Analysis of Coca-Cola's 'Share a Coke' Consumer Behaviour Report

This report delves into the realm of consumer behavior, examining the psychological, physical, and social factors influencing consumer decisions. It uses Coca-Cola's 'Share a Coke' campaign as a case study to illustrate the practical application of consumer behavior theories. The report explores the campaign's marketing communication strategies, including the 'debranding' of the traditional logo and the use of social media to enhance engagement. It then applies theories like the Theory of Reasoned Action, Motivation-Need Theory, Pavlovian Theory, and Theories of Exposure to analyze the campaign's effectiveness. The analysis highlights how Coca-Cola tailored its communication to tap into consumer needs, preferences, and behavioral patterns, ultimately influencing purchasing decisions and fostering brand loyalty. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of understanding consumer behavior theories for developing successful marketing strategies.

Running head: CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Marketing communication campaign:....................................................................................2
Applying theories to the marketing communication campaign:............................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction
Study of groups, individuals and organizations with the associated activities like
purchasing a product/service, utilization of features and disposal of services and products
comprising of the consumer perception, behavioural and mental responses for a specific
offering is known as consumer behaviour (Murphy & Dweck, 2016). The purpose of the
paper is to apply the theories and concept to a selected marketing communication example.
The paper will present the concept and role of consumer behaviour in the development of
marketing strategy. The paper will also present the findings of the application of the
psychological factors on the purchase behaviour.
Discussion
Consumer behaviour can be depicted by the psychological, physical and social
behaviour of the consumers in the process of becoming aware of evaluating, purchasing,
using/consuming and recommending services and products.
The nature of consumer behaviour is dynamic in nature as it depends on the changing
tastes and preferences of consumers. The role of consumer behaviour attempts at capturing
the unpredictability of the consumers. The understanding of social, physical and
psychological factors influences the functioning of consumer behaviour. The loyalty of
consumers on specific products and services is dependent on various factors like the
economic and psychographic.
Marketing communication campaign:
The marketing communication campaign which will be selected for analysis if the Coca Cola
Company’s ad campaign of “Share a Coke’. The campaign was initiated as a marketing
campaign on a global scale. The Company decided to ‘debrand’ Coke’s traditional logo by
replacing ‘Coca-Cola from the packaging with ‘Share a Coke- a generic nickname or titles’

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(Moye, 2016). It encouraged people to move out of their respective houses and hunt for their
or lover one’s names. The campaign was initiated in the year 2011. The strategy behind the
campaign was to facilitate the multichannel rollout. The campaign was communicated
through channels such as TV commercials, billboards and newspapers (Steenkamp, 2017).
The social media sites like Facebook and blog posts contributed the most in spreading the
awareness of the campaign. The campaign allowed a medium of connecting with people by
offering customers to send a ‘name’ request through messages (Moye, 2016). The campaign
also encouraged potential customers to participate in the process of content creation in the
social media platforms for connecting with the loved ones and old friends. It also included
generic titles like Mom, Dad, uncle and Sister.
Applying theories to the marketing communication campaign:
 Theory of Reasoned actions- The theory states that the consumers reacts on the basis
of specific behavioural patterns which are deduced from the intention of creating a
specific outcome (Zhang & Benyoucef, 2016). This theory can be applied in the
strategic approach of marketing communication campaign of Coca-Cola as it depicted
the positive final outcomes of making loved ones happy with this gesture. The brand
targeted the behavioural patterns of the consumers as the consumers can adopt a small
friendly gesture to make their loved ones happy and the level of satisfaction, which
the consumers received, became the reason of their buying decision.
 Motivation-Need Theory- The theory depicts the actions of marketers which involves
tailoring the communication content based on the hierarchical placement (Dorsch,
Törnblom & Kazemi, 2017). Coca-Cola adopted the understanding of this theory to
implement the need of affiliation for making someone happy by sharing a
personalized Coke or a personalised social media message, which can be published in
the social media page.

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 Pavlovian Theory- This theory explains the concept of restricting the consumer
preferences, need or want by interchanging the factor of influence. Coca-Cola adopted
the understanding of this theory to facilitate the ‘rebrand’ strategy. The company
changed the packaging and communicated content of Coke on the basis of their
reactions on the ‘sharing something with loved ones’ concept (Zhang, 2015).
 Theories of Exposure- The theory states a consumer needs to be exposed with a
number of ‘impressions’ for influencing the buying decision (Zhang & Benyoucef,
2016). The ‘Share a Coke’ campaign was launched by the establishment of
multichannel exposure, which allowed the consumers to act on a certain ways with the
proper understanding of the communication message. The multichannel exposure was
facilitated through social media pages by the method of co-creation, digital
campaigns, TV commercials and outdoor media.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded by the paper that marketer needs to have a
comprehensive understanding of the theories of consumer behaviour for implementing a
marketing communication strategy. The marketer needs to apply the theories to influence the
behavioural patterns of consumers, which can result in positive consumer buying decision.

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References:
Dorsch, M. J., Törnblom, K. Y., & Kazemi, A. (2017). A review of resource theories and
their implications for understanding consumer behavior. Journal of the Association for
Consumer Research, 2(1), 5-25.
Moye, J. (2016). Share a Coke® and a song: Summer campaign to feature lyrics on
packaging. Coca Cola Journey.
Murphy, M. C., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindsets shape consumer behavior. Journal of
Consumer Psychology, 26(1), 127-136.
Steenkamp, J. B. (2017). The COMET Framework: How Global Brands Create Value. In
Global Brand Strategy (pp. 19-43). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Zhang, K. Z., & Benyoucef, M. (2016). Consumer behavior in social commerce: A literature
review. Decision Support Systems, 86, 95-108.
Zhang, Y. (2015). The impact of brand image on consumer behavior: a literature review.
Open journal of business and management, 3(1).