Marketing Planning Process for Coca Cola Zero Sugar

MKT4001D
Principles of
Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3
TASK....................................................................................................................................................3
Section 1 – Marketing Environment and Planning Process.............................................................3
Explanation of the components of Marketing Planning Process for the new soft drink product........3
Environmental audit in the form of PESTEL Analysis for the new soft drink product......................5
Micro environmental factors..............................................................................................................6
The importance of building a strong and coordinated marketing mix................................................7
Section 2 – Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning..........................................................................8
Segmentation of the new soft drink product......................................................................................8
For B2C markets.........................................................................................................................8
For B2B markets..........................................................................................................................8
Targeting methods that could be used for the B2C market for the new product................................8
Meaning of Positioning and how the new soft drink product will be positioned in the target market
of Coca Cola......................................................................................................................................9
Section 3 – Marketing Mix Analysis...................................................................................................9
7 Ps of marketing for new soft drink product of Coca Cola...............................................................9
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing planning refers to the advertising strategy that an organization implements
to sell its products and services. It helps to determine what the target market of the company
is, how can the company best reach to its target customers, and what should be the price of
the product that the company is to offer its products at (Westwood, 2022). The following
report will cover the marketing context of a new soft drink to be produced by the Coca Cola
Company. It is a US based multinational company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, US and
dealing in the soft drink products like Pepsi, Inca Cola, Kola Real etc. with variants like Coca
Cola Lie, Coca Cola Citra etc. Now, the company is planning to introduce a new soft drink
product i.e. Coca Cola Zero Sugar taking into consideration the health-conscious attitudes of
the customers.
The report will discuss the components of marketing planning process and a brief
environment audit through PESTEL Analysis for the new soft drink product. It will also deal
with the micro-environmental factors like competitors’ activity. The 7 Ps of marketing mix
will also be covered in context with the new soft drink product of the company. Further, the
STP analysis of the new products will also be dealt with in this report.
TASK
Section 1 – Marketing Environment and Planning Process
Explanation of the components of Marketing Planning Process for the new soft drink product
The marketing planning process can be referred to as a systematic and procedural
approach for planning, anticipating, coordinating the needs and objectives of marketing. It is
a structured approach for implementing and measuring the marketing strategies. The
company chosen in this report is Coca Cola that is a US based soft drink company and the
manufacturer is The Coca Cola Company that is launching a new soft drink product or
variant i.e. Coca Cola Zero Sugar with its existing product range. The Coca Cola Company
has already launched this product in the countries like North America, LATAM, UK, Turkey,
some other Asian regions etc. The following is explanation of components of marketing
planning process in context with Coca Cola Zero Sugar that the company is launching -
 Market Research – Research is considered to be backbone of marketing plan (Cui, Hu
and Xie, 2021). The company is required to identify the customers’ buying habits in

the industry or region where it is going to launch its new product i.e. India. For
example, the Coca Cola Company is launching its Coca Cola Zero Sugar in India by
identifying the market size, market growth or decline, and the current trends in the
market.
 Target Market – The target market of its new product Coca Cola Zero Sugar is India
that the company is going to launch its new soft drink in. The target customers of this
new soft drink would be younger customers within the age bracket of 10-25 and a
secondary market consists of people aged 25-40.
 Positioning – The new products of the company will be positioned as thirst-quenching
and refreshing. It will make a positive difference in the customers’ lives and the Coca
cola sugar free will be associated with having a great time with family and friends
while enjoying the daily life (Lu and et. al., 2021).
 Competitive Analysis – Coca Cola has many big competitors in the soft drink industry
such as Red Bull, Pepsi, Sprite, Dr. Pepper etc. But for the new soft drink i.e. Coca
Cola Zero Sugar that the company is going to launch in India, will have to face the
Indian soft drink competitor’s such as Maaza, Dabur, PepsiCo, Parle agro etc. that the
company will have to consider in its marketing analysis while launching its new soft
drink product.
 Market Strategy – Coca Cola has launched an integrated market campaign for
promoting its new product Coca Cola Zero Sugar. The campaign is running across
TV, streaming radio, local radio and out of home, in-store retail, through online video,
on the social media handles of the company, along with the Snapchat filters and AR
lens etc. The company is utilizing the multichannel marketing stagey to promote its
new product.
 Budget – Coca Cola needs to spend at least $ 100 million on advertising in digital,
print and national TV of India that it is going to launch Zero Sugar soft drink in. It
will invest in premium ad units and will advertise on multiple Media properties across
multiple media formats. The company will develop the metrics to check whether the
marketing strategies and activities are generating sufficient return on investment.
 Metrics – The Company tracks its marketing success with Google Analytics for
website conversions and an Excel sheet for comparing the budget against the actual
Return on Investment of the company (Farza and et. al., 2021). Coca Cola will test the
programs of marketing of its new Zero Sugar soft drink product over the course of a
30-60 day period and will evaluate the results.