Marketing & Communications in a Digital World: Analysis of Coca-Cola's New Coke Launch

This article analyzes the negative and positive effects of the 7 elements of marketing mix on Coca-Cola's New Coke launch. It also discusses market research and a marketing campaign for the relaunch. The market research is conducted using Porter's five forces method. The marketing campaign involves linking the new Coca-Cola with the Netflix series Stranger Things. The strengths and weaknesses of the research, campaign, and relaunch are also discussed.

Marketing and
Communication in a digital
world

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Determining and analysing all the negative and positive effects of all the 7 elements of
marketing mix on the first launch of New Coke..........................................................................3
Market research for relaunch.......................................................................................................4
Detailed market research and marketing campaign.....................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Marketing and communication refers to the practice of communicating through various
tools and channels with the potential customers base for the purpose of branding, sales,
awareness, promotions, advertisements etc. the whole marketing and communication concept
includes a good amount of creativity, interpersonal skills and critical thinking. With the new
emergence and change of an Era, the entire way of marketing and communication has evolved.
In the present society all the steps involved in this concept has turned into digitalization.
Digitalization has improvised the features of marketing and communication by leading its reach
to across the globe from just one city or two.
MAIN BODY
Determining and analysing all the negative and positive effects of all the 7 elements of
marketing mix on the first launch of New Coke
Marketing mix is engaged with the tactics and actions that a company uses in
promotional activities for its product or for the complete brand in the market. It includes the
following P's
1. Price- The company had only one rival Pepsi and the prices of both the cokes were
always competitive. New Coke was affordable enough so that it can remain in reach of
the customers. Pricing was done by keeping in mind the interests of the people. Due to
which coca-cola focused o enhancing the current target market of the company by
keeping the prices affordable (Išoraitė., 2016).
2. Product- Coca Cola company has a vast range of products and provides a choice of near
3900 beverages. The New Coke was a reformed product by the brand, but due to change
in the taste it was never accepted by the consumers. There was a demand for original
Coca Cola always and the New Coke never made a place in the market (Thabit. and
Raewf., 2018).
3. Promotion- The brand on being the widespread and most famous brand of the soft
drinks, did its marketing by utilizing both traditional and modern channels. It also
indulged itself in many campaigns and connected to the fans on the social media
platforms. Still, to the current scenario coca-cola has the best and most acceptable
and suitable promotional strategies for the market it is targetting towards (Pogorelova.
and et.al., 2016).

4. Place- The new coke aimed at the distribution of its products all across the world. As
coca-cola started as a multinational company that desired on conducting its operations all
around the world. And this was not the first operation of the company. Hence, the places
that the drink will be distributed is all across the world in physical stores as well as in
online markets led by the company itself or its online market partners.
5. Packaging- The packaging of the products of the company are done in plastic and glass
bottles and also in steel and aluminium cans. Around 45 percent of the packaging done by
the company is in plastic bottles and the rest covers around other bottle or can materials.
6. Positioning- Coca-cola in the current market positions or ranks as one of the best
products that conducts a huge revenue generation on a yearly basis. It is tag lined as the
refreshing and the thirst quenching drink within the market it operates in. also, the drinks
are so demanded in the market because they have a huge target market including families,
individuals, etc. and also the drinks are affordable.
7. People- The major people attraction by the company was its quality development
according to the demands and also the rewarding system in accordance to the needs of the
employees. Also, the company focuses on human resource management in a strategic
manner so that the employees of the company are able to find job satisfaction and career
growth.
Market research for relaunch
As the company is huge and the product relaunch is also a major project of the company,
secondary market research will be conducted by the company. This will be conducted through
the porters five forces method (Shokeen., 2016).
Competition- There is a huge competition within the beverage industry for the company like
Pepsi, who is a major competitor with a similarly huge customer base.
New entrants- A lot of companies are entering the similar market with more innovative and
creative and also diet conscious drinks.
Suppliers- The suppliers of the company are good and also trusted and reliable as they are
working with the company since a long time.
Customers- The customer base of the company is huge and also the customers trust the brand a
lot as they have been connected to it since long.

Substitutions- The customer base can reduce if the prices of the drinks do not remain affordable
and the customers might shift to other more qualitative products that are affordable.
The company requires to have an efficient, effective and proficient team of employees
that will help the company to conduct the porters five forces analysis. And also the company
requires to have knowledge regarding the competitors that are present in the industry according
to different locations. Other methods like primary market research can not be conducted in this
as the company has to examine a wide range of people rather than evaluating a small one. And
primary research is helpful for small evaluation. Also, other methods like PESTEL and SWOT
analysis are also not applicable in the situation of market research of the company.
Detailed market research and marketing campaign
The market research method that is discussed in the previous section is the Porters five
forces method.
Competition- The two big players within the beverage or the soda industry are Coca-Cola and
Pepsi. There is major and intense competition between the two companies. Hence, Pepsi is the
major competitive threat to the company in terms of products and their pricing. The sizes of the
companies are also similar to each other and also the brands have similar range of customer base
and profit generation ratio backgrounds (Štofová. and Kopčáková., 2020).
New entrants- There are many factors or aspects within the beverage industry that discourage
the new brands from entering the market or the industry. Also, because of big players in the
market already new entrants fear entering such a market industry where there is not much scope
to grow and enhance their business and profits. Hence, the threat regarding the new entrants or
companies entering the industry is not that strong in the case of Coca cola (MacDonald. and
Ryall., 2018).
Suppliers- This power of the company is weak. It is because of the reason that the number of
suppliers of the company is high but the switching costs of the company is low. There are
individual suppliers from small size to moderately larger sizes. The forward integration of the
company and market is difficult in reference to the suppliers.
Customers- The bargaining power of the customers is also low in the case of this company. The
individual customers of the company usually buy comparatively smaller volumes. Switching
costs are also low. Backward integration in regard to the company is also not an option for the
customers. Hence, the overall bargaining power of individual as well as retailers is weak.

Substitutions- The major substitutes of Coca- cola are made by Pepsi, both the companies sell
similar kinds of products and not only that but also the companies sell similar flavours. Also,
companies selling fruit juices, cold and hot beverages are also substitutes that can be thought of.
Hence, there are many substitutes of the company and the switching costs are less.
The company requires to launch a marketing campaign according to the digital world's
requirements before the relaunch to prepare the market for its new product (Ferrell. Hartline. and
Hochstein., 2021). Coca-cola according to the market research has a bunch of competitors and
similar products within the market hence that is not what is unique about the company. The
unique aspect about the company is that it is connecting the new coca-cola with the new series
on Netflix named The stranger things. The company can develop a filter on the social media sites
which shows that which character of stranger things relates to which flavour of the coca-cola,
and the people who are interested in the particular character will be inclined towards the drink
too. And the oldest character can be linked to the newest drink and it can be shown as a
comeback. The campaign itself can be made viral as the #cokecomback campaign on the sites.
Strengths
The strengths of the company are the relaunch of a vintage product idea that none of the
other competitors of the company had and also the company has a huge market base as well as
follower base which will interact with the social media campaign launched by the company.
Weaknesses
The campaign that needs to be launched before the relaunch is time-consuming and can
be pressurizing for the employees of the company. Which can decrease employee productivity
which further can reduce the competitive advantage of the company within the industry.
CONCLUSION
This discussion basically describes the elements of the marketing mix with reference to
the first launched beverage by the company Coca-cola. Also, the market research before the
relaunch of the product is discussed above in the discussion. It is done by the Porters five forces
method which is briefly explained above. Also, a marketing campaign strategy for the relaunch is
provided above and lastly, the strengths and weaknesses of the research, campaign and relaunch
are discussed above.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ferrell, O.C., Hartline, M. and Hochstein, B.W., 2021. Marketing strategy. Cengage Learning.
Išoraitė, M., 2016. Marketing mix theoretical aspects. International Journal of Research-
Granthaalayah. 4(6). pp.25-37.
MacDonald, G. and Ryall, M., 2018. Do new entrants sustain, destroy, or create guaranteed
profitability?. Strategic Management Journal. 39(6). pp.1630-1649.
Pogorelova, E. and et.al., 2016. Marketing Mix for E-commerce. International journal of
environmental & science education. 11(14). pp.6744-6759.
Shokeen, S., 2016. Porter's Model: A Critical Examination. International Journal of Engineering
and Management Research (IJEMR). 6(3). pp.178-183.
Štofová, L. and Kopčáková, J., 2020. The Competition Strategy between Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi
Company. Calitatea. 21(179). pp.40-46.
Thabit, T. and Raewf, M., 2018. The evaluation of marketing mix elements: A case
study. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 4(4).