Branding and Consumer Behaviour

This report analyzes the branding strategies of Coca-Cola and their impact on consumer behavior and decision making. It discusses the identification of consumers, marketing and branding strategies, analysis of consumer behavior, and provides recommendations for effective branding.

Branding and Consumer
Behaviour

Table of Contents
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................3
Identification of Consumers .......................................................................................................3
Marketing and Branding Strategies ............................................................................................4
Analysis of Consumer Behaviour ..............................................................................................5
Strategies along with its impact on consumers and decision making process............................7
Recommendations ......................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Consumer Behaviour refers to a study in which analysis of consumers along with various
methods they use to dispose their income towards various products and services is assessed. It
includes various factors such as mental, emotional and behavioural responses of a customer
towards the products. On the other hand branding refers to the practices in marketing under
which creation of name, symbol as well as designs of different products that are differentiate it
from others in market. Effective branding is helping a business in providing competitive
advantages to business (Eggers, Eggers and Kraus, 2016). The following report analyses
branding strategies of Coca-Cola Company which a successful American multinational brand
that manufactures beverages. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Company is indulged into
manufacturing, marketing and retailing of non-alcoholic beverages concentrates as well as
syrups. The following report discusses about a number of branding strategies that are used by
Coca-Cola and the degree to which these strategies are affecting decision making of a consumer.
Along with this some recommendations for company are also discussed which will effectively
help the organisation to influence more customers and also meet all the goals and objectives of
organisation.
Identification of Consumers
Coca-Cola strategically analyses its target market in order to identify the potential
customers of company. Company however does not focus on certain segment of consumers but
adapts the marketing strategy by developing and innovating new products. This helps
organisation to continuously increase their consumer base. The major age group which Coca
Cola focuses on ranges from 13-30 years of age. However there are a number of partnership
joints through which company reaches other age groups as well. They have linked up with a
number of fast food restaurants such as Mc Donald's and Domino z through which it reaches out
to customers.
However the major customers of company are youngsters. When studying about gender
company does not focus on any specific gender as their products are gender neutral. Coca cola
successfully operates in more than 200 countries. Even if there are no manufacturers present in
country for Coca-Cola the entrepreneurs import it from other countries and sell. It is hard to look
out for name of countries which do not sell coke. Company is effectively advertising in order to

increase their customer base and look for real customers. McDonald is one of the biggest
customer of Coca Cola. McDonald's is important for Coke as it is the only consumer or business
partner of Coke with its own division in company (Keller, 2020).
Marketing and Branding Strategies
Branding and marketing are two of the important functions which are to be use by
companies in order to make sure that the customers are effectively attracted towards the brand. It
is necessary for companies to increase their customer base and develop a competitive edge which
is made possible by marketing and branding.
When taking Coca-Cola into consideration the company is turning into a synonym for
“Happiness and Sharing”. Digital marketing is a great medium with the help of which companies
are reaching out to mass consumers from a single effort. With the help of internet revolution
brands are effectively expressing what are they and how can they make difference in lives of
consumers. Using disruptive innovation and various constant changes Coca-Cola have
successfully developed its personal visual change, language and iconography from the energy
that is used through digital playground.
There are various branding strategies used by Coca cola which are mentioned below: Focus on Individuals and not towards organisation: Coca-Cola have successfully
developed its communications, packaging in order to meet the promises that it had made
to its customers that are “Happiness and Sharing”. When analysing an advertisement of
Coca-Cola it can be seen that every add only speaks about people and volume. Only at
the end of each advertisement there is a glimpse of the iconic bottle along with the brand
name (Stephenson, Heckert and Yerger, 2016). This helps in branding through a number
of visual effects and company tries to create various stories which often keep their focus
upon the only philosophy that is followed by organisation of “Happiness and Sharing” . Look for uniqueness of consumers: They are focusing upon their audience while crating
advertisements. They keep in mind that there is no age bar attached to it. They focus upon
huge segments at a time in order to do justice to all of them at a time. Examples can be
taken from the advertisement that was created by Coke for Australians as they knew that
they have less customer base n Australia so a video was created to let people know how
important they are for company. The company have evolved adapting customs and
cultures at different regions as it has its brand name written in Chinese for China, also in

Australia company have individuals name rather than the whole brand name altogether.
In this way company keeps on surprising its customer to enhance its brand value. Focus on great content: The advertisements and branding used by Coca-Cola is
specifically focusing on content. They make sure that they have creative content which
can support their vision. These content is successfully connecting with the target
audience of company at a different level. Right form of visuals: The brand majorly focuses on creating stories rather than just
creating advertisements (Das, 2016). They are involved in bringing in creativity and
planning in order to leave customers engaged. They focus on statement ” It is not about a
bottle of coke, they say, its about how we change lives.”
 Focus on Vision Statement: The vision statement of Coca-Cola says “ Happiness and
sharing”. Since 1970 there have been creation of a number of different advertisements
and campaigns. Still all of these are majorly focusing on the vision of company. They
have effectively been in par with their vision statement.
In this way Coca-Cola tries to engage its customers and become participatory as well as
transparent at market place. The branding strategy of Coca-Cola creates a void in the minds of
consumers and fills it with a glimpse of bottle along with the heartfelt story.
Analysis of Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour is the study which includes analysing various processes which are
used by consumer to choose a product or service is evaluated. Emotional, mental and behavioural
responses of consumers are also studied in this. There are a number of concepts which helps
organisation in understanding behaviour of customers. It can be divided into
External Socio-Cultural Concepts: Socio-Cultural factors include various set of
believes, behaviour and practices that are existing in a population. It is necessary for
organisations to examine the socio-cultural environment in order to run their business and attract
consumers. Evaluation of consumer behaviour using various socio-cultural concepts are:
 The High vs low context culture: This theory was derived by Edward Hall. In low
context culture there is no hidden message in branding or decision making. All the
information is required to be shared in advertisement in order to be sure about the fact
that the communication is received by consumers. In countries like Germany , United

States, Switzerland etc. people are looking clear messages as according their culture do
not look for hidden messages. On the other hand, in high-context cultures a number of
tools are used such as negotiating group, level of expertise pitch, tone and body
languages. In countries like Japan, Italy, Spain etc. Coca Cola uses advertisements where
less information is used verbally. Family decision making process: When analysing the socio-cultural environment there
are eight roles of family members who are in one other way affecting decision making
process Geurin and Burch, 2017). There are influencers who are helping by providing
information about product or services. Gatekeepers are those who are controlling flow of
knowledge in family. Deciders are those in family who make decisions about need of a
product. There are buyers who make the actual purchase of products, preparers helps in
consuming or using the products, user is the one bringing product or service in use,
maintainers are the one who are repairing product for further use and disposers are all
those who are disposing of product or service. In this way the socio-cultural effect can be
seen in buying behaviour. The influencers and deciders in family will help one to
understand that whether they are in need or products or not (Wen and Song, 2017).
Psychological Concepts: Psychological concepts include the study of complex human
behaviour. It helps in understanding mental processes with the help of inspection of perception,
memory, emotion and cognitive development ( Viardot, 2017). Evaluation of consumer
behaviour using various psychological concepts are:
 Trio of Needs: This includes three major motivators which will influence the buying
behaviour of customers by an organisation. The first need is referring to need for power.
This is the desire of an individual with the help of which one can effectively control their
environment. The second need is need for affiliation. The need for affiliation says that
buying behaviour of a consumer is often strongly influenced with the help of desire for
acceptance, friendship or belongingness. The third need for an individual which might
change their decision making process includes the regards towards the personal
accomplishment which is called the need for achievement. According to David
Mclelland every consumer has three needs (Reynolds and Phillips, 2019). Whatever their
gender, age, or cultural background is the consumer decision making can be effectively
influenced using these tools. Coca-Cola can also fulfil these needs of their consumers and

with the help of it they can effectively attract customers, increasing their customers base,
revenues as well as profits for organisation.
 Murray's Psychogenic Needs: Murray identified a total of 24 different needs each of
which have a certain level. The uniqueness of needs of each individual is a great way of
shaping their individual personalities. The first set of needs included ambition needs.
These are related to the need for recognition and achievement. This need is usually
achieved by overcoming various obstacles and achieving certain goals. Then next comes
materialistic needs which refers to buying of objects that is desired by us. This also helps
organisations to look into innovation. It is necessary that items are created and organised
as per consumers. Next is power needs in which autonomy is desired for resistance and
independence. Affection need refers to need for love and to be loved. Nurturing is
important for psychological well being of a person. Having fun and play was also
considered an important need included in affection. The last need is Information need in
which it is required in order to provide people with information about product and things
going around them. Coca Cola can fulfil all these neds of consumer to affect their buying
decisions.
Strategies along with its impact on consumers and decision making process\
Process of consumer decision making is divided into five stage and these are discussed below:
Stage 1. Problem recognition- This is first step to determine want of customer for a
product or services. In this they determine whether product is promoted externally or internally
& try to figure out how to get lead in market. After recognition of customer's want they need to
collect information to understand how they can fulfil their want. In context of coco-cola they
recognise that coco-cola is a desire rather than a need, people do not drink beverages, consume,
want to drink it. Until and unless the consumers are identifying the need for the product the
decision making process cannot be identified or carried on further.
Stage 2 Information researcher- After aware of need or problem, they need to solve it.
By using different methods they can solve their problem and these methods are by taking
feedback, by consulting to counsellor etc. Information research of coco-cola is worldwide, the
information source of their product is marketing and non marketing controlled. They uses some
technique to promote their products through media like television , magazines, and also

promoted through family and friends. It is an essential step in decision making which enables an
individual to take effective decisions.
Stage 3 Evaluation of alternative- In this stage the criteria of consumer is considers
while operating any product. Organisation tries to make best alternative which fulfil l the
demands of consumer. Alternative is in terms of additional benefits, product availability, lower
price etc. In context of coco cola they always try to satisfied their customer by proving best
quality of beverages. There are a number of alternatives, fit juices, alcohol and various other soft
drink brands are the competitions of Coca-cola. It is necessary to recognize and evaluate all the
alternatives based on needs. Needs form the basis for evaluation of alternatives available to a
consumer.
Stage 4 Purchasing decision- Organisation gathers information from their previous
customers or consumers that product service is good or not. The consumer made their decision
regarding product whether they wants to buy that or not after gathering information from their
friends and relatives. In context of coco cola after collecting information from previous buyers
they identifies that coco cola is want not a need of consumers.
Stage 5: The post-purchase evaluation: It is last stage in this process which is associated
with decision-making process in organisation. This is because there are various function which
has to be perform by manager in organization in relation to making decision-making process
stronger. By using this stage manager in Coco-Cola will get opportunity to identify and manage
its decision according to post evaluation.
Recommendations
There are several recommendations which can be adopted by Coco-Cola that is going to be
mentioned below:
 Coco-Cola can introduce an assertive SME based drive in order to introduce or launch
innovative product which is names as “Coke Vanilla. For this purpose, the organisation
focuses on adopting different promotional techniques such as advertising, sales
promotion, publicity as well as sponsorship and many more which helps in increasing
awareness of innovative products in front of customer at marketplace (Kim,
Stepchenkova and Babalou, 2018).
 Furthermore, the company adopt appropriate research for analysing need of customer and
they provide products as well as services as per need of consumer that can help company

in increasing sales and profit margin in future period of time. The organisation can
expand their fruit-based portfolio which is good in taste and quality in order to attract
large number of customer at marketplace. It is also helpful in boosting achieving goal and
objectives in pre-decided time period.
 The company adopted global strategy in order to take guidance from customer regarding
what they want. Hence, the organisation focuses on performing their activities and
functions in more categories for achieving leading position at marketplace. And, if
company give wider choice to its user then they attract towards products and services
which is provided by organisation.
 Moreover, the organisation can organize events and sponsorship program for promoting
its brand that helps in increasing reputation and goodwill of company in mind-set of user
at marketplace. It also assists in increasing experience level of customer which is
advantageous for success and growth of company.
Conclusion
On the basis of above mentioned report, it has been analysed that it is necessary to assess
needs or wants of customer in order to satisfy them. The branding signifies name, design and
symbols of various goods which are differ from its rival firm. The appropriate branding is also
useful in achieving competitive advantage over rivalries at marketplace. It is necessary to adopt
various promotional tools such as advertising, sales promotion as well as publicity for promoting
products and services for increasing awareness of customer towards brand of organisation. In
addition to this, it increases brand image and reputation of company in front of customer at
marketplace. The assignment provide discussion regarding branding strategies which is adopted
by Coca-Cola for taking appropriate decision at marketplace. In addition to this, there are several
recommendation for organisation is also explained which motivates users for accomplishing goal
and objective in pre-decided period of time.

References
Books and Journals
Eggers, F., Eggers, F. and Kraus, S., 2016. Entrepreneurial branding: measuring consumer
preferences through choice-based conjoint analysis. International entrepreneurship and
management journal, 12(2), pp.427-444.
Keller, K.L., 2020. Consumer research insights on brands and branding: a JCR curation. Journal
of Consumer Research, 46(5), pp.995-1001.
Stephenson, A.L., Heckert, A. and Yerger, D.B., 2016. College choice and the university brand:
exploring the consumer decision framework. Higher Education, 71(4), pp.489-503.
Das, G., 2016. Antecedents and consequences of trust: An e-tail branding
perspective. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management.
Reynolds, T.J. and Phillips, J.M., 2019. The Strata Model Predicting Advertising Effectiveness:
A Neural-Network Approach Enhances Predictability of Consumer Decision
Making. Journal of Advertising Research, 59(3), pp.268-280.
Geurin, A.N. and Burch, L.M., 2017. User-generated branding via social media: An examination
of six running brands. Sport Management Review, 20(3), pp.273-284.
Kucuk, S.U., 2016. Exploring the legality of consumer anti-branding activities in the digital
age. Journal of business ethics, 139(1), pp.77-93.
Kim, H., Stepchenkova, S. and Babalou, V., 2018. Branding destination co-creatively: A case
study of tourists' involvement in the naming of a local attraction. Tourism management
perspectives, 28, pp.189-200.
Wen, J. and Song, B., 2017. Corporate ethical branding on YouTube: CSR communication
strategies and brand anthropomorphism. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 17(1),
pp.28-40.
Viardot, E., 2017. Branding in B2B: the value of consumer goods brands in industrial
markets. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.