Analysis Of Coca-Cola’s Marketing Strategy And Campaigns

Discover the marketing strategy and campaigns of Coca-Cola, the world's largest beverage company. From their history to their target audience and iconic marketing campaigns, learn how Coca-Cola has become a global brand.

Analysis Of Coca-Cola’s Marketing Strategy And Campaigns
Everyone knows Coca-Cola, it is one of the most popular & beloved brand in the world. Coca Cola is
an international company & the world largest manufacturer, licensor & distributor of 3,500
nonalcoholic beverages with more than 500 brands & selling 17 billion servings per day in more than
200 countries. The global behemoth is known for marketing strategy of creating & maintaining its
identity of bringing people happiness & unity. The Coca-Cola owns four out of the five biggest soft
drinks which are Coca Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite & Fanta.
The Coca-Cola was invented in the late 19thcentury & has continues to be in the top position in the
beverage industry. In its long history, the company has been able to come up with unique &
innovative marketing campaigns that have been extremely successful. Coca Cola generates 60% of
its revenue & about 80% of its operations profit from outside America, which goes to show that coca
cola has a strong brand recognition across the globe.
The mission of the company is to refresh, inspire optimism & bring about happy moments in
consumers lives, while the framework of the company is to address various elements of its business
which are customers, partners, productivity, brands portfolio & communities. According to Business
Insider, approximately 94% of the world population is aware of the red & white logo of coca cola,
pointing out the fact it has been successful in implementing its mission. The competitors of Coca-
Cola is Pepsi Co and Dr. Pepper Snapple.
A Brief History of Coca Cola
The Target Audience of Coca-Cola
The Marketing Strategy of Coca-Cola
Well known marketing campaigns of Coca Cola
Conclusion
A Brief History of Coca Cola
Coca-Cola has evolved a lot from when it first started, the company went from selling one products
to more than 3,500 beverages, having affiliations with 500 brands selling 17 billion serving in a single
day to more than 200 countries. Coca-Cola is the leading company in the beverage industry & first
started out by being a soda fountain drink in Atlanta, Georgia in 1986, where it first sold in a
pharmacy. The soft drink was first discovered by Dr John Pemberton at Jacob’s pharmacy in 1986,
that year he only had managed to sell 9 drinks in total.
When the product was first produced by Dr. Pemberton in the form of a syrup & sold for 5 cents a
glass as a soda fountain drink. The carbonated drink was then changed to a syrup to a drink that was
said to be refreshing & delicious. Dr Pemberton then went on to partner with a book keeper Frank M
Robinson who suggested the name to be changed to Coca-Cola. The company was incorporated in

1892 & its drink were first sold in bottles in 1894 and then first established internationally in 1904 in
countries like Canada, Cuba & Panama.
Dr Pemberton never realized the true potential of the soft drink he had created. Over the years he
gradually sold portions of his business to various partners &, just prior to his death in 1888, sold his
remaining interest in Coca-Cola to Asa G. Candler. Mr Candler who was a businessman from Atlanta,
went on to buy additional rights & acquire complete control.
The Target Audience of Coca-Cola
The company brands range from sparkling soft drinks to juice & beverages while its customers
comprises of the general population which is divided according to their tastes & preferences. When
it comes to flagship brands like Diet Coke the target audience falls in age range of under 30 years as
they are identified as the youth. On other side the regular Coca-Cola is said to have a more mature
target audience of 30 years & above.
Also since the company has been around for more than 125 years it provides a nostalgic feel to the
older generation 31 years & up. The vast range of different beverage have a minimum target
audience of 12 years & older as the company is reducing the amount of advertising that targets
children younger than 12. The company also does geographical segmentation depending on regional
tastes & preferences.
The Marketing Strategy of Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is the world third most valuable brand in the world, because it has one of the most
successful marketing strategy. Coca-Cola is often associated with happiness, in fact the words Coca-
Cola in mandarin means "Delicious Happiness". This is exactly what the brand stands for bringing
together people & creating happy moments in their lives. The company’s products are now available
in every country including North Korea & Cuba. A uniquely designed marketing strategy has been the
reason behind the company’s reach internationally.
In India, Coca-Cola first took over Parle Foods & acquired local brands like Thumps Up, Limca, Mazaa,
etc. The combination of Indian & Western brands enabled Coca Cola to extend its global branding. In
India, where people are price sensitive & prefer beverages like nimbu paani and tea over soft drinks,
Coca-Cola managed get a huge audience by following an intensive brand building program. Coca-
Cola has grown exponentially at the rate of 40% from 2002 by following the Affordability strategy &
continues to grow in double digits since then. The consumer base has also grown from 162 million in
2006 to a whopping 233 million in 2004.
The factors of Coca-Colas marketing strategy are:
The shape of the bottle - One of the reasons Coca-Cola has been successful is its consistency and fact
that everyone no matter from age or country can recognize the product. In 1915, when the brand
was losing market share to hundreds of competitors, a national contest for a new bottle design was
launched. This helped the customers to identify the original bottle & also made the product look
premium.

The iconic font and logo of Coca-Cola – The iconic font & logo of coca cola has remained consistent
from after it was made, making it unforgettable for its customers. The logo was first made in 1923,
where the company decided use the font of Spenserian script which at that time was only used by
accountants. This made the company logo stand out from the others.
Price strategy – From the year 1886 to 1959, Coca-Cola had a fixed price of only five cents. But
further on in the years, the prices of the product kept changing in order to match up to its
competitors.
Slogan – Even after 125 years and more the company has remained consistent in communicating one
strong & compelling message in its slogans like “enjoy”, “You can’t beat this feeling” & “happiness”.
Showing that Coca-Cola has always has simple & understandable slogans which can be relatable &
translated in all the countries.
Sponsorship to programs & events – May it be any country, many of these events or programs that
we watch on television have been sponsored from Coca-Cola making it one of the most recognizable
brands. The company has sponsored American Idol for 13 years, Olympic Games for 90 plus years to
even NASCAR to name a few.
Having a global outreach – The company has operational reach in more than 200 countries
worldwide & sells its products in almost all countries of the world & continues to grow every year.
Well known marketing campaigns of Coca Cola
Share A Coke campaign
The campaign first launched out in 2011 in Australia & New Zealand, using 250 of the most common
millennial names in order to market its products to individual consumers & in bring about brand
awareness internationally. Through this campaign the company encouraged its consumers to share a
coke with a friend of that name. This campaign blasted on social media as everyone started posting
pictures of it. This campaign soon spread in 70 countries & was successful everywhere.
According to Wall street journal more than 125,000 social media posts referenced share a coke
campaign from June to July of 2014. In over three months, search term “share a coke” saw a
significant increase in America based Google searches. In terms of Facebook specifically the
company page earned 39% more followers & increased visitors to the page by 870%. This campaign
was successful because the company went back to its roots by bringing people together & promoting
friendship. Another reason it worked was because adding names to bottles gave it personalized
factor.
The Fifa Worlds Cup Campaign
The World Cup campaign was created in celebration of the good that can be brought out by people
love for single sport. Coca-Cola was the biggest sponsor of the 2014 Fifa world cup, they also took
this as an opportunity to tell the Coca Cola story. The company made a 2 minute long video ad for
the world cup which was titled “One World, One Game”, which told a story of four football teams

namely from Otsuchi, Japan; Eastern Europe, the Amazon; and Ramallah, Palestine, areas recently
dealing with disaster.
This video showed how football could unite, bring joy & strength to communities that are in tragic
situation. The video came to an end with the teams being invited to the 2014 World Cup. Committed
to taking the heartwarming story further, Coca-Cola flew a total of 1 million fans from over 90
countries to be part of the 2014 Brazilian World Cup. This campaign became popular because Coca
Cola created content that celebrated how football could change lives and communities while also
working by the brand’s vision.
The Happiness Machine campaign
The Happiness Machine Campaign is one of the most well know campaigns of Coca-Cola is open
happiness was a part of global integrated campaign Open Happiness. The goal of this campaign was
to share happiness and surprising moments with the consumers. The Coca-Cola vending machines
was installed in various places across many countries along with hidden camera in the perimeter.
They captured this campaign for about two days & made a video on its reactions to getting free coke
or other things like sunglasses, flowers etc.
The machines required the customers to interact with the machines in any fun and weird ways to get
a free Coke such as hugging a machine in Singapore, dancing to K-pop in South Korea, singing a
Christmas carol in Sweden. The reactions of delighted participants were filmed and released as a
series of videos across multiple platforms. The videos were uploaded on YouTube & earned millions
of views and strengthened Coca-Cola’s image as a brand that spread joy.
Conclusion
These are the marketing strategies & campaigns that helped Coca-Cola to reach place as an industry
leader, even after 125 plus years. From Coca-Cola Marketing Strategies & Campaigns shows us how
important it is to be have connections, remain innovative and to keep its brand image & mission.