Brand Audit Report: Strategic Analysis of The Coca-Cola Company

This comprehensive brand audit report examines The Coca-Cola Company, a global leader in the non-alcoholic beverage industry. The report begins with an overview of the brand, including its history, brand value, and market position, and then delves into a detailed brand inventory, exploring its diverse portfolio of products like Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Fanta. It analyzes the brand's positioning, differentiating it from competitors like PepsiCo through points of parity and difference. The report then outlines the Coca-Cola brand mantra and key brand elements such as identity, image, personality, equity, experience, differentiation, and communication. A SWOT analysis highlights the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Furthermore, the report explores strategic marketing elements, including product offerings, pricing, distribution, and communication strategies. It also assesses consumer awareness, competitive actions, and consumer-brand relationships. The report concludes with strategic recommendations for brand leveraging based on the preceding analysis.

Brand Audit Report
on Coca Cola

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Overview of the Brand.....................................................................................................................1
Brand Inventory...............................................................................................................................2
Brand portfolio............................................................................................................................2
Brand positioning (i.e., analysing points-of-parity and points-of-difference)............................5
Brand mantra...............................................................................................................................6
Brand elements............................................................................................................................6
SWOT analysis............................................................................................................................7
Strategic marketing elements (e.g., product, pricing, distribution, communications, etc.).........8
Brand Exploratory............................................................................................................................9
Consumer awareness...................................................................................................................9
Competitive actions (in brief).....................................................................................................9
Consumer-brand relationships (e.g., brand resonance).............................................................10
Brand Leverage Strategy................................................................................................................10
Strategic recommendations on brand leveraging that derive directly from the preceding
analysis/insights........................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Strategic brand management can be referred to as the set of activities or course of action
which is aimed at management of brand name with the execution of innovation practices. It is
inclusive of a number of elements such as planning, implementation and control of marketing
practices with a view to manage and maintain brand equity (Chiu, Fischer and Friedman, 2019).
It is imperative for a brand to execute some steps such as ascertainment and evaluation of brand
positioning, development and enforcement of relevant policies and application of these in
marketing environment. To ensure effective execution of the before stipulated planned and
structured course of activities, an entity undergoes brand audit. It can be defined as a procedure
aimed at gaining comprehensibility of the present condition of brand and provision of effective
recommendations to elevate market positioning of company in future course of time.
The present report is based upon the corporate brand audit of The Coca Cola Company
which is a multinational corporation engaged in the manufacturing, retailing and marketing of
non-alcoholic drinks and syrups. This organisation is headquartered within Atlanta, USA. The
report includes execution of brand audit with the help of models and frameworks along with the
development of a brand leverage strategy. The information included in the report is in global
context.
Overview of the Brand
The Coca Cola Company was founded during the year 1866 (History-overview, 2019).
This entity is engaged in the production and provision of non alcoholic syrups as well as
beverage concentrates. The distribution system of this brand has been successful in providing
products of this organisation in over 200 nations across the globe. Owing to this, a total of
around 1.9 billion servings of company's beverages are sold on a daily basis. Coca Cola sells
more than 3900 commodities across the world, out of which 21 are regarded to be billion dollar
brands (Coca-Cola Beverages and Products, 2019).
The Coca Cola Company is well renowned for its flagship product, Coca Cola which has
been the biggest source of revenue for the brand over the course of time. The organisation has its
own anchor bottler named Coca Cola Refreshments.
1

(Source: Coca-Cola's brand value from 2006 to 2019, 2019)
The brand value of the company at present is acknowledged to be 80.83 billion US
Dollars (Coca-Cola's brand value from 2006 to 2019, 2019). The brand has been successful in
gaining the 3rd spot on Interbrand's annual Best Global Brands ranking for fourth consecutive
year (Coca-Cola No. 3 on Most Valuable Brands Ranking, 2019). Further, it is rated #15 on
Fortune Magazine's Most Admired Companies List. The brand sold a total of 28.3 billion cases*
with the flagship of brand selling over 11.2 billion of them in the last year.
*Case: Unit of measuring equivalent to 24 eight-ounce servings of completed beverages.
Brand Inventory
Brand portfolio
2
Ill
ustration 1: Coca-Cola's brand value from 2006 to 2019

(Source: Brand Portfolio of The Coca Cola Company, 2019)
The Coca Cola Company being a well renowned and established corporation consists of a
large number of brands across the globe. It offers wide array of beverages and syrups in market
place. The brand portfolio of organisation is in accordance with pack sizes and calorie content so
as to cater to the needs and preferences of customers in the desired manner (Kopnina, 2019).
Some of the major revenue generating brands pertaining to The Coca Cola Company are
described as follows:-
Coca Cola: This is the flagship product of respective brand which owe its start to the
year1886 by John Stith Pemberten. This is sold across a total of more than 200 nations. Having a
classic taste, it is a representation of what the company built themselves around.
Sprite: The introduction of this brand took place during 1961. This is regarded as the
leading lemon-lime flavoured non-alcoholic beverage. The sale of this brand takes place in over
190 countries and thus it is ranked at 3rd position in soft drinks sold across the global periphery.
3
Ill
ustration 2: Brand Portfolio of The Coca Cola Company

Fanta: The introduction of this brand took place in the year 1940. This is second oldest
brand of the respective entity. This has fruit based flavour, and even though orange is the most
well renowned out of all, numerous other fruit flavours are also available depending upon
location of consumer (Jones and Wynn, 2019). This has been regarded as the second biggest
brand outside United States also. Fanta in all the flavours is consumed across the globe over 130
million times every single day.
Diet Coke: This was launched during 1982 and is a calorie free and sugar free beverage.
This is regarded as the foremost brand to make use of Coca Cola's trademark. It can be bought by
consumers within 150 countries across the global periphery (Top Companies & Brands Owned
by Coca-Cola, 2019).
Coke Zero: This product was introduced during the year 2005 and was specially
produced for younger adults. This is sugar free and has a more classic taste as opposed to Diet
Coke.
Minute Maid: This is acknowledged to be a product line of juices pertaining to The
Coca Cola Company, which have been produced for more than 60 years.
Ciel: This brand belonging to the portfolio of The Cola Cola Company is a bottle of
mineral water, launched in the year 1996.
Powerade: This brand, launched during the year 1988, integrates electrolytes, fluids and
carbohydrates for hydration as well as energy elevation (Yılmazer, 2019). This is mostly
consumed by athletes and sports persons as it comes under diverse set of flavours and drops
which can be added to water.
Vitaminwater: This brand pertaining to The Coca Cola Company was launched to
provide water with fruity and bold flavours as well as additive nutritions. This brand is available
within 26 geographies (Schröder and Chillcott, 2019).
Smart Water: This is a purified water for which purification is facilitated by way of
hydrological cycle post which electrolytes are added in it.
Honest Tea: This brand belonging to The Coca Cola Company is regarded as Number 1
organic bottled tea and is usually seen to be appealing to the health conscious segment of society.
NOS: This is an energy drink provided by the organisation which is especially liked by
auto enthusiasts as it resemble a real NOS can.
4

(Source: The brands we sell, 2019)
Brand positioning (i.e., analysing points-of-parity and points-of-difference)
It is essential for every corporation to ascertain its brand positioning in market so as to
come up with effective strategies that can provide assistance in elevating its current market
standing. In this regard, to carry out assessment of brand positioning of a corporate brand, two
concepts are widely taken into use, namely, Point of Parity and Point of Difference. For the easy
contrast of competitor with the respective brand, PepsiCo is taken into consideration. In this
regard, it can be said that hereby, the point of parity is that both the brands are two of the most
well renowned and established soft drink companies (Hague, 2019). The point of difference
5
Illustration 3: Categorisation of The Coca Cola Company's Product

between both of them lie in the image they portray among the people. Pepsi is considered to be
more of trendy and cool with the image of youngsters and celebrities. On the other hand, Coca
Cola is regarded as an emotional brand owing to its advertisement and marketing campaigns
whereby it tries to gain the attention of people by appealing to their feelings and emotions.
Brand mantra
Brand mantra can be referred to as the short phrase that best describes the brand or lays
down the overall overview of the entity in short. This is acknowledged to capture the spirit of
brand positioning. The basic purpose of brand mantra is to make sure that the staff as well as the
external marketing associates of the brand can gain comprehensibility of the fundamental values
of the brand. In this regard, the brand mantra of The Coca Cola Company is to share happiness
while maintaining the taste of the drink. The organisation focuses upon 3 P's while offerings
products across the global periphery (Potisawang, 2019). These are regarded to be preference,
price related value and pervasive penetration.
Brand elements
A brand is composed of a number of elements that together makes what it stands at, in
market place. In this regard, the brand elements of The Coca Cola Company are described as
follows:-
Brand identity:
The Coca Cola Company is a recognised brand in today's modern world which is
associated with quality, taste and an inherent happiness when one consumes it. The logo of this
brand is of red colour which is a vibrant colour strongly appealing to everyone's eyes. The tag
line of the corporation “Taste the happiness” matches with its identity among the consumers.
Brand image:
The Coca Cola Company has the image of a beverage maker which knows how to make
people happy with its beverage servings (Stein, 2019). The image of this brand is the same in
every economic section of the society as the products of this organisation comes in various packs
and sizes making it easily affordable for all.
Brand personality:
The Coca Cola Company is viewed as a brand which is associated with emotions and is
very common within families while partying or enjoying any small get together. The respective
6

brand can be associated with people's emotions and feeling and is known to instil a sense of joy
among people.
Brand equity:
The Coca Cola Company is a high value brand which is regarded to be providing people
with the taste and happiness worth the value it is charging them (Tybout and Calkins, 2019).
People perceive it is an emotional brand whose products can be enjoyed with peers or family.
Not just the revenue figures but also the quality and customer perception of the brand has taken it
to a different level altogether.
Brand experience:
Being a famous brand, it is seen that customers derive huge contentment from the
consumption of brands pertaining to The Coca Cola Company, especially the flagship product,
Coca Cola.
Brand Differentiation:
This is a brand element which demonstrates the things which differentiates The Coca
Cola Company from its rivals prevailing in market place. As the brand is associated with
emotions, it can be easily differentiated from other rivals such as Pepsico.
Brand communication:
The Coca Cola Company is a brand that recognises the significance of developing
healthy relations with clients by making use of various communication media. In this relation,
this brand uses broadcast, print and online media of communication to reach to a large number of
people at a single point of time.
SWOT analysis
STRENGTH WEAKNESSES
 Well renowned and established brand
image (Güven and Yakın, 2020)
 Effective distribution system
 Lack of diversification approach
 Weak portfolio of products in respect
of healthy and diet conscious beverages
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 Increasing demand for healthy products  Large number of rivals in market
7

Strategic marketing elements (e.g., product, pricing, distribution, communications, etc.)
The success of The Coca Cola Company owes to the various strategic marketing
initiatives undertaken by the company over the course of time.
Product:
The Coca Cola Company offers an array of products across the globe. The portfolio of
the company includes a large number of famous brands such as Coca Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Diet
Coke, Coca Cola Zero, Coca Cola Life, Dasani, Minute Maid, Ciel, Powerade, Simply Orange,
Coca Cola Light, Fresca, Glaceau Vitaminwater, Honest Tea, Osewalla, Powerade Zero etc.
(Coca-Cola Product Description, 2019) They are sold in a number of packages and sizes.
Among all, Coca Cola, Fanta and Sprite are the most revenue generating products for the entity .
Distribution:
The distribution system of The Coca Cola Company is the key to its success in market
place. The organisational offerings are available in cans as well as bottles within supermarkets
and other retail stores across the globe (Aryasri, 2019). This corporation further provides supply
of fountain drinks in a number of restaurants.
Price:
The long-term pricing strategy of this brand can be referred to as being value oriented. To
stay ahead of its biggest rival, Pepsico, the organisation maintains affordable pricing strategy.
Owing to this, it appeals effectively to all the economic sections of society (Vargo, 2019).
Communication:
The Coca Cola Company makes use of a number of communication tools, techniques
and methods in order to set communication with customers. In this regard, the most apparent
forms of communicated indulged in, by this brand are broadcast (TV, Radio), print (billboards,
hoardings) and online communication (website, digital technology and social media). With the
help of all of these, the company clearly communicates its mission, vision and goals to the target
customers.
8

Brand Exploratory
Consumer awareness
The Coca Cola Company is a well known name among public which is associated by
people with high quality and good taste. The organisation makes use of various marketing and
advertising strategies to create awareness about the products and their features amidst the target
audience. With the help of such strategies, entity has been successful over the course of time to
build a good brand image in the minds of consumers, thus instilling a sense of loyalty and
belongingness among them towards the brand.
Competitive actions (in brief)
The way The Coca Cola Company carries out distribution of organisational offerings
differ from all other brands dealing within the same sector. In this regard, Coca-Cola operates b
way of its franchised operations (Pierce and Velliaris, 2019). The Atlanta headquarters takes care
of the overall brand while taking into due consideration the marketing and product development
efforts. Every nation has its own set of bottlers, that are mostly separate legal entities. The MDC
(Manual Distribution Centers) finally delivers the commodities to retailers where organisational
offerings are sold.
The Coca Cola Company does not spike in sales due to seasonality but the holiday
campaigns of this brand has always made a substantial influence upon the mindset of customers
(De Mooij, 2019). It focuses upon the development of warm and fuzzy feeling among the
customers at the time of holidays and makes use of Santa Clause or the cute Polar bears to share
the “happiness” among the public. All of this strives to to solidify the iconic and trendy brand
image of the entity.
The Coca Cola Company has also stipulated goal to enhance community efforts. One of
such projects is called the 5 by 20 initiative whereby the main goal is the empowerment of 5
million women entrepreneurs by the end of the year 2020. Another of this effective and
competitive projects is related to the achievement water neutrality by the end of 2020. such kind
of competitive and strategic initiatives undertaken by the organisation provide an edge to the
company in market place.
9

Consumer-brand relationships (e.g., brand resonance)
(Source: BRAND RESONANCE MODEL OF COCA COLA, 2019)
Brand Leverage Strategy
Strategic recommendations on brand leveraging that derive directly from the preceding
analysis/insights
To produce the world's best known product, The Coca Cola Company is required to
employ the highest quality processes and establish standards which guarantee the production of a
standardised product that meets the high expectations of people in market each and every time
they drink a bottle or can of Coca Cola's beverage. In order to guarantee the effective
enforcement of such standards, the corporation should develop a close relationship with its
franchisees based on a mutual concern for quality. Total Quality Management lies at the heart of
this process involving a continuous emphasis on getting quality standards right every time and on
continually seeking new ways to improve the overall organisational performance. The
10
Illustration 4: BRAND RESONANCE MODEL OF COCA COLA

establishment should also enforce work premises safety, inclusive place of business, replenishing
of water and reforestation.
Further, The Coca Cola Company should work aggressively with its growth strategies.
Also, it should enhance its execution more effectively so as to ensure that the company remains
in the competitive race. The Coca Cola Company is also investing in the brand to improve both
Sparkling and Still categories notably juice and juice drinks in North America. It is also making
significant investment in value-added dairy portfolio in profitable categories. This balanced
approached should fuel up its bottom line performance in the future context of time.
CONCLUSION
It can be summarised that brand audit is a structured procedure aimed at gaining
comprehensibility of the market positioning of a specific brand. Through the execution of this
process, any entity aims at attaining increment in their ROI and gaining other sorts of monetary
gains. From the above analysis of brand, it can be said that it is essential for a brand to constantly
keep on analysing and evaluating its current brand positioning in order to come up with effective
strategies. These ensure the sustainability of brand in market place for a long period of time and
instillation of a sense of loyalty and dedication among the customers.
11

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chiu, H., Fischer, D. and Friedman, H., 2019. Board Diversity in Audit and Finance
Committees: A Case Study of Coca-Cola', Diversity within Diversity Management
(Advanced Series in Management, Volume 22).
Hague, P., 2019. The Business Models Handbook: Templates, Theory and Case Studies. Kogan
Page Publishers.
Schröder, P. and Chillcott, V., 2019. The politics of marine plastics pollution. The Circular
Economy and the Global South: Sustainable Lifestyles and Green Industrial
Development, p.43.
Stein, F., 2019. Research directions on states and markets. In A Research Agenda for Economic
Anthropology. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Potisawang, P., 2019. The Forecasting Power of the CAPM. Available at SSRN 3321943.
Güven, E. and Yakın, V., 2020. Building Emotional Brand Personalities: Anthropomorphized
Brands. In Global Branding: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice (pp. 595-614).
IGI Global.
Tybout, A. M. and Calkins, T., 2019. Kellogg on Branding in a Hyper-connected World. Wiley.
Vargo, S.L., 2019. Jagdish Sheth: A Statement of Personal Impact and Appreciation. Handbook
of Advances in Marketing in an Era of Disruptions: Essays in Honour of Jagdish N.
Sheth, p.64.
Aryasri, A. R., 2019. Rise Like a Phoenix: Scripting Corporate Turnarounds. South Asian
Journal of Management, 26(2), pp.206-209.
De Mooij, M., 2019. Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing and
advertising. SAGE Publications Limited.
Pierce, J. M. and Velliaris, D. M., 2019. Sustainable Supply Chains: Ethical Challenges and
Actions for Best Practice. In Emerging Applications in Supply Chains for Sustainable
Business Development (pp. 115-129). IGI Global.
Kopnina, H., 2019. Green-washing or best case practices? Using circular economy and Cradle to
Cradle case studies in business education. Journal of Cleaner Production, 219, pp.613-
621.
Jones, P. and Wynn, M. G., 2019. The circular economy, natural capital and resilience in tourism
and hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Yılmazer, T., 2019. Advertising for good: What is it good for?. Journal of Brand Strategy, 7(4),
pp.337-342.
Online
Coca-Cola Beverages and Products. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/about-us/coca-cola-beverages-products/>.
Coca-Cola's brand value from 2006 to 2019. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.statista.com/statistics/326065/coca-cola-brand-value/>.
Coca-Cola No. 3 on Most Valuable Brands Ranking. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.statista.com/statistics/326065/coca-cola-brand-value/>.
The brands we sell. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://coca-colahellenic.com/en/brands/the-brands-we-sell/brands-
overview/>.
12

Top Companies & Brands Owned by Coca-Cola. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://learn.stashinvest.com/brands-companies-owned-coca-cola>.
Coca-Cola Product Description. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:<http://www.coca-
colacompany.com/brands/product-descriptions>.
History-overview. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through:<http://www.coca-colacompany.com/history/>.
13