Open Happiness Campaign by Coca Cola - Applied Buyer Behavior in Global Context - Case Study Example

Applied Buyer Behavior in Global Context University’s Name: Submitted By Names: Tutor: Date: Analysis of “Open Happiness” Campaign by Coco Cola Introduction There is a stiff competition in the soft drinks industry, especially between Coca Cola and Pepsi that dominate the market. As a result, Coca Cola, an Atlanta based beverage giant, launched a campaign dabbed “Open Happiness” in 2009 to attract more to attract more customers (Svendsen, 2013). Therefore, the main aim of the campaign was to increase the sales of its products across the globe because “Open Happiness” was an international campaign. The campaign was very timely because it was launched at the time when the world was experiencing financial crisis and many consumers were passing through difficult time, especially due to the recession. The paper, therefore, analyzes the “Open Happiness” campaign initiated by Coke in 2009. Who, What, Why, When, Where Open Happiness campaign primarily targeted adults consumers aged between 18 and 45 years. However, it did not only attract the primary target, but it ended up appealing to a mass audience (Svendsen, 2013). Therefore, the campaign was universal because it attracted consumers of all genders, ages, races, and cultures. Open Happiness, therefore, was able to achieve more results than it was intended, as it ended appealing to the masses rather than the target market alone. The campaign was launched after the company realized that its sales were reducing due economic hardship that was affecting various parts of the world (Svendsen, 2013). After realizing that the lagging economy was affecting its sales, Coke decided to come up with campaign that was optimistic and positive. Therefore, Open Happiness was intended to make people have positive view of life during economic hardship and it wanted to encourage people to remain happy despite economic challenges. The message of the campaign was timely and it had a great impact on the Coke beverage consumers. The message presented by Coke in the campaign was very clear and simple and it could easily be understood by the mass. The message correlates the opening of Coca Cola drink with open happiness. The message and the action of opening Coca Cola drink were very strategic because it creates emotional connection of optimism and good will. In addition, it was used to create social bond between families and friends. The message was clearly contained on various pictures that were used in the advert. The campaign used various media to reach large number of people across the globe. The adverts could be found in the television spots and other familiar TV programs like the American Idol that is dominated by various celebrities and watched by millions of people. The campaign also featured prominently in Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup where Coke was also one of the sponsors. In addition, the campaign also featured in the social media, billboards, print media, and viral videos (Svendsen, 2013). Therefore, the marketing channels used during the campaign were massive and inclusive. It took care of the interests of the millennial who are techno savvy and the baby boomers who still rely on traditional media like TV and print media as their primary source of information. The campaign was very effective because it was able to transcend its own media by connecting communities of people like artists, activists, and musicians, and politicians. He narrative of open happiness has large scale for adoption and growth that made it possible to be applied in almost all channels in different ways without altering the primary message. Perception The perception of consumers towards a product is important because it determines their taste and preference. In addition, consumers use their perception to compare a product with the substitutes or the alternatives available in the market (Gandhi, 2014). Therefore, effective positioning strategy is important because it influences consumers’ decisions to buy a product. Various features of a product or categories of products affect how people think about goods and services that are available in the market. Therefore, product categorization is because it influences consumer expectations about a product. As a result, companies should use perception maps to determine the success of their positioning strategies. The primary factor influencing the perception of soft drinks is the sugar or calories level found in the drinks (Gandhi, 2014). The femininity and masculinity are also factors that influence consumer perception on the soft drinks. To effectively determine the consumer perception of Coca Cola beverages, it is important to compare it with Pepsi, its main competitor in the market. Therefore, the perception map below illustrates how coke brands are perceived by consumers in comparison to Pepsi brands. The perception map above shows that may consumers believe that Coca Cola products contain more sugar or calories (Andersson, Arvidsson and Lindström, 2006). As a result, more men than women are more likely to consume the product because the latter are always more sensitive to their health than the former. Women are also more concerned with their weight and are not likely to consume products containing a lot of sugar. Interestingly, consumers believe that both Pepsi and Coke products contain high level of sugar. However, brands that containing low sugar levels like Coca Cola Zero and Pepsi One are familiar across genders. Therefore, because Coke is the most popular soft drink company in the world, it is doing better than Pepsi in the market despite the fact that consumers have similar perception about products of the two companies. Consumer Buying Process The consumer buying process of Coca Cola products is associated with Tricomponent Attitude Model. The model has three components which include affect, cognition, and conation. It is also popularly known as “think-feel-do” model (Sharma, 2014). Affects is represented by “feel”, cognition is represented by “think” and conation is associated with “do”. Thirst is the main reason why people consume Coca Cola. However, water and other soft drinks can be used when a person is thirsty. A number of factors influence the consumers when they want to buy Coca Cola and they include his or her cultural environment, learning process or history. Therefore, Coca Cola is a want rather than a need (Kühn and Gallinat, 2013). Even though consumers use Coca Cola products to take away their thirst, it can also be used to satisfy the pleasure needs of customers. Many consumers drink coca cola for refreshment purposes, which is always an emotional response. Therefore, the motive of “Open Happiness” campaign was to show that the product is refreshing and it can be used for recreational purposes. However, consumers may not be motivated to consume Coke products because they contain sugar, which may not be suitable for the human health. But many people are not so much involved when they buy coca cola, as they take it as everyday product. Consumers buy coca cola based on their habits and they are less likely to consider the sugar level. However, they consider the brand and there is high level of brand loyalty, as coca cola consumers rarely change brands. Therefore, coca cola consumers are not likely to follow the “think-feel-do” model. Instead, many consumers reverse the model and use the “do-feel-think” when they are buying various coca cola brands. The reverse of the model is due to high level of brand loyalty and the habits that consumers have formed towards the product. Consumers rarely think about the quality and ingredients contained in coca cola, as their primary focus is to drive away the thirst and to refresh. The “do-feel-think” model associated with coca cola also shows that consumers pay less attention to the available alternatives products or brands. Therefore, there is less involvement when consumers are buying coca cola products and the “think-feel-do” model is rarely followed when consumers are making purchasing decisions (Paracha et al., 2012). Consequently, the “Open Happiness” campaign was used to influences the consumer wants of refreshment. The above discussion shows that many consumers buy coca cola for refreshment and not to drive away thirst. Market Mix Promotion The company used various promotion strategies in the Open Happiness campaign. The objective of the campaign is show that the product is able to bring happiness and optimist even in the times of difficulties. It shows that consumers can remain happy after drinking a bottle of coca cola. It was in the American idol, one of the famous celebrity shows, before it was distributed worldwide. Therefore, the company used celebrities to draw the attention of consumers, as international celebrities have a large followings. Many people, especially youth view celebrated celebrities as role models and they are keen to follow what they are doing. The use of celebrities shows that the company is targeting the millennial who take them as their role models. The company also spends a lot of money in TV adverts to promote the campaign. The TV adverts are found almost in all countries. The company focuses on TV because more that 99% of homes in developed countries own TV and a significant percentage of households in developing countries also own TV. Therefore, the campaign can easily reach a large number of people through TV adverts. Besides, the company also utilized print media and social media to reach it various customers (Mayes, 2011. Much of its social media adverts appeared in the YouTube. In addition, Coke used sales promotion in its retail shops like lowering the price to attract more customers. Finally, the company rebranded its bottles and the words “Open Happiness” was written in bold and in large fond to emphasize the campaign. The integration of various marketing indicates that the company is targeting all consumers irrespective of their ages and gender. Many baby boomers prefer traditional marketing channels as their main source of information while Generation Y is mainly influenced by internet adverts. In addition, music also played a key role in the Open Happiness Campaign. The song included the collaboration of various celebrities Cee-Lo Green, Brendon Urie, and Travie McCoy. The song became popular and it made people remember the “Open Happiness” slogan in the campaign. The song charted in many countries including the USA, France, UAE, and Australia. Therefore, the music was found in various musical charts. The promotion strategies used in the campaign was extensive, which made it to reach a large number of target market. Place Coca Cola is an international company and is found in almost all parts of the world. The company is using FMCG distribution patterns, which has made it to reach all coke consumers in various parts of the globe (Deichert et al., 2006). Coke packs its products in can and bottle and they are sold by all kinds of retailers, large store in supermarkets, and various Coca Cola outlets. Coca cola bottle come with different quantities with the smallest bottle containing 300 ml of drinks. In addition, some are parked in glass bottle while other are packed in plastic bottle. Consequently, consumers have various varieties to choose from Coca Cola brands. Therefore, the Open Happiness Campaign was meant to cover all the areas where Coca Cola are sold. The advert shows that the product is found in different countries because it used celebrities from different countries to compose the campaign music. However, it does not mention how product distribution is done in the company. Product The Coca Cola products do not just include the drink inside the bottle but also the way it is packed. Even though Coca Cola products are primarily meant to drive away thirst, consumers always want addition services beyond satisfying the need of thirst. Therefore, Coca cola is manufactured in different tastes and flavours. The appearance of the product is also important because it influences customers. The red colour used in the “Open Happiness” campaign is also eye catching and the pictures of happy people drinking coca cola lure many people because it is emotional. The bottles are also uniquely that can easily fit in the hands of and they also have futuristic looks (Mayes, 2011). Therefore, apart from the drink found the bottles, the product also add more values to consumers beyond satisfying the need of driving away the thirst. The Open Happiness Campaign, therefore, shows various features of the product. The advert always starts with the appearance or red bottle labelled Coca Cola. Then it is followed by other picture showing a person opening the bottle and the happiness that comes with drinking it. Consequently, the advert shows that the person drinking coca cola can enjoy happiness apart from quenching his or her thirst. Pricing Like its products, the company also has a wide variety of pricing, which is done according the market and geographical segment (Vrontis and Thrassou, 2006). The prices vary with quantity and brands that are available in the market. The pricing strategy of coca cola is influenced by the competitors’ pricing, especially that of Pepsi, its main competitors (Dhar et al., 2005). However, the two companies dominate the beverage market, which has led to oligopoly market. As a result, the two companies, Coke and Pepsi, can easily form a cartel to influence pricing of their products. However, the advert does not mention anything about the prices of different Coca Cola brands. The campaign may have ignored to mention prices because the prices vary from one market to another. Coca Cola is also an international company, which make prices to vary with the currency denominations found in different countries. Therefore, it would have not been possible to indicate the prices of various brands in the campaign. Critique and Recommendations The main logo of the campaign is so simply and it does not convey any message of happiness. It is just a red coke bottle in a red background without any form of happiness among consumers. It is hard to know how drinking coca cola is creating happiness by looking at the bottle. There should be some elements of happiness in the bottle. In addition, the campaign was launched at the time when many people were facing financial hardship due to economic recessions, especially in Europe. As a result, drinking coca cola alone does not leas to happiness as people were struggling to meet their needs. Therefore, it would have been better if the campaign included some elements of price reduction to show that the company is caring for their financial situations. During economic hardship, many people are happy when they are paying fewer prices than drinking coca cola. Therefore, the company should have included the elements of price reduction. In addition, almost all people appeared in the adverts were young people. However, coca cola is consumed by people of all ages in the society. Therefore, it seemed that the coca cola is only bringing happiness to young people and not the aged in the society. It is also older people who feel the impact of economic challenges more than young people because of their many responsibilities. The campaign should have included more people in its adverts to consider people from different ages. Reference List Andersson, E.L., Arvidsson, E. and Lindström, C., 2006. Coca-Cola or Pepsi; that is the Question: A study about different factors affecting consumer preferences. Deichert, M., Ellenbecker, M., Pesarchick, L., Klehr, E. and Ziegler, K., 2006. Industry analysis: Soft drinks. Dhar, T., Chavas, J.P., Cotterill, R.W. and Gould, B.W., 2005. An Econometric Analysis of Brand‐Level Strategic Pricing Between Coca‐Cola Company and PepsiCo. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 14(4), pp.905-931. Gandhi, K., 2014. A Study on Brand Personality of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Kühn, S. and Gallinat, J., 2013. Does taste matter? How anticipation of cola brands influences gustatory processing in the brain. PloS one, 8(4), p.e61569. Mayes, L., 2011. Effectively Incorporating Social Media: A Case Study on Coca-Cola. Expedition, 206, p.27. Paracha, A.M.J., Waqas, M., Khan, A.R. and Ahmad, S., 2012. Consumer Preference Coca Cola versus Pepsi-Cola. Global Journal of Management And Business Research, 12(12). Sharma, M.K., 2014. The Impact on Consumer Buying Behaviour: Cognitive Dissonance. Global Journal of Finance and Management, 6(9), pp.833-840. Svendsen, S., 2013. Refresh. Create. Inspire. The Mission, Vision and Values Behind The Coca- Cola Company and the Digital Marketing Strategies of the" Open Happiness" Campaign. Vrontis, D. and Thrassou, A., 2006. Situation analysis and strategic planning: an empirical case study in the UK beverage industry. Innovative Marketing, 2(2), pp.134-51. Read More