Brand Building and Product Diversification Strategy of Coca-Cola

STRATEGIC MARKETING
MANAGEMENT

1
Contents
Case 1 (Coca-Cola)...................................................................................................... 1
Introduction............................................................................................................ 1
Brand building efforts in the carbonated beverage segment.................................................2
Cokes product diversification strategy...........................................................................3
Rationale behind Coke’s multi-branding strategy..............................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 6
References......................................................................................................... 6
Case 2 (Harley Davidson).............................................................................................. 9
Introduction........................................................................................................ 9
Challenges that Harley Davidson is facing due to competition...........................9
Strategies adopted by the Harley to maintain its image as a cult brand..................................11
Journey of Harley Davidson as a cult brand......................................................12
Conclusion........................................................................................................ 13
References....................................................................................................... 13

2
Case 1 (Coca-Cola)
Introduction
Health need of the people are changing and at the same time, and so is their requirements.
Due to this, companies have to regularly change their strictness in terms of skills they have
and the requirements of the organisation. It is to be noted that company has to improve the
ways in which they deal with the changing expectations and demands of the people. In the
late 1990s when the health concerns increased Coca-Cola decided to enlarge the product
range they were dealing with and also moved towards non-carbonated beverages while
keeping the production of their major products intact (Keller, Parameswaran and Jacob,
2011). This acted as one of best strategy to brand building efforts of the firm. This report will
analyse the continuous brand building efforts of the firm in the carbonated beverages
segment. It also discusses their product diversification strategy along with the rationale that
promoted multi-branding strategy of the firm.
Brand building efforts in the carbonated beverage segment
In the non-carbonated segment, company has given rigorous efforts to ensure that they create
an effective branding. The major part of the branding comes with the fact that their
investments on the marketing are huge (Comini, Barki and de Aguiar, 2012). In the non-
carbonated segment as well they have created a marketing plan where they do individual
marketing of specific products. In the recent years they have concentrated towards digital
marketing techniques that have given them a large platform where they can target a larger set
of consumers.
The non-carbonated segment of Coca-Cola beverages is sold under different brand names.
This gives them a scope to enlarge their base in the customers as there is larger numbers of
products that will be available with the consumers on which they can concentrate upon. In the
non-carbonated segment, Coca-Cola is concentrated towards continuously adding to its
product range sold under different prices and segments. This allows them to target larger
numbers of people from different markets and from different parts of the world. It also helps
them to target people that are from different segments of the society. This adds in their
consumer base and also let them to enhance their profits and revenues (Sheth, 2017).

3
With the help of continuous innovation as an approach, they are trying to regularly add in
their product range. They understand the fact that as in the carbonated segment, they have
particular kind of unique recipe which helps them in attracting and retaining consumers. This
is not the case in the non-carbonated segment hence they choose other kind of marketing
strategies to achieve their continuous branding approach. They have used different types of
advertisement campaigns for each of their products which targets to any specific customer
segment. For example the healthy juices advertisements show the benefits of taking these
juices for the customer segments like fitness lovers, sports persons. This is the reason why
they choose brand ambassadors of these products as personalities that are from the sports or
fitness industry (Hastings and Domegan, 2013). Sponsoring the events had been another
major tool for the company to do branding. They have been regularly supporting many of the
events so as to improve their brand visibility.
Seeing the fact that people are demanding healthier drinks, this company has increased their
research in the areas like developing low calorie and less sugar products. This has helped
them in improving the product range and quality of products. Their primary focus of branding
these days has shifted towards the Eurasia and Africa segment and they are trying to capture
the market of the non-carbonated drinks in this region (Farhana, 2012). This is generally done
by them by concentrating on one market segment in one particular country. For instance this
Company has recently launched its flavoured milk brand named Vio in India. This has been
done by them for capturing the larger milk market of India.
Cokes product diversification strategy
The basic idea behind the changes is that they want their products to be lively and let
customers remain curious about their new products. Basic taste of the products does not
change a lot rather a small amount of changes in the ingredients is done. This is generally
done for the purpose of image positioning. They understand the value of diversification
strategy in the positioning of the company. They make changes in their products according to
the demands in the market. Zero sugar products are one of the major areas on which this
company is concentrating on (Balmer, 2012). This basic idea behind is to provide the taste of
their original product while ensuring the health related concerns of the people. This is also
done so that people that are highly health conscious can also enjoy the taste of their products
without much concern.