Coca Cola Marketing Plan: Element 2 Report, USA Marketing Strategy

This report is a comprehensive marketing plan analysis of the Coca-Cola Company, discussing its market objectives, SMART objectives, target market, segmentation, differentiation, and positioning strategies. It meticulously examines the marketing mix, encompassing product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. Furthermore, the report presents detailed financial projections, including break-even analysis and a profit and loss account, covering both previous years and forecasts for the upcoming three years. The analysis extends to competitor analysis, strengths and weaknesses, and a SWOT analysis, culminating in a conclusion that highlights the company's market position and future prospects. The report emphasizes Coca-Cola's strategies for maintaining its competitive edge in the beverage industry, its marketing plan, and its financial performance.

Element 2 Report: Marketing plan and Strategy
With special reference to Coca Cola Company, USA
Student Details
7/9/2019

MARKETING PLAN
Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3
Marketing and Product Objectives..................................................................................................4
Market Objectives of the Company.............................................................................................4
SMART Objectives......................................................................................................................4
Target Market...............................................................................................................................5
Segmentation............................................................................................................................5
Differentiation..........................................................................................................................6
Positioning................................................................................................................................6
Marketing Program..........................................................................................................................6
Marketing Mix.............................................................................................................................6
Financial Projections....................................................................................................................7
Break Even Analysis................................................................................................................8
P&L account: Previous Year Analysis.....................................................................................8
Sales Forecast.........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................12
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Executive Summary
Coca Cola Corporation is a beverage company, which offers more than 500 brands of in around
200 countries as well as territories. Apart from companies, main coco cola brand products, the
company also have some valuable beverage brands in its portfolio. In this, report the marketing
and advertising plan of Coca Cola Corporation is discussed with the help of some elements like
product and marketing aims of the Coca Cola Corporation, marketing strategies like target
market, positioning and segmentation are also discussed. The report also shows the financial
projections of the Coca Cola Corporation for last two as well as upcoming three years. This
shows the company will keep its competitive position in future as well. The report talks about the
marketing mix of Coca Cola Company with the help of seven P’s. It is concluded that the
company have the strengthen the position in the market and with the similar pace it will be top in
the market.
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Marketing and Product Objectives
Company’s Market Objectives
Coca Cola Company is a brand, which is founded by Asa Griggs Candler. Its current CEO is
James Quincey. The company is dealing in various brands, which provide different type of
drinks to its customers. Coca Cola Corporation is famous for its product that is Coca Cola soft
drink (Coca Cola Company, 2018a). It is enjoying market leadership from a very long time due
to its effective market objectives.
The Coca Cola Company aims at maximization of its profits in order to sustain growth and
competitive advantage over other. It becomes possible for the company by providing drinks to its
customers and spreading happiness among them. It also aims at providing drinks that refresh
body, mind and spirit of a person. The company wants to create value for its customers.
SMART Objectives
These are the five major objectives, which every company should focus in order to become
market player (May Britt Bjerke & Ralph Renger, 2017). The Coca Cola Corporation’s major
aims are discussed in previously, now with the help of these SMART objectives the main aims of
Coca Cola Company, are discussed in following table:
Particulars Coca Cola Company Objectives
Specific (S)  The Coca Cola Corporation focuses on spending big
amount in near future on the production, marketing as
well as distribution of its various drinks (Hamish Banks,
2016).
Measurable (M)  Focus on production of low-calorie product in order to
satisfy the demands of health concern customers as well.
Attainable (A)  The company expected to increase the association of
Coca Cola Company various brands with the famous fast
food chain outlets, in order to expand the business
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rapidly.
Relevant (R)  The Coca Cola Company mainly focuses on such raw
materials for the production of their drinks, which are
natural or economic friendly in nature and does not harm
the health of its customers as well as of the environment
(Allen, 2015).
Time Bound (T)  In long run the Coca Cola Corporation, want to become
the top most players of soft drinks and various beverages
(Coca Cola Company, 2018d).
Target Market
The target market of Coca Cola Company is different for its various brands, however for its
famous soft drink, which is Coca Cola the company is targeting youth more. The company is
regularly making changes in its drinks as per the changing scenarios as well as the taste of
customers. Coca Cola Corporation is not merely targeting youths, the company focus on health
and environment inspired beverages, drinks for kids, distilled water for public, soda for young
people, etc. Hence, with its various brands the Coca Cola Corporation is looking forward to
satisfy the needs of every type of person present around (Coca Cola Company, 2018b).
Segmentation
Segmentation is the process of distribution of large group of customers in small groups or
segments based on various characters of them. The company chooses one or many segments
based on customer needs of those segments and the ability of the company to satisfy those needs
(Melancon & Dalakas, 2018). Similar way the coca cola company has segmented the whole
public in stratified groups based on geographies, psychology, behavioral aspects, and
demographic aspects. These factors made various groups for Coca Cola Company to serve; the
company has chosen these groups gradually to satisfy the needs and wants of each group.
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Differentiation
The Coca Cola Company focuses on providing unique products to its segmented market as per
the specific and even very minute needs of the target consumers. This helps the company in
getting competitive advantage over other companies present in the same industry like PepsiCo
(Dhar, et al., 2015). The innovation and creativity in production, marketing and distribution is
the key of differentiation marketing strategy of Coca Cola Corporation.
Positioning
It is related to placing the manufactured product according to identified needs and wants of target
customer, which are identified through segmentation process, among the selected target
consumers. Coca Cola company in starting chosen USA as its target market and distributed
various segments in it. The company strategically positioned its products, initially Coca Cola soft
drink among the consumers of USA (Tamar Barkay, 2013).
Marketing Program
Marketing Mix
It is the mix of different marketing strategies that in together provide the correct information
about the dimensions present all around product, which in turn helps in deciding various crucial
factors for sale (Jackson & Ahuja, 2016). These are as follows:
a) Product
Coca Cola Company offers beverages to its customers in variety of brands. The brands of Coca
Cola Company include soft drinks, distilled water, soda, kids drink, etc. These all brands have so
many drinks, which they offer to its customers by modifying according to needs and wants of
each segment they have divided (Coca Cola Company, 2018c).
b) Price
The price range of products of Coca Cola Corporation is decided according to type of the drink
the company is offering to its customers. The raw materials, labor, machinery, technology,
marketing and distribution of that drink decide the price of that product by adding some margin
as profit in it. The price range is moderate, which can be affordable easily by customers.
c) Place
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Coca Cola Company sells and distributes its various drinks from its place of production to end
consumers with the help of direct as well as indirect selling. Direct selling is done when
customer purchase drinks from the outlets of the company and indirect selling is done when the
company hires agents in between or collaborates with other companies to sell its drinks.
d) Promotion
The company knows very well the technique of promotion of its products. In order to promote its
drinks Coca Cola Corporation is focusing on all types of promotional techniques that are print,
digital and video. In printing, the Coca Cola Company uses billboards, newspapers, etc. In digital
advertising, the company uses various websites and social media sites to promote itself. It also
shows various advertisements on television and YouTube (Foster, 2014).
e) People
The company focuses on the needs of its employees as well in order to get productive output
from them. Coca Cola Company motivates its employees with the help of various monitory as
well as non-monetary elements, incentives, bonus, etc (Mary Elector Odukah, 2016).
f) Process
The process of production as well as distribution of various drinks of Coca Cola Company is
effective and bring efficiency in various activities of the company. The company follows new
technologies as well as innovative ideas in making its product attractive for its customers. It also
has its secret formula for its signature drink Coca Cola.
g) Physical Evidence
Various brands of Coca Cola Company can be found online as well as on various stores, which
act as the agents of the company. The highly selling drinks of Coca Cola Corporation are the
Coca Cola and Fanta. The company also have approach to various nations apart from USA, it is
dealing world widely (Elmore, 2013).
Financial Projections
The financial projections of Coca Cola Company have covered many financial statements of the
company such as breakeven analysis, profit and loss statement of last two years and upcoming
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three years. The sales and profit forecast are done through Profit & Loss account of upcoming
three years.
Break Even Analysis
The breakeven point is the point, which tells the company to produce till that point in order to
earn profit. The earning below that point brings loss to the company. It is identified with the help
of fixed costs as well as variable cost involved in the production function of the company.
In this, the breakeven point is identified for the Coca Cola Company for a month particularly.
The assumed monthly fixed cost is $32000 and percentage of variable cost is 40%. The identified
breakeven point for a month is $58181.82.
Coca Cola Company (December 2018)
Monthly Break even analysis Amount ($)
Estimated monthly fixed cost 32,000.0
0
Average percentage of variable
cost
40%
Monthly Breakeven point 58,181.8
2
* The monthly estimated fixed cost is an assumption
P&L account: Previous Year Analysis
The profit and loss account mentioned below demonstrates the sales, gross profit as well as net
profit of Coca Cola Company from the last two years that are 2018 and 2017. It can be
interpreted from the table that the company has sales of $ 6279 million in 2018, gross profit for
2018 is $ 4337 million and 2017 is $ 4823 million. The net profit of Coca Cola Company is $
1220 million in 2018 and in 2017 it was $ 1010 million.
Coca Cola Company
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Profit & Loss Statement (December 2018)
Amount {in million dollar ($)}
Particulars 2018 2017
Sales 6279 6856
Miscellaneous Income 779 656
Net Operating Revenue 7058 7512
Cost of Goods Sold
2721 2689
Gross Profit 4337 4823
Selling, administrative and general expenses 2538 2877
Other Operating Charges 163 592
Total Expenses 2701 3469
Operating Income (Gross Profit - Total Expenses) 1636 1354
Less: Interest (9%)
147.24 121.86
Income before Tax 1488.76 1232.14
Less: Tax (18%) 267.9768 221.7852
Net Profit After Tax 1220.7832 1010.3548
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Sales Forecast
The analysis of last two years of sales, gross profit as the net profit of Coca Cola Corporation,
the forecast of these three elements is done in this section in the following table by following the
trend of the company from the last years. One can see the figures of estimated sales, gross profit
as well as net profit of Coca Cola Company for the year 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Coca Cola Company
Profit & Loss Statement (December 2018)
Amount {in million dollar ($)}
Particulars 2019 2020 2021
Sales 7042 7261 7425
Miscellaneous Income 420 490 561
Net Operating Revenue 7462 7751 7986
Cost of Goods Sold 2721 2814 2938
Gross Profit 4741 4937 5048
Selling, administrative and general expenses 2762 2776 2783
Other Operating Charges 163 176 184
Total Expenses 2925 2952 2967
Operating Income (Gross Profit - Total Expenses) 1816 1985 2081
Less: Interest (9%) 163.44 178.65 187.29
Income before Tax 1652.56 1806.35 1893.71
Less: Tax (18%) 297.4608 325.143 340.8678
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Net Profit After Tax 1355.099
2
1481.20
7
1552.842
2
Conclusion
Coca Cola Corporation is considered major player in the market of soft drinks. Its major soft
drink is Coca Cola, which is also the title of the company. In this report with proper analysis and
understanding, a well-designed marketing plan and some strategies are discussed for the
company in order to make company more productive. Top competitors of Coca Cola corporation
are PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple Group. These both companies are major competitors of the
selected company as they also produce drinks of various kinds and have worldwide approach. It
is of utmost importance for Coca Cola Company to have a well-designed marketing plan, which
help the company in maintaining its competitive position in the market as well as innovate with
time.
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Bibliography
Allen, F., 2015. Secret Formula: The Inside Story of How Coca-Cola Became the Best-Known
Brand in the World. s.l.:Open Road Media.
Coca Cola Company, 2018a. Coca Cola Company. [Online]
Available at: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/history
[Accessed 12 July 2019].
Coca Cola Company, 2018b. Our Way Forward. [Online]
[Accessed 12 July 2019].
Coca Cola Company, 2018c. Brands. [Online]
Available at: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/packages/brands
[Accessed 12 July 2019].
Coca Cola Company, 2018d. 2018 Business & Sustainability Report. [Online]
Available at: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/private/fileassets/
pdf/2019/Coca-Cola-Business-and-Sustainability-Report.pdf
[Accessed 12 July 2019].
Dhar, T., Chavas, J. & Cotterill, R. W., 2015. An Econometric Analysis of Brand‐Level Strategic
Pricing Between Coca‐Cola Company and PepsiCo.. Journal of Economics & Management
Strategy, 14(4), pp. 905-931.
Elmore, B. J., 2013. Citizen Coke: an environmental and political history of the Coca-Cola
Company. Enterprise & Society, 14(4), pp. 717-731.
Foster, R. J., 2014. Corporations as Partners: “Connected Capitalism” and The Coca‐Cola
Company. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 37(2), pp. 246-258.
Hamish Banks, 2016. The business of peace: Coca-Cola's contribution to stability, growth, and
optimism. Business Horizons, 59(5), pp. 455-461.
Jackson, G. & Ahuja, V., 2016. Dawn of the digital age and the evolution of the marketing mix.
Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), pp. 170-186.
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