Integrated Marketing Communications of Coca-Cola

This assignment focuses on the integrated marketing communications of Coca-Cola, specifically in promoting the brand through social media marketing. It discusses the target audience, opinions about the product, and the necessary actions to expand the customer base.

Running head: MARKETING
Integrated marketing communications of Coca-Cola
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Name of the university:
Author note:

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Table of contents
Background of the task...............................................................................................................2
Strategy statement......................................................................................................................2
Product’s brand positioning of Diet Coke..................................................................................3
Target audience..........................................................................................................................4
Opinions about the product........................................................................................................4
What is expected from the target audience and the necessary actions.......................................5
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Background of the task
Integrated marketing communication forms the basis on which the current assignment
is attempted. The main aim of this task is to promote the brand of Coca cola among the
clients and the customers. Systematic and rational approach in this direction is assistance
towards increasing the sales revenue and the profit margin (Luxton, Reid and Mavondo
2015). The assignment peeks into the means of social media marketing, which is beneficial in
terms of increasing the trafficking of the audience towards the brand. In this context, the
target audience is evaluated for assessing the rare values, which makes the brand stand out
from the others.
Strategy statement
Objective: To expand the customer base through the means of social media marketing
Scope: Coca cola achieves accolades and glory by emerging as one of the most valuable and
recognized brand with $1 billion annual revenue. The resources and capabilities of the company are
flexible, which is reflected from the production of non-alcoholic beverages like Diet Coke, Fanta, and
Sprite among others (Coca-cola.com.au 2019).
Competitive advantage: Provision of various flavoured beverages, at cheaper rates, assists in
catering to the preferences of the customers. This is a means for influencing the purchasing power and
decision of the customers (Coca-cola.com.au 2019).

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Product’s brand positioning of Diet Coke
Fig: Position mapping of Diet Coke
(Source: Coca-cola.com.au 2019)
In this segment, the product chosen is that of the Diet Coke, one of the latest
innovations by Coca Cola for the health conscious people. From the position map, it can be
inferred that coke zero attains a higher position than Diet Coke. Diet coke is placed below the
axis, which reflects the downmarket scenario. The major drive behind this is the lack of
proper advertisements and promotions as compared to Coke Zero (Coca-cola.com.au 2019).
Here, Blakeman (2018) proposes that social media is to be used for clarifying the doubts of
the customers regarding the basic difference diet coke and coke zero.
Modern/new
Traditional
High
sugar taste Low
sugar
taste
Diet
pepsi
Pepsi
Max
Coke
zero
Diet Coke
Pepsi Next
Coke Classic
Pepsi

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Fig: Diet Coke and Coke Zero
(Source: Coca-cola.com.au 2019)
As per the arguments of Valos et al. (2016), pictures would be one of an effective
means for disseminating the information that blending of different flavours along with citric
acid adds a lighter taste to diet coke. On the other hand, coke zero has sodium nitrate.
Target audience
Women are one of the important targets for the diet cokes, as they are the ones who
are health conscious. As compared to men, women prefer something, which has low calorie
and would help them to keep their weight in control (Gertner and Rifkin 2018). Countering
this, men are now looking for healthy options in beverages. Working people are also the
targets of Diet Coke. As they have a busy schedule, healthy choices like Diet Coke would
energize them for the whole day (Coca-cola.com.au 2019).
Opinions about the product
In early 2016, Coca Cola introduced the strategy of One Brand, which encountered
the conglomeration of all the branded products. Diet Coke was an integral part of this
strategy. According to some of the customers, the new tall cans of the diet coke are flimsy
and can e easily crushed. The diet coke gets warm easily and tastes like water is down. Others

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are of the view that diet coke has a filthy after taste, which degrades its brand loyalty. The
alterations in the labelling are a new attraction among the customers. Sweetness and
refreshment is one of the liking factors. As a matter of specification, the taste has become
subtle and very sweet, which is not acceptable to some of the customers (Manser, Peltier and
Barger 2017). For some of the customers, variation in the packs of diet cokes makes it unique
among the beverages. Diabetic people think that sugar free content assisted me to prefer it as
the best choice in the drinks. Diet Coke has acted assistance in losing weight for some of the
customers. As a matter of specification, it has helped in gaining control over the sweet
cravings (Baldwin, Freeman and Kelly 2018).
What is expected from the target audience and the
necessary actions
The target audience are expected to post their views on the diet coke and the
innovations within it. For this, they can use the social media. This approach would be an
effective means for expanding the customer base. The comments and the reviews posted by
the customers would help the staffs to make specific changes in the flavours, packaging and
prices of the Diet Coke for developing customer oriented business (Coca-colacompany.com
2019). Most of the target audience prefer personalized materials. So they need to be served
with tailor made products, for example, labelled cans of diet cokes, which contain
information about the calorie intake. Posting this information with an image in the social
media and website is an added advantage.

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Fig: Information label of Diet Coke
(Source: Coca-cola.com.au 2019)
Innovation is one of the other aspects, on which the customers depend. They are
expected to provide their valuable opinions to the brands, so that specific changes can be
made according to the requirements. For example, introducing sleek cans have added
sophistication to the packaging of the diet cokes. Earlier, the cans were slim and were
available in the flavours of ginger lime and feisty cherry (Coca-cola.com.au 2019).

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Fig: Innovations in the cans of Diet Coke
(Source: Cnbc.com 2019)
If these images are uploaded on the social media sites and the websites, the audience
would get to know about the recent trends, which had been adopted for increasing the sales
revenue and profit margin. Along with this, maintaining consistency in introducing new
products and services would help in retaining the prospective clients and the customers. The
customers are expected to extend their full cooperation for enhancing the standards and
quality of the products. On the other hand, Coca Cola personnel need to ensure the customers
that there data would be secured. For this, security cookies are policies are to be adopted.

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References
Baldwin, H.J., Freeman, B. and Kelly, B., 2018. Like and share: associations between social
media engagement and dietary choices in children. Public health nutrition, 21(17), pp.3210-
3215.
Blakeman, R., 2018. Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to
implementation. Rowman & Littlefield.
Cnbc.com 2019. Coca-Cola CEO: We’re making Diet Coke cool again and here’s how we’re
doing it. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/30/coca-cola-ceo-here-is-how-we-are-
making-diet-coke-cool-again.html [Accessed on 31st August 2019]
Coca-cola.com.au 2019. About us. Available at: https://www.coca-cola.com.au/en/home/
[Accessed on 31st August 2019]
Coca-colacompany.com 2019. Our Consumers. Available at: https://www.coca-
colacompany.com/stories/our-consumers [Accessed on 31st August 2019]
Gertner, D. and Rifkin, L., 2018. Coca‐Cola and the Fight against the Global Obesity
Epidemic. Thunderbird International Business Review, 60(2), pp.161-173.
Luxton, S., Reid, M. and Mavondo, F., 2015. Integrated marketing communication capability
and brand performance. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), pp.37-46.
Manser Payne, E., Peltier, J.W. and Barger, V.A., 2017. Omni-channel marketing, integrated
marketing communications and consumer engagement: A research agenda. Journal of
Research in Interactive Marketing, 11(2), pp.185-197.
Valos, M.J., Haji Habibi, F., Casidy, R., Driesener, C.B. and Maplestone, V.L., 2016.
Exploring the integration of social media within integrated marketing communication

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frameworks: Perspectives of services marketers. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 34(1),
pp.19-40.