with. Put simply for Coca-Cola, fun, friends and good times. During the selection of advertising tools, brand Managers need to evaluate the pros and cons of the type of advertising they would like to use in their campaigns. The advantage of using billboards is that they will be seen by a large audience, they are very hard to miss and people are very receptive to them. However because they are very common, sometimes consumers tend to ignore them. Television advertisements are also seen by a large audience and can target specific audience depending on programming. These two forms of advertising are however, very expensive. Newspapers would mostly target the adult population and readers are highly receptive. Online advertising is cheap, one can target specific websites and it is a good means of communication. Emails however, may be flagged as SPAM. Various tools can be employed to capture the attention of potential consumers on and offline, leveraging sound, sight and taste. Connecting with the target population is key. Understanding people's lifestyles, motivations, plays a great role in selecting the language and content of whichever strategy will be employed. Creating the mentality that is having a Coca-Cola product with friends is cool, relaxing and refreshing. In the recent times, the social media has been part of us with a vast majority of the populace having access on a regular basis. Twitter, Facebook amongst others are just some of the platforms upon which marketing is taking hold. We can no longer just depend on emotion to capture the attention of potential consumers. The strategy is essential in this. How will you target different demography with the same product but different approaches but primarily aiming at the same this, increasing sales? The Context of the consumer must always be considered. Once we have captured the attention of the consumer, we need to keep it. Making them be part of the processes and engaging them in the day to day activities. Making the product synonymous with everyday activities, a part of our lives. Picking the placement of advertisements is crucial. Some of the things to consider the activities the potential consumer are engaged in at the time, will they be paying attention to the advertisement or will they be destructed by something else? Is the advertisement the centre of attention at the time of? There are various crucial steps that need to be considered while creating a marketing strategy. The Initial procedure in the entire process is carrying out a situational analysis or carrying out a discovery research. (Nazroo, 1998, p.47)Doing research to establish how the Coca-Cola product is placed on the market would assist in identifying gaps that need to be filled. The company has been in existence in the world for over a hundred years; the products are already well placed in the market. Increasing the appeal of the products in the market can always be done in various innovative ways. The second step is identifying the target market. This would be in terms of region or certain demography. Customers are usually segmented by various factors including age, gender or socio-economic factors. This will help create tools that will target a market that is most profitable for Coca-Cola products by identifying their needs and what most appeals to them. Armed with this information, we can then create a persuasive message for the consumer. The content has to comply with Coca Colas set procedure on Responsible Marketing. The Third step is to identify the benefits of the product or in essence you’re marketing goal. Coca-Cola has always been about promoting fun, friends and family. Using this as a reference point will help us keep in line with the long term goals of marketing these products. The fourth step involves developing a clear on how to best place the products in the market. A unique selling proposition considering the target market is important. Visibility and affordability as well as a convenience. (Deans & Metcalfe, 2013, p.53). Will the product be easily accessible to the consumer? Placement in the market in crucial. At this going in time, we would take into consideration user needs competitive pressure, the available communications channels, and the message that is going to be used. This would be followed by the fifth step that would be identifying marketing methods. Various platforms or methods can be used including carrying out surveys, focused group discussions, giving our personal interviews, observation of the market and also carrying out field trials. We would need to sharpen the brand image because visibility is key based on feedback received from the market. (Gray, 2002, p.328)Identifying milestones in the company that can be integrated into the marketing strategy is also important. This could be followed by creating a marketing scorecard. This will help keep track of all the activities from the beginning to the end of the marketing strategy. It will help identify and gaps that need to be filled or adjusted as the process continues. Adjustments can then be carried out to refine better the process. (McDonnell, 2001, p.423). The next step would be creating a marketing budget. How big is the marketing going to be? What region or demography is going to be captured and what tools are going to be used? Considering the past marketing campaigns carried out would help in creating the budget. The final step will be execution. We should stay focused on executing this plan. Eventualities will always arise, and the score card will help us in reviewing the effectiveness of the strategy and making the necessary adjustments. Receiving regular feedback of what is going on on the ground, how the product has been placed and how it is being received, will help in identifying weaknesses and strengths and hence adjust activities accordingly. Conclusion Marketers need to be very versatile and adaptive. Continuous assessment of the process needs to be carried out to ensure maximum output of the whole process. The consumer needs keep on changing, and hence we will always need to make some adjustments to the process. (Smith, 2011, p.442) Careful planning and execution will increase the likelihood of turning this into sales. The marketing scorecard is an essential tool that helps the marketers monitor the effectiveness of the process. Constant checks need to be done so as not to deviate from the message that we are trying to put across. Due consideration has to be put into all areas of branding to ensure a successful campaign. These include packaging, pricing, advertising, sales promotions and public relations. References Askew, D. (2011). The Coca-Cola Empire: Ensuring a Healthy Start to Business. Acton: Australian National University. Barbra, C., Joyce, K., & Marion-Davis, A. (2009). Strategic review of Business and Empires in England post-2010 (Marmot Review). Task group, 8. Deans, S., Williams, R., & Metcalfe, A. (2013). The Growth of Coca Cola. Journal of Business Issues, 0192513X13484274. Deans, S., Metcalfe, A., & Williams, R. (2015). The Business and Entrepreneurship. Economic Studies,31(1), 208-214. Fägerskiöld, A. (2006). The Business of CocaCola. 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