Marketing communication strategies and their impact on competitors

DISSERTATION TOPIC-
COCA COLA MARKETING
COMMUNICATION
STRATEGY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
AIM AND OBJECTIVES...............................................................................................................4
Aim..............................................................................................................................................4
Objectives....................................................................................................................................4
Research Questions......................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................5
Theme 1: Different marketing strategies adopted by Coca Cola.................................................5
Theme 2: Impact of marketing strategies on the competitive positioning of Coca Cola............7
Theme 3: Challenges faced by Coca Cola due to competition in the industry............................8
Strategies and recommendations based on the challenges identified for the company...............9
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................10
Research Type...........................................................................................................................10
Research Philosophy..................................................................................................................10
Research Design........................................................................................................................11
Research Approach....................................................................................................................11
Research Sampling....................................................................................................................11
Data Collection..........................................................................................................................11
Data Analysis.............................................................................................................................12
Ethical Considerations...............................................................................................................12
Validity......................................................................................................................................12
RESULTS......................................................................................................................................13
DISCUSSION................................................................................................................................20
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................22
LIMITATIONS..............................................................................................................................23
RECOMMEDATIONS..................................................................................................................23
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................25

TITLE: Marketing communication strategies and the impact that they have on the
competitors in the market.
INTRODUCTION
Every organisation indulges in marketing and promotional activities in order to gain the
relevant customer and market share. Coca Cola is an international beverage company and they
have to adopt a variety of marketing communication strategies so that they can maintain their
position in the market and deal with the different market requirements based on the culture
(Mohamed and Omwenga, 2015). However, it is not easy to compete with the competitors while
operating company on a global level and Coca cola as well has been experiencing quite a lot of
challenges due to such competitive strategies. The marketing communication strategies also have
a certain degree of impact on the competitive positioning and the overall ability to deal with the
problems and challenges that arise on the way. The proposed research will illustrate the
marketing communication strategies that the Coca Cola company implemented and the various
competitors of the company along with the numerous difficulties that they present before the
client will be discussed accordingly (Wang, 2015). The research proposal that has been prepared
will highlight the aim and objectives of the proposed research, a brie literature review on the
selected aim and the research methodology highlighting the key points about the research. This
will help in presenting an outline of the main dissertation that has been proposed on the Coca
Cola Company.
Digital marketing strategy refers to plan that assists business attain the particular digital
goals by chosen online marketing channels for an instance earned, paid and the owned media. It
mainly explains series of the actions which use the online marketing channels to attain the
different objectives. The different digital marketing strategies used by Coca cola company are
Having the effective marketing strategies are mainly designed for an organisation has provided
more boost at enhancing brand recognition at global level. Coca cola company attract the
customers by providing the promotional gifts to fans (Adefulu, 2015). Many of the people
believe that Coke is responsible for creating the Santa Claus. Newspapers is popular form of the
media advertising that used through Coca Cola company. This company has starred media
advertisement in earlier stages ad through now firm has been engaged on the mafia advertising.
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AIM AND OBJECTIVES
Aim
To evaluate the marketing communication strategies and the impact that they have on the
competitors in the market. A case study on Coca Cola.
Objectives
 To discuss the different marketing communication strategies adopted by Coca Cola.
 To analyse the impact of these communication strategies on the competitors of the company.
 To identify the challenges that Coca Cola is facing from its competitors in the industry.
 To develop proper strategies and recommendations based on the challenges identified for the
company.
Research Questions
 What are the various marketing communication strategies that Coca Cola has adopted for
their company?
 How do the marketing strategies affect the overall competition that the company faces?
 What are the different challenges and problems that Coca Cola is facing from its
competitors?
 How can these problems be resolved or minimised using recommended strategies?
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is basically the evaluation and comparison of the different case studies
and research papers that have already been researched and published in the past by other authors.
These are included in the proposed research because these hold some points of relevance and
they are critically compared highlighting the positive as well as negative aspects about any topic
(ABBASI, 2017). Based on the objectives identified above, various themes can be developed
which can act as the basis of comparing the different viewpoints that have been presented by
different authors in the past. In the literature review, there has been discussion about the
Marketing communication strategies and the impact that they have on the competitors in the
market.
Theme 1: Different marketing strategies adopted by Coca Cola
The authors, Cheptegei and Yabs (2016), state that media can broadly be categorised into
two broader categories i.e. print or published media and visual or aural media. Coca Cola has
been using both of them since a longer time period where they have regularly modified their
strategies and tactics with the creativity level. The newspaper advertisements featuring key icons
and catchy taglines, the TV ads usually having a quirky style, collaborating themselves with the
sports events, featuring in films, shows etc. All in all, it can be said that the company has
ventured into every type of marketing technique and strategy that is possible for the company to
keep itself in the industry and maintain the customer base and loyalty that they have been able to
create over the years. The company has created an innovative presence on the social media
platforms as well where they have been able to attract the millennials. The marketing
communication has not just illustrated the objective of the company itself but has also raised
brand awareness on a number of issues, has fostered healthy competition trying to increase the
preference for their own product over the competitor’s brand and focused on maintenance of
healthy customer relationship (Akdoğan and Altuntaş, 2015).
Marketing communication strategies of Coca cola
Coca cola mainly relied on conduct integrated marketing communication strategy. Choice
of the media is mainly used through firm consists magazines, television, newspapers, posters and
some other forms. Communication that organised through this company includes direct
marketing, internet marketing, public relations, sponsorship marketing, sales promotion and the
direct marketing. The advertising is more necessary for this firm as its giant consumer base is
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global. Coca Cola has been advertised by television several countries which differ from the each
other and they have been prepared taking into an account characteristics of local culture in
context to neglect understanding because of cultural differences and enhance positive impact of
initiatives of TV advertisement.
However, contradictory to the above point, the Du Plessis (2015), have stated that despite
the numerous efforts and strategies that Coca Cola has adopted, the overall status of the company
has declined. This is because all the benefits that the company buts forwards in its marketing
communication strategies are perceived benefits i.e. the benefits that the customer is expected to
have. Additionally, claiming that Coca Cola is the coolest drink without any evidence or base of
it in the advertisements is just another aspect of the different ways in which the company has
reduced its own brand value. The authors further state that the broader level, the company also
fails to establish relationship with their customers like the one that its competitors have been able
to develop or cultivate over the years. The companies often tend to overestimate themselves and
this leads to the creation of the ambiguity. In case of the Coca Cola company, it was not entirely
the marketing communication strategy but the overall management and integration of the
customer satisfaction was not very illustrative which has presented many competitive challenges
before the company (Atik Gumuscu, 2017). Apart from this, the number of scandals in which the
company has been caught over the years at different places has largely deteriorated the reputation
of the company at the world level. Other than this, there are different digital marketing strategies
adopted by Coca Cola mention below:
Direct Engagement with Fans- The Ad campaign of Coca cola #VerdaderoAmigo
celebrated the true friendship, teamwork, unity and the happiness through re- designing iconic
wavy ribbon into “fist bump” symbol. Main focus of its extensive campaign is on the friendship
through framing this against opposite. With grand visual metaphor for spreading the better vibes
online, felt bit removed from social complexities teens mainly face (Boelsen-Robinson,
Backholer and Peeters, 2015).
Targets Millennial Age- The Coca cola adapts successfully itself to new technologies
and also new generation. This is generally beverage that composted of the carbonated water and
caramelized sugar. It defined target market at all and form mainly acts like teenage magnet to
determine precise consumer data.
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