Marketing Communication of Coca Cola

This document analyzes the buyer's behavior and conducts a competitor analysis of Coca Cola. It also evaluates the various aspects of its marketing communication strategies and proposes new strategies for the company.

Running head: MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
Marketing Communication of Coca Cola
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
Analyze its buyers’ behavior and conduct a competitor analysis.
Consumers are expected to be loyal to their drinks. They are open to brand extensions
and innovative products that fulfill their needs. Coca Cola Company’s main aim is to satisfy
the needs of its customers. With 400 varieties of drink, Coca Cola satisfies a wide range of its
customers. They provide drink to various targeted market including people from various
races, sexes and of various age groups. In recent times, people are seeking for a better and
healthier lifestyle (Coca Cola 2019). In order to fulfill this need of the customer Coca Cola
has introduced diet drinks having taste as the regular drink while maintaining low fat in the
drink such as coke zero or diet coke. They serve a wide range of fruit juice for the adults and
the kids such as Odwalla and Disney Hundred Acre. All classes of people consume the
products of Coca Cola. The major consumption is by the high-class and middle-class citizens
because they can afford all the varieties of drinks. Coca Cola gains respect and trust of its
potential buyers by controlling the pollution level inside and outside the factories.
Coca Cola is the top most beverage company around the globe. It is available in 200
countries and more. Coca Cola is in a market where several powerful competitors are
constantly trying to gain a competitive edge. Where rivalry is strong, companies tend to
attract customers with price cuts and innovative marketing campaigns. If the rivals of the
company are more, suppliers and buyers of the company can go elsewhere if they are getting
better deals from the competitors. The main competitor of Coca Cola currently is Pepsi,
which has a variety of beverages. Pepsi and Coca Cola both are manufacturing and selling
carbonated beverages and engage a lot in outdoor activities and events to attract more
customers. Other major competitors are PepsiCo, Parle, Red Bull, Dr Pepper Snapple and
Nestle but these brands have not been so successful like that of Coca Cola or Pepsi.

2MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
The integrated components of Coca Cola have employed a methodology of mass
media, which includes advertising through television, print media and banners. This method
uses the marketing mix of direct marketing, advertising and web based social media and
interactive marketing. They also did sales promotion. The advertising of Coca Cola has been
the most creative in the history of marketing. The campaigns of the company have majorly
affected the society and the culture. The designs of the bottle and the company logo are
recognized globally. The effort of direct marketing of Coca Cola is myriad. They have tie ups
with the movie theatres, film production houses and restaurants to promote their brand. They
also execute mobile marketing strategy by sending text messages to all the customers for
personalized promotions. Their viral marketing strategy relies on the word-of-mouth
communication. The website content of Coca Cola includes online games, social, cultural
sporting events and new products that preach customer involvement. They show efforts in
retail marketing by retail partnership with various stores and techniques of point-of-sale.
The tools of marketing communication strengthen the message of the adviser to its
customers. It helps in cost cutting in order to reach out to a large audience. These helps in
creating brand awareness. They strike responsive chord with their potential customers. The
easiest way to educate, inform and persuade customers is marketing communication. It helps
in obtaining the database information of the customers. It also provides support and service to
the customers. Whereas, it involves high cost in running and producing advertisements.
These methods of advertisement involve issues of creditability and skepticism of the
consumers. The adviser fails to understand the effectiveness of these advertisements.
Competitors
 Pepsi- The closet and the biggest competitor of the brand Coca Cola is Pepsi. Its rival
Pepsi has been formed by merging Frito Lay and Pepsi in the year 1965. The growth

3MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
of the brand in organic revenue took place in the year 2017. It has dollar brand of 20
billion in the product portfolio. Coca Cola is involved in an intense competition with
Pepsi in the market of US. Its gross profit in the year 2017 was 28.8 billion dollar and
the net revenue was 63.5 billion dollar. Pepsi and Coca Cola compete across various
products including energy drinks, soda beverages, health drink, juices and bottled
water (Kaur 2014). They have the toughest competition and the rivalry of the
companies is called as Cola wars. The mission of the company is to produce healthy
financially affordable products. They provide opportunities for enrichment and
growth of the employees. The vision statement of the company is to provide high
quality products and services, cleanliness and value for products. They increase the
stakeholder’s value through cost control, sales growth and correct resource
investment. The strengths of the company is that the company has a good reputation
in the market. The company organizes various campaigns. One of them is the Pepsi
Challenge. Advertising that are position-driven is because of positioning a brand.
Pepsi follows two key elements for positioning their brand. They are-
 Enhancing the brand awareness
 Brand differentiating
These campaigns help Pepsi to build its brand. Pepsi enhances the brand awareness in
the brand category of Coca Cola and utilize the media to enhance the reach of its
awareness campaigns. The point of difference of Pepsi is the attitude of forward
thinking. No other brand is as strong as Pepsi in this area. This is considered as the
image differentiation of the brand. The brand is action oriented and the customers of
the brand connect themselves with the brand image. The brand is considered bold,
robust and refreshing. The sugary taste of the drinks makes it a major competitor of
Coca Cola. The buying decision method of Pepsi is explained below.

4MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
Source: (Created by the author)
Figure 1
Pepsi thus, follow this method keeping in mind the brand image of the products. The
product costs and taste of its products is according to the need of the customers.
 Red Bull- Red Bull with its limited products is a competitor of Coca Cola’s energy
drinks. It is a popular brand available in more than 171 countries. In the year 2017
Red Bull has sold 6.3 billion cans of the energy drinks with a turnover of euro 6.282
billion. This led to the financial growth of the company in the year 2017, which
includes growth in revenue and operating profit. The mission of the company is to be
the premier supplier and marketer of the products of Red Bull in European, Asian
countries. The products of Red Bull includes Red Bull energy drink, Red Bull sugar
free, Red Bull zero calories, Red Bull Editions and Red Bull organics. They improve
the relationship of the brand with the target customers in order to fulfill the mission.
The Company values are Portfolio, People, Profit, Partners and Productivity. They
nurture their suppliers and customers. Red Bull is a fast moving company with highly
effective and lean strategies. In terms of energy drinks, this brand is the top most
company. Their drinks enhance energy, metabolism and vigilance. Despite possessing
various strengths, the products of Red Bull are over-priced. The innovative factor is
missing in the brand. The recipe of the Red Bull products is not patented. This may
lead to the increase of its competition with other brand. FDA does not approve the
ingredient mix of the products. The sugar, caffeine and taurine content of the products
are high. The major competition of the company is Coca Cola and Pepsi. Red Bull

5MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
distributes the drinks through various channels of distribution. The interaction of the
consumer and producer takes place through Direct Channel. Other channels include
the wholesale channel. Red Bull began the promotional strategy of ‘wings team’ who
used to attract female individuals. The strategy of positioning is based on the product
differentiation and brand image. The image of the brand gives it a competitive edge. It
uses the social media to promote its brand. They promote their products using various
factors like Cultural factors, Social factors, Reference groups and personal factors.
Buyer’s analysis of Pepsi, Coca Cola and Red Bull-
High price
Red Bull
Low quality High quality
Pepsi
Coca Cola
Low price

6MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
Critically evaluate the various aspects of its marketing communication.
Different types of media are involved to endorse Coca Cola. Vigorous analysis of
words and images used in the campaign of Coca Cola are undertaken to ensure a better scope
for the paper. Different types of mediums are used for the advertisement of the Coca Cola
brand and particularly the Coca Cola drink. These are as follows-
 Newspapers are the top most medium of advertisement for Coca Cola. Coca Cola has
started the marketing communication strategy through newspaper 100 years ago
along with other global brands like Kellogg’s, Campbell’s Soup and Pepsi Cola.
 Magazines have also played a major role in the advertisement of Coca Cola globally.
The magazines chosen for advertisement of the brand is based on the readability of
the customer base of the organization (Todor 2016). The advertisements of Coca
Cola generally occupy the entire page of the magazine to maximize the impact
involving the marketing strategies.
 Internet has also been widely used for advertising the brand. The online branding of
Coca Cola is done through the vigorous use of pop-up ads, banners, sponsorships and
other online advertisement formats in various websites globally (Vinerean 2013).
There are different online forums and websites all around the globe that are devoted
to the fans of Coca Cola. Users share the experiences in these websites and forums.
 Coca Cola has also used television for its advertisement. The company has spent a
certain amount of its financial resources to execute this. The advertisements of Coca
Cola vary widely from one country to other based on the culture of the country to
avoid misunderstandings because of differences in culture.
 Coca Cola has used cinema as it major advertising platform. Coca Cola has video
advertisements that are being played before the start of some selected movies. It also
advertises with the help of product placement in various movies. The drink is

7MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
generally consumed by lead role during the course of the movie in order to maximize
the efficiency of cinema advertisements.
 The advertisement of Coca Cola by the help of radio, does not last for more than a
few seconds. It still manages to create a customer loyalty and brand awareness in the
minds of the people around the globe.
 Billboards and posters are widely used as a major part of the Coca Cola’s
advertisement. The billboards are generally placed in the heart of the city all over the
world. They are also placed in the rural areas and the highways. On the contrary,
posters are usually displayed in the shops, restaurants and public transport.
Propose what the company can do differently in terms of its marketing communication.
Coca Cola can expand its business and increase its customer base by using various
marketing communication strategies. These are-
 Close range marketing (CRM) – This kind of marketing can be done using Bluetooth
or Wi-Fi in order to send promotional texts of the products, the company wants to
market. This type of marketing will help Coca Cola increase its customer base for the
longer run (Ryan 2016). For the retailers, this marketing strategy is very beneficial for
the in-store sales technique. This strategy provides coupons and promos to their
customers. The airports, banks, travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, convention
centers, nightclubs and gas stations can be benefitted by using this strategy. People
who receive open promotional messages in their tablets r smart phones show some
level of loyalty. On the other hand, close range marketing requires to put a lot of
effort but do not yield the expected return. The cost of marketing is very high, which
increases their expense.

8MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
 Seasonal marketing- Coca Cola can organize seasonal events in meet new customers.
These events may include national holidays or changes in the weather. For example:
Coca cola had organized a campaign with the help of polar bears to promote their
winter drink (Popescu and Iosim 2015). Seasonal marketing strategies offer flexible,
additional income, creativity for the business owners. In this type of marketing,
owners have more hours to develop and structure the budgets, processes, procedures
and systems. This strategy focus on the target audience only during the peak seasons.
They can increase the outreach of their marketing by narrowing down the customer
base. This strategy of marketing requires skilled labors that are cost effective. On the
other hand, weather conditions affect the business negatively during any natural
calamity. Hiring the staffs during the peak season becomes expensive. Rest of the
year, the temporary workers help to deal with the business. The initial cost to start a
business is a lot. Such is the obligation for the business owners.
 Mass marketing- The main aim of most of the organizations is to grow their business
by increasing their revenue generation. Coca Cola can adopt this strategy and ignore
the difference in the market segment, and concentrate on the overall market with one
strategy or offer. This method of marketing works best when the service or the
product has potentiality of appealing to huge base of customers. It is less risky than
niche marketing as it does not depend on smaller population of consumers. Whereas
the potentiality of this strategy depends on the various geographical areas. The
businesses understand no product can cater to all customers or satisfy every customer
has varying desires and need.

9MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF COCA COLA
References
Ashtiani, S., 2015. Ensuring adequate orientation for a new employee: case company Nestlé.
Berger, J., 2014. Word of mouth and interpersonal communication: A review and directions
for future research. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24(4), pp.586-607.
Coca Cola (2019). Home. [online] Coca-cola.com. Available at: https://www.coca-cola.com/
[Accessed 19 Apr. 2019].
Kaur, P., 2014. Contract farming of potatoes: a case study of PEPSICO plant. International
Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 4(6), pp.1-4.
Merlo, O., Eisingerich, A.B. and Auh, S., 2014. Why customer participation matters. MIT
Sloan Management Review, 55(2), p.81.
Peck, H., Christopher, M., Clark, M. and Payne, A., 2013. Relationship marketing.
Routledge.
Popescu, G. and Iosim, I., 2015. The role of consumer behavior in issues related to the
environment. Research Journal of Agricultural Science, 47(4).
Ryan, D., 2016. Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the
digital generation. Kogan Page Publishers.
Todor, R.D., 2016. Blending traditional and digital marketing. Bulletin of the Transilvania
University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V, 9(1), p.51.
Vinerean, S., Cetina, I., Dumitrescu, L. and Tichindelean, M., 2013. The effects of social
media marketing on online consumer behavior. International Journal of Business and
Management, 8(14), p.66.