Marketing Strategies and Planning for Brand Extension - Assignment Example

Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Marketing Strategies and Planning for Brand Extension Introduction The coca-cola company is an American multinational corporation that produces retails and markets soft carbonated beverages. The main beverage manufactured by the company is coca-cola, with brand extensions taking place to introduce other beverages such as Fanta, Sprite, Fresca, Fruitopia, Kinley, Inca cola, Mello Yello Zero, Caffeine free diet coke, Coca cola cherry zero, Krest, and Dasani. Part of brand diversification deals with extension of these products. Diet coke was invented as a means of allowing people on diet to be able to enjoy the soft drink without consuming as many calories as the normal coca-cola. Vanilla diet coke will be designed to increase the flavor of the diet coke while maintaining the same superior quality *Hutt and Thomas 36). This will be geared towards satisfying needs of customers who wish to become more adventurous with their palates, while ensuring that their calorie intake is minimized. Description of Vanilla Diet Coke Vanilla Diet Coke is an extension of Diet Coke, which comes flavored with the delicious vanilla essence. Although coca cola already has small amounts of vanilla, this new product will have a slightly increased amount. Developers have still maintained the same great taste, but added the essence to increase the flavoring as a means to diversify their products. The product will not contain any saturated fat, natural sugars or dietary fiber. The energy consumption per 100 ml of the product will be 1.0 Kilo joules. Sodium intake per 100 ml will be 11.0 milligrams. The carbohydrate intake per 100 ml will be 0.10 grams. With vital added nutrients such as vitamin C and Vitamin B12, vanilla diet coke will provide a significant proportion of the daily intake of these vitamins, thus enhancing the immune system of consumers. The main target market for the vanilla diet coke is individuals wishing to minimize their calorie intake while still enjoying the same great taste. These include people wishing to lose weight, diabetics, and health conscious individuals. Being a popular brand worldwide, the marketing strategy is projected to be successful through incorporation of modern advertisement techniques and forums that appeal to the intended target market. In addition, there will be a strong positioning in terms of distribution to potential consumers. Objective The objective of the new vanilla diet coke is to provide a rich taste in diet coke with an added vanilla ingredient. It is intended to be a source of refreshing taste to consumers as their health concerns are still considered. This will provide an edge over all other soft diet drinks in terms of taste and health. The positioning will be minimized calories with a palatable flavor that provides a rich taste among the consumers with an adventurous palate. The company’s target revenues from introduction of this new product are expected to reach the projected profit margins. The marketing plan is projected to take place within a period of twelve months. The marketing plan will be aligned with the company’s mission and vision of providing the best quality of soft drinks worldwide. The brand extension also seeks to nurture the strong existing network of partners, which include distributors and retailers. Target Market Vanilla diet coke will primarily target young people who are health conscious. Women aged between 20 and 40 years are particularly coping with the hectic lifestyle of maintaining weight problems more than their male peers. Vanilla coke will contain one tenth of the amount of calories found in the normal coca cola. Thus, health conscious people are still guaranteed sufficient energy intake. Beside the vanilla flavor, the added health benefits of vanilla diet coke such as vitamin c and vitamin B12 are some of the key ingredients designed to make the product nutritionally beneficial to the consumers. Secondary consumers are diabetics, athletes, and people wishing to lose weight through minimum sugar intake. These groups of people will be found across all current generations including young people and the elderly. The promotion plan will incorporate this demographic as a means to generate maximum revenue. Main Competitors The main competitor for vanilla diet coke is Diet Pepsi from Pepsi Company. Other Competition between these two soft drinks manufacturing companies began in the early 1980s with the production of similar products. Other competitors include Slide, Dew, and Tropicana juice. Pepsi Company has produced a range of diet cola drinks such as The Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Edge. These products are sweetened with corn syrup and sucralose while coca cola is keen on aspartame, acesulfame, sucralose and potassium. The Royal Crown has produced The Diet Rite, which is also a soft calorie free diet drink. With the main competitor being Pepsi Company, The Coca cola Company is provided with the challenge of coming up with an innovative strategy to produce a drink that is unique to the taste from the rest. Aside from production of the drink, another great challenge would be the strategies employed while marketing this product. Target market of the product will be the guiding step into the effectual marketing strategies to be employed. Marketing Strategy Price: The pricing of vanilla diet coke will be the same as that of the diet coke. Coca Cola Company believes in providing diet drinks at affordable process in a bid to reach as many of the potential consumers as possible, and throughout the world (Hill 78). Pricing will also be influenced by the country of production, since different countries have different manufacturing and distribution expenses. Product: The product will be Vanilla diet coke. It is important to ensure that all products come in different sizes and packages. This is geared towards appealing to different customer preferences all over the world. The sizes will range from the small 200ml bottle to the two liter bottle. Other sizes will include the 500 ml bottle, the one liter and the 1.2 liter bottle. In addition, vanilla diet coke will be available in a 500ml silver can. Place: A careful distribution plan will ensure that the product has reached all the potential target consumers. Though the main headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia, there are several manufacturing and distribution outlets worldwide. The manual distribution models operate in areas of high population, acting as an independent entity from the company, but still receiving products from them (Podnar 78). The product will be distributed in four major ways. From the manufacturer, through the distributor, up to the retailer. From the manufacturer, through a major chain in the town or city From the manufacturer to a factory outlet From the manufacturer and into direct marketing by registered sales agents It is important to conduct a market research for the product before introduction. Market research is essential for survival and growth of not only the introduced product but also the company as a whole. It allows the company to innovate competitive strategies over similar products from different companies. It will help to reduce risks of the business through being knowledgeable about what consumers actually want from the company. Marketing strategies for Vanilla Diet Coke will include carrying out questionnaires to the established market research to establish the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the product. Strengths will allow marketers to maximize on the potential selling points for the product, such as a new target market of which the company was not aware. Knowledge on the weaknesses will allow the company to mitigate risk factors such as pricing and competition. Promotion: The Coca Cola Company will go about advertising Vanilla Diet Coke to appeal to the target market in several ways. Objectives of advertising include increasing brand awareness worldwide as well as introducing the new product in to the market. It is also important to select the appropriate advertising medium, as this will go a long way in reaching the intended market. Television advertisement remains the best form of advertising that reaches billions of people worldwide. Due to the expensive costs of television advertising, other cheaper yet effective methods will also be incorporated into the promotion plan. This includes magazines, newspapers, the internet, and radio. In particular, health and fitness magazines such as Alive Berry, Easy Health, Healthy Living, Natural Awakenings, and Station Health will be able to reach diet conscious consumers. Sports magazines such as Lifestyle Fitness Personal Training Magazine, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Runners World, Golf Digest, Slam, and The Hockey News will be able to reach athletes, who are part of the primary target market. Another marketing strategy that Coca Cola will use to further promote visibility to Vanilla Diet Coke is through making a deal with an influential celebrity. The overall image of a celebrity brand ambassador is a key factor that attracts consumer attention. A brand ambassador will not only humanize the product but also attract new consumers for the product (Podnar 46). Some of the key ways in which they will be able to create awareness of Vanilla Diet Coke is through social media platforms such as twitter, LinkedIn, and face book. Apart from social media, the brand ambassador will have a television and radio advertisement. Apart from brand ambassadors, the marketing department will also look into the possible sporting activities that the product can be allied to, such as tennis or basketball. Most Influential Marketing Strategy The most influential marketing strategy will be the promotion. After introduction of a new item into the market, there are many challenges that companies face before the product has reached consumers. Some of the challenges include lack of awareness, brand weakness and poor delivery in terms of information on the benefits of the product (Havaldar 122). All these challenges can be tackled effectively with goal oriented and feasible promotion plan. Firstly, the introduction of soft diet drinks has given rise to concerns over the chemical components used as ingredients. Consumers are increasingly becoming wary of these ingredients and whether consumption of the products is healthy in the long run. It is prudent to address such issues head-on, through assuring the public of the safety procedures and care that is taken to manufacture Vanilla Diet Coke. Secondly, with the many products that the Coca Cola Company has introduced to the market over the decades, it is likely that vanilla diet coke may be overlooked by consumers. It is important for the promotion plans set to be effective enough to bring visibility to this new product (Mathur 87). Thirdly, the target market for vanilla diet coke is limited to athletes, diabetics, and the health conscious demographic. It will be an unnecessary expense for the company if the promotion plans targets the entire population. In order to maximize on the revenue, a strategic promotion plan will ensure that these groups of people are focused on more than the rest of the general market. Conclusion Vanilla diet coke was invented as a means of allowing people on diet to be able to enjoy the soft drink without consuming as many calories as the normal coca-cola. Vanilla diet coke will be designed to increase the flavor of the diet coke while maintaining the same superior quality. Vanilla Diet Coke is an extension of Diet Coke, which comes flavored with the delicious vanilla essence. Vanilla diet coke will primarily target athletes, diabetics, and young people who are health conscious. Young adult women are particularly coping with the hectic lifestyle of maintaining weight problems more than their male peers. Vitamin C and vitamin B12 are some of the key ingredients designed to make the product nutritionally beneficial to the consumers. The main competitor for vanilla diet coke is Diet Pepsi from Pepsi Company. Pepsi Company has produced a range of diet cola drinks such as The Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Edge. Though it is necessary to carry out the marketing strategy using the marketing mix, the most beneficial of the 4Ps will be promotion, as it deals with bringing visibility and awareness to the targeted consumers. Works cited Havaldar, K. Business Marketing. McGraw-Hill Publishing, 2010. Web Hill, Charles W. L. International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace. , 2014. Print. Hutt, M. D, and Thomas W. S. Business Marketing Management: B2b. 2008. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western, 2007. Print. Mathur, U C. Business to Business Marketing. New Delhi: New Age International Ltd, 2008. Web Podnar, K. Corporate Communication: A Marketing Viewpoint. London: Routledge, 2015. Print. Read More