Marketing Communication of coca cola

KULJEET SINGH - 0803100

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT

Introduction Coca Cola is the worlds largest beverage company and with the most widespread distribution. It owns more than 400 brands in the world which includes diet, light beverages, water, juices, energy and sports drinks. The company operates in more than 200 countries. (http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com) SWOT ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA SWOT analysis is the basic measure that is adopted ad opted be any management to do strategic planning. SWOT examines the actions of the organisation, its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Then it enables systematic identification of these factors and facilities the best match between them.

Strength

Weakness

y

Worlds leading brand.

y

Negative effect of publicity.

y

Operates in large scale.

y

Health

y

Growth in revenues.

Opportunities y

issues.

Threats

Acquisitions.

y

Dependence

in bottler partners.

y

Growing demand of bottled water.

y

Issues around the world.

y

Non  carbonate drinks.

y

COLA- war.

1


STRENGTHS Worlds leading brand Coca cola is one of the strongest brands in the world with leader in brand value and brand portfolio. It was in the top 100 global brand ranking in 2006. Top four brand out of five brand of soft drink in the world is owned by Coca- Cola, which are Coca-cola, Fanta, Sprite and

Diet

Coke.

Due

to its strong brand, company comes out with brand

extensions like Vanilla coke, Cherry coke and Lemon coke. In the field of promotion of brand company has made lots of investment over the years, which makes them the best recognized global brand and also evoke its customers. (http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com) Operates in large scale Coca-cola operates in a very large scale with its revenues over than $24 billion. It is world biggest producer and distributer of non alcoholic drink. Currently the company operates in over 200 countries and is trade mark of beverage products in US since 1886. Out of 52 billion beverage consumption worldwide daily 1.4 billion comes in coca cola account or are licensed to coca cola. Strong infrastructure around the world supports the operations of the company globally. Company also owns the production of bottled water and juice concentrates. concentrates. Growth in revenue The large scale operation of the company feeds the future markets with ease and enhances the revenue generation. (http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com)

2


WEAKNESS Negative effect of publicity In India coca cola has to face the bad effect of the negative publicity. The center of science and environment (CSE) accuse coca cola for using pesticide residue in their products that were sold in India. The chemical used in pesticides can cause cancer, damage nervous system, and reproductive system and also reduces bone minerals. This caused a negative impact on the image of the company. Health issues Coca cola has to face health issues like that it effects the teeths and can also cause diabetes. And also continuous consumption affects the body after some years. (www.news.bbc.co.uk) OPPORTUNITIES Acquisitions During

last few years, Coca-cola has adopted the inorganic way of growth i.e. acquiring

controlling shares of Kerry Beverages (KBL), one of its bottling joint venture with Kerry group during 2006 in

Hong

Kong. On 25 February 2010, Coco cola confirms to acquire

the Coca cola enterprises (CCE) one the biggest bottler in North America. This strategy of coca cola strengthens its operations internationally. internationally. (http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/) Growing demand of bottled water People around the world are becoming more health conscious and there by this increase in the demand of bottled water as well. In US in 2006 bottled water generated

3


revenues of $15.6 billion. D ASANI is the Coca- colas third largest selling bottled water in US which influence for its strong position in the market. (www.reports.mintle.com) Non Carbonate drinks To meet the demands for non carbonate drinks in UK Coca cola has came with its brand OASIS that is noncarbonated fruit drink. CAPPY, FRUITOPIA are another brand of Cocacola which is also a range in fruit juice drinks. (http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/) THREATS Dependence on Bottler partners Most of the revenue earned by Coca cola is by selling concentrates and syrups to bottlers, which is not owned by it. In 2006, about 83% of the products were produced and distributed by the bottling partners for whom Coca cola doesnt had any controlled interest. Some of its partners which are publicly traded companies makes their own business decision and manufacture and distribute their own products. Issues going in some parts of the world In some parts of world like India, Colombia Coca-cola has to face down fall because of some issues like, in India the issue of use of pesticide. This negatively affects the sales of the company and to the brand name. COCA WAR Coca war was basically a television advertisement and marketing campaign between the manufacturers of soft drinks.

4


COMPETATIVE ADVANTAGE OF COCA COLA Competitive advantage is an advantage over the rivals by providing p roviding the better customer satisfaction, moreover by means of cost, benefits or by the services. Competitive advantage is the typical feature of Coca cola that makes it stand above from its strong competitors like PEPSI. (http://tutor2u.net) By looking at the above SWOT analysis the main competitive advantaged of the COCA COLA are: y

STRONG BRAND NAME: Coca cola has developed a very strong brand by its strategies that it has followed during the past years and as a result has came up with a global brand name that is almost known by 90% of the worlds population.

y

STRONG MARKETING STRATEGIE: Coca- cola focuses on the customer in whatever they do. And it focuses on all the age group of people i.e. childrens, youngsters and matured customers and come with marketing strategies that influence on all the targeted audience.

y

NEW PRODUCT INNOVATIONS: With time to time Coca cola come with new product innovation that attracts it customer towards itself again and again. Now when people are becoming more and more health conscious, coca cola has came up with non carbonate drinks and fruit juice products for example

DIET

COKE,

OASIS, and FRUITOPIA etc. y

BOTTELING SYSTEM: Bottling system is one of the most significant advantages that coca cola enjoys, among its other competitors and allows infinite growth around the world. Coca cola has given rights to the bottlers companies around the world to make and sell its products. This also helps it to expand and give strong competition to its other rivals. (Bettman, et. Al,1988)

5


MARKETING COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES OF COCA COLA The communication strategy of any company plays a vital role in developing the BRAND. Communication becomes more difficult in the globe where there are hundreds of competitors attracting same set of customers. Todays world customer highly demand the way of communication to them  as in what is learned from the communication made and also how the communication is made? Therefore multiple form of communication communication strategies are used in marketing of the product. (kotler) Similarly, coca-cola MARKETING COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES are spread in all dimensions.

1. Introducing Diet coke city collection: collection: the latest strategy of coca-cola which is limited from 5th to 30th June only for summers 2010.

Here

diet coke is

giving free colors of nails Inc for free on purchase of two 500ml bottles. This type of communication is a unique combination as two different sectors likeBeverage Industry and Beauty Industry( nail Inc)coming together to market their product. y

This type of communication strategy is generally used when a company is targeting specific set of audience.

y

Here,

diet drink majorly implies to the ladies or females who are calorie

conscious. y

Also tie up with Nail Inc implies target to the beautiful ladies or females who use such products in their daily lives.

2. Occasion based marketing programs(2010): This communication strategy was particularly developed for the product Fanta, which is trade mark of cocacola The name of the campaign organised was GRAB T HE TAST OF FRID AY This was to celebrate the Friday which is the less serious or the most enjoyable day of the week. 6


y

This promotion is basically to build platform to do meaningful trials with target audience like mums and teens.

y

In this they were also grabbing the attention of team dressed in FANTA uniforms and handling 150 ml cans in places like Thorpe Park and The O2.

y

This campaign was also supported by sheets in outdoor advertising and also the digital promotion.

(http://presscentre.cocacola.co.uk/viewnews/gb_first_tomarke cola.co.uk/viewnews/gb_first_tomarket_new_grab_a_tas t_new_grab_a_taste_of_friday_global_ca te_of_friday_global_campaign) mpaign) campaign: the three major stories used as communication strategy for 3. Sport campaign: FIFA(2010) are: A) Recent commercial history of celebrationthis was connected with 1999 FIFA world cup her who changed the celebrations pattern forever with his corner flag dance. B) QUEST--- the communication style is through animation where one player urges to find celebrations with other players in his quest of search. C) Border crossing83 countries to play in 2010 FIFA WORL D cup. Coca-cola is taking tour on these countries to celebrate the participation in FIFA.

y

When we look at all the three spots of communication they stress on celebrations.

y

Here,

marketing communication of coca-cola is open happiness

campaign. y

The communication is covered in almost 150 countries through instore displays, packaging, and music.

y

Most of the television spots will be introduced in the countries like Brazil 7 England who are passionate about the football and also in countries like India, US where interest is developing.

7


(http://presscentre.cocacola. (http://presscentre.cocacola.co.uk/viewnews/coca_cola_ co.uk/viewnews/coca_cola_captures_pass captures_passion_for_celebrati ion_for_celebrati on_in_new_global_commercials_for_ on_in_new_global_commercials_for_2010_fifa_world_c 2010_fifa_world_cuptm) uptm) (2008): in 2008, coca-cola declared that they would no more 4) Children policy (2008): target children below 12 years and also they would not advertise in the area where percentage of children will be high. This policy was developed in request of the parents who felt their children are getting addicted to the product at early age. y

This strategy shows that it is very concerned of what the consumers want and what they dont want.

y

Also they care for the society and are responsible for the development of the young generation.

y

Such type of communication strategy brings the world of people closer to cocacola who serves entire universe with various d rinks and beverages.

(http://www.thecocacolacompany.c (http://www.thecocacolacompany.com/contactus/faq/adverti om/contactus/faq/advertising_marketi sing_marketing_children.ht ng_children.ht ml) USA: Coca-cola teamed up with  H ABIT FOR HUMANITY 5) Social Cause strategy in USA: to help the local communities to keep the environment clean and make people to think about the environment and become eco-friendly.

8


y

Such type of strategy is used to emotionally connect with the t he consumers.

y

To gain awareness of coca-cola being socially responsible in relation to the society they exist in.

y

And people definitely by the product not only just to drink but also to contribute a bit for such social cause.

(http://cokeusa.com/coca-cola-promotions/) (http://www.mycokerewards.com/s (http://www.mycokere wards.com/showLBE.do?id=sprite&type=bra howLBE.do?id=sprite&type=brand&size=3 nd&size=3&exp=ht &exp=ht ml) COMMUNICATION MIX OF COCA-COLA In this world of communication, advertisement is a central element of marketing communication environment. It is not the only one but it is the most important factor to build brand equity and boost sales. [Kotler P. (2009) marketing management 13 th edition] There are mainly eight major modes of marketing communication mix, which are as follows: Advertisement: 1) Advertisement:

For

advertisement

Coca

cola

focuses

mainly

on

TV

commercials, i.e. coming up with commercials related to occasion. And also it concentrates on all age group of people and maintains the relation between them, where as if we look at it other competitors like PEPSI also adopt the same strategies that are done by coca cola so there are lots of similarities in the advertising strategies. (http://www.thecocacolacompany.com/) 2) Sales Promotions: Promotions: Sales promotion can be said as persuading its customer towards itself by offering certain offers. Coca cola does the same by starting a competition like if a customer buys the product they get a chance of winning a 9


certain amount of prize. Where as if we look at its strong rival PEPSI in London they use mobile phone codes and customer clicks the picture, which redirects them to the linked site. http://www.brandrepublic.com/Discipline/SalesPromotion/News/859400/Pepsicampaign-uses-QR-mobile-phone-codes/ experiences: coca-cola is known for event based marketing. It 3) Events and experiences: has competitive advantage over others that it makes full use of the world famous event like say FIFA2010 W HICH IS GOING TO BE

HELD

IN SOUTH AFRICA. Even

its competitors cannot have the same coverage of communication as coca-cola has. 4) Public relation and publicity: important role in building the publicity: PR plays a very important brand image of the company. Like in cola, sprite being their average brand it tried to connect with sensitive people by passing the message of contribution to building homes for people who are poor. On the same line if we have to anlayse Pepsi, it focuses on the environment and its protection. 5) Direct marketing: marketing: direct marketing techniques like mails, fax, social sites etc. are less preferred by coca cola because BRAN D NAME of coca colas is UNIVERSAL which does not allow their strategic planning to use direct marketing tools. Also direct marketing is useful only when we are specifically targeting individual audience. Therefore, for beverage and soft drink industry direct marketing is one of the least used communication mix element. media: new media talks about using new sourcing of media to 6) New media: differentiate the product. Coca-cola is always in urge of introducing its product in the market with new concepts and using different media. When they had to introduce OASIS instead of using TV as media, they uniquely used Radio for the coverage. Or else coca cola never uses radio to market their product. marketing: As Coca-cola rules over the mind of the people 7) Word-of-mouth marketing: around the globe so its name is on the mouth of every people. So it enjoys the

10


benefits of more and more mouth promotion, which is not gained by its other competitors. [Kotler P. (2009) marketing management 13 th edition] EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION MIX Most organisations will try to measure the effectiveness of their advertisement and evaluate to what extent they were able to communicate with their advertisement. And also the other factor they look at is that how their sales have affected with their communication strategies. [Kotler P. (2009) marketing management 13 th edition] From the points discussed above in marketing communication mix to check the effectiveness of the tools used can be checked as follows: 1) Message that audience get from the advertisement: This helps the organisation to check the, is that commercial able to convey the exact message that they wanted to share with the audience. In the strategies discussed above of Cocacola where form time to time they come up with new products, are they able to able to tell the consumer that what that product is exactly. And we can see that the commercials of Coca-cola are much focused and convey what they wanted to say. 2) Knowing audience: For being successful in delivering the message to their audience, orginasation should first know there audience whom they are going to connects. This is exactly done by coca cola they come up with new promotions with time to time with the change in product or situation. 3) Relate all the strategies developed: The strategies developed should be very well interlinked to each other and known to all the departments. The efficiency efficiency of any communication strategy or tool can only be achieved if it is very well linked and known to each person working for its development. 11


Likewise, if coca-cola budget department does not properly know the requirement of creative department, the budget declared by them would be unfruitful as they did not know the requirement in the first place. 4) To know what you want to say & what you dont want to say: This is one of the communication learning lessons. In our normal day to day life we expect better communication at home, workplace; if we dont communicate what we want, then how can we expect to get that thing. In the same way, if coca-cola doesnt succeed in communicating what their product is all about and what it is not?

How

will they manage their consumers to

understand why they should buy it. Its very important to deliver right message using- what you want to say and what you dont want to say 5) Test your communication mix tools in advance: While testing the tool simply means, whether such kind of marketing tool will be successful in the market or not. It depends on the culture, tradition and lifestyle of people; that which kind of advertisements appeals them. For ex: to gain hundred percent effectiveness, coca-cola should have and it has different marketing strategies for UK & USA respectively. 6)

Dont

allow your budget to run out of control: If a company has to enjoy the

benefit of marketing communication mix and strategies it should always draw a limitation on the budget that is to be spend in various activities like promotion, sponsorship etc. The limitation to spend would always challenge to make the BRAND name profitable. 7) Niche marketing: Like coca-cola always use different marketing tools to cover specific audience which is one of the best ways to market. By doing niche marketing it can portray its brand very well. This would help them to get best out of the talent spend on marketing the product in result of achieving the huge sales. As product will be familiar with the target audience whom they are targeting. 12


8) Evaluating the result: The strategies can be tested by caring small surveys by asking the people about their views after looking at the promotions. And following the survey required changes can be brought into the upcoming plannings. 9) Measures to be used for improvement in future: By looking and analysing all the above steps or processes, organisation can come with important measures that can be implemented for the future strategies and can get better result in the future. All the above mentioned measure is the key to look how the organisation is communicating with the targeted audience and are they getting the proper output of it. This can be seen in comparing it with the data of their sales that the company is making with the help of the communication strategies used. used. http://warrington.ufl.edu/mkt/docs/saw http://warrington.ufl.e du/mkt/docs/sawyer/MrktgCommun.pdf yer/MrktgCommun.pdf http://www.oac.state.oh.us/ http://www.oac.state.oh.us/resources/mediaresou resources/mediaresourceguide/evaluatio rceguide/evaluation.asp n.asp CONCLUSION: The communication of the product to the consumer is nothing but spreading knowledge of the product stating its different purposes. Using correct marketing communication strategy is one of the USP of the company to mark its footsteps in the competitive market. But the marketing strategy should be finely merged with the appropriate communication mix tool to actually make the product reach at consumer doors. And this is what coca cola implies which has made it listed li sted in fortune 500 and become one of the GLOBALLY known BRAND accepted by all countries having different cultures and ethnicity.

13


References: y

Kotler P. (2009) marketing management 13 th edition

y

Baker M (2003). The Marketing Book, 5 th edn, Butterworth

y

Chaffey

D,

Dibb

Oxford

Chadwick F& Johnston K (2006). Internet Marketing, 3 rd edn, FT

Prentice Hall: y

Heinemann: einemann:

Harlow

S, Simkin L et.al (2006). Marketing Concepts& Strategies, 5 th edn,

Houghtonmuffin:

Boston

y

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com

y

www.news.bbc.co.uk

y

www.reports.mintle.com

y

http://tutor2u.net

y

http://presscentre.cocacola.co.uk/viewnews/gb_first_tomarke cola.co.uk/viewnews/gb_first_tomarket_new_grab_a_tas t_new_grab_a_taste_of_friday_global_ca te_of_friday_global_cam m paign

y

http://presscentre.cocacola.co.uk/vie http://presscentre.cocacola.co.uk/viewnews/coca_cola_ wnews/coca_cola_captures_passi captures_passion_for_cel on_for_cel ebration_in_new_global_commercia ebration_in_new_global_commercials_for_2010_fifa ls_for_2010_fifa_world_cuptm _world_cuptm

y

http://www.thecocacolacompany.com http://www.thecocacolacompany.com/contactus/faq/advertis /contactus/faq/advertising_marketing_chi ing_marketing_child ld ren.html

y

http://cokeusa.com/coca-cola-promotions/

y

http://www.mycokerewards.com/sh http://www.mycokerewards.com/showLBE.do?id=sprite&type=bran owLBE.do?id=sprite&type=brand&size=3&e d&size=3&ex x p=html

y

http://www.brandrepublic.com/Discipline/SalesPromotion/News/859400/Pepsicampaign-uses-QR-mobile-phone-codes/

y

http://warrington.ufl.edu/mkt/docs/sawyer/MrktgCommun.pdf

y

http://www.oac.state.oh.us/re http://www.oac.state.oh.us/resources/mediaresou sources/mediaresourceguide/evaluation rceguide/evaluation.asp .asp 14

Marketing Communication of coca cola

Recommend Documents