Coca-Cola Company's Marketing Strategies: A Comprehensive Analysis

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BUSINESS MARKTING PRINCIPLES

Table of Contents
1. Introduction................................................................................................................................2
2. Product and service decision.....................................................................................................2
Product line of Coca-Cola Company.........................................................................................2
Analysis of quality, design brands, line decision and product reach of Coca Cola....................3
Product mix and Strategies for the company.............................................................................4
Growth strategies of the company based on BCG Matrix and Product life cycle......................5
Promotional strategies of the products along with target market segmentation and positioning
...................................................................................................................................................8
3. Market research.........................................................................................................................9
Brand analysis, brand positioning strategies and target market segmentation for two brands. 9
Brand positioning strategies....................................................................................................10
Target market segmentation....................................................................................................10
4. The way through which Coca Cola Company promote intangibles.........................................11
Ethical values of the brand for services, people and places....................................................11
5. Conclusion...............................................................................................................................12
References..................................................................................................................................13
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1. Introduction
Coca-Cola is one of the most popular soft drink manufacture organisations of the United States.
The company was established in the year 1892 but John Stith Pemberton (Coca-cola.co.uk.
2019) discovered the first recipe of Coca-cola in 1885. At the initial phase, it was known as
Coca Wine at Jacob’s Pharmacy, Atlanta, Georgia on 8th. May 1886 they made their first sale.
For the first 9 months, they have sold only 80 bottles of cold-drink and then after in 1892 they
have started the Coca-Cola Company in 1892. After sometimes, in 2011 Coca-cola was ranked
as number 1 soft-drink brand across the globe. At that time, the brand value of Coca-cola was
80 billion USD. After that Coca-cola offers approximately more than 350 brands. The main
objective of the Coca-Cola Company was to refresh and energize the world by their soft-drinks,
create a brand value and make a huge difference from other soft-drink providers. Vision
statement of the Coca-cola was based on five basic principles, which is also known as 5P’s
includes People, Portfolio, Planet, Partners and Profit. Even in the present time, Coca-cola
occupied more than 50% of the beverages of the world, because of its availability, productivity
and most importantly quality.
2. Product and service decision
Product line of Coca-Cola Company
The term product can be defined as anything that can be provided by the company in the global
market in order to get attention, use and consumption. Coca-Cola offers more than 500 brand
over 150 different countries. There are more than 3800 products offered by the Coca-cola
company includes:
Aerated Beverages: Coca-cola, Kinley, Limca, Sprite etc.
Bottled water: Cristal, Kiwi blue, Malvern etc.
Tea and coffee related products: Enviga, Refresh tea, georgia etc.
Sport drinks: Aquarius, PowerAde etc.
Fruit based beverages: Bibo, Cappy, Mazza, Minute Maid etc.
Even Coca-cola focuses and tries to accomplish the basic needs of the customers. In the
present time, people want low-calorie foods and beverages in order to maintain a healthy
lifestyle. After a complete market research Coca-cola launch a new product known as Diet Coke
along with different flavors cherry coke, vanilla coke, lime coke and many more. One of the most
important parts of the product line is its decision. Product line decision is divided into two parts
are:
Product line length: Product line length refers to the different and wide range of products that
is offered by the Coca-Cola Company. Examples are diet coke, Fanta, Coke, Sprite, Limca and
many more.
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Product line filling: Product line filling can be defined as the various products offered by the
company at the initial phase and the present time. At the beginning phase there is only one
product that is offered by the Coca-Cola Company is Coke. In the present time, there are more
than 3800 products including diet coke, diet lemon etc.
Analysis of quality, design brands, line decision and product reach of
Coca Cola
Quality: Here the term quality refers to the safety of the ingredient and the product. Customers
want refreshing, tasty as well as safe drinks. All the workers of the Coca-Cola company work
hard, round-the-clock in order to offer the best quality soft-drinks for their customers. As the
taste as well as quality of the product is good, it helps the company to develop its business
growth.
Design brands: Brand identity or brand image plays a pivotal role in sales. Coca-Cola offers
wide range of products at a pocket-friendly price so that they can easily able to accomplish the
basic requirements of the customers (Heding et al., 2015). More customers’ satisfaction of the
customer, the more sales can be obtained. High sales help the company to enhance their brand
value. Brand design journey of Coca-cola was started in 1886, as time flies in the year 2007 the
owner of the company changed the logo of the company. Initially Frank M. Robinson designed
logo of the Coca-Cola.
Line decision: Line decision means product offered by the company and the strategies in order
to enhance the product quality and services. The term line decision is associated with the four
basic branding techniques are:
Brand positioning includes all the attributes, advantages, values etc. Moreover, the term also
refers to the position of the brand in the market, impression of the brand on general people
(Adina et al., 2015). In the case of Coca-cola, the production department tries to maintain the
quality of the product. The main motto of the Coca-Cola is to maintain the product quality so that
it can help the company to achieve the business growth.
Brand selection is associated with the line protection and product selection. It can also be
defined as the technique before launching the product in the market. Most of the people in the
present time want healthy lifestyle, in order to meet the needs of the customers, Coca-Cola
recently launched Diet Coke. One of the most important things regarding the brand selection is
brand image. If the company is able to maintain a good brand image or status in the market, it
helps the company to promote or launch new products in the market and most importantly
people are willing to buy that product too.
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Brand sponsorship is associated with the manufacturer’s brand, licensing, co-branding and
many more. The term brand sponsorship can also be defined as a marketing technique which
includes supporting an event, support from the general people, activity of the competitors and
market status. Moreover, brand sponsorship helps the small, medium or big brands to make a
partnership with the other organisations. Coca-Cola uses SGP or Supplier Guiding Principles,
follows workplace policies in order to improve their brand image in the market.
Brand development is nothing but the extension of the line, brand extension, launching new
set of products etc. In the case of brand development, Coca-Cola follows some basic principles
in order to develop their brand are consistency, brand over product, customer’s need,
appropriate price etc.
Apart from that, there are two most essential decisions that are associated with the line decision
are line stretching and line filling.
Product mix and Strategies for the company
The term product mix can also be defined as the assortment of the product (Mayer et al., 2016).
It can be defined as the total number of products offered by the company to their customers. It is
the subset of the marketing mix. Product mix is very important section of the business model of
an organisation. There are some basic parameters of the product mix includes are width, depth,
length, consistency. In the case of Coca-Cola they also have their own product mix:
Depth: Depth in the product mix can be defined as the different product line. Moreover, the term
depth in the product mix of Coca-Cola includes different flavors of soft-drinks offered by the
company are cherry, vanilla, zero, black, cherry zero etc.
Width: Width is almost same as breadth; it refers to the number of product lines that are offered
by the company. Moreover, the term width in the product mix of Coca-Cola includes different
types of soft-drinks offered by the company are energy drinks, juices, coffee, tea, water etc.
Length: Length in the product mix can be defined as the variety of products that are offered by
the organisation having the same advantages and functions. These wide ranges of products are
usually sold at the same price. In the case of Coca-Cola, the production team offers Coke, Diet
Coke, Fanta, Limca and many more. All the price of the products is the same but the taste are
different. Limca is white in color and the taste is different from Fanta which is orange in color.
Consistency: The term consistency or brand consistency can be defined as the process of
maintaining the brand value of the company, values, ethics and strategies. Brand identity
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consistency can be achieved if the company is able to accomplish the needs of the customers.
In the case of Coca-Cola, the management and production team of the organisation try to
analyze the basic needs of the customers and incorporate that inside the product during
manufacture. The main motto of the brand value maintenance is to sustain the company in the
market for a long time.
There are five basic strategies that are maintained and followed by the management and
production team of Coca-Cola are;
 The company mainly aims to make a huge profit and enhance the business growth.
 The company invested in the business and brands
 Coca-Cola works on efficiency enhancement
 Main motto of the company is to simplify the services so that everyone can use it
 Coca-Cola focused on the main or core model that is associated with the soft-drink
business
Growth strategies of the company based on BCG Matrix and Product
life cycle
BCG Matrix
The model Boston Consulting Group (BCG) can be defined as the advanced model that is used
in order to examine the different products that are sold by the manufacturers (Mohajan, 2017).
There are different parameters that are comes under BCG matrix are market share, growth
potential, yearly sales of the company and many more.
Cash Cows
Generally, Cash Cows is a situation that includes low market growth and high market share. In
the case of Coca-Cola, this situation can be described with some resources or opportunities and
marketing growth with high performance.
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Figure 1: BCG Matrix
(Source: Mohajan, 2017)
Question Mark
It is another segment of the BCG matrix. In this particular situation the market share is low and
the market growth is relatively high. In the case of Coca-Cola, the organisation does not have
any idea about what to do with the opportunities. In this situation the company needs to decide if
they enhance the investment or not.
Stars
This is the best situation of the matrix. Here both the market share as well as market growth is
comparatively high. Coca-Cola Company is working well in this situation. It can also be defined
as a no-loss condition. The company get best opportunities from this situation.
Dogs
It is the worst situation of the BCG matrix. In this particular situation both the market share as
well as the growth of the market is low. In the case of Coca-Cola they can see the situation of
the market, which is comparatively weak and most importantly, profit cannot possible from this
situation.
Product Life Cycle
Generally, there are four stages of the product life cycle includes Introduction, Growth, Maturity
and Decline. There are various stages of product life cycle of the Coca-Cola company includes
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Introduction, growth, maturity and decline. In the introduction stage is when the item is launched
in the market for the first time. In the growth stage, when the sales are going up or the condition
of the company is good. Maturity stage is when the company is able to reach all the products to
the general people. Decline is the last stage of the product life cycle, it occurs when the
company is not able to hold their customers. There are many reasons behind the decline stage
are worse quality product offerings, bad relationship with the customers, improper service and
many more.
Figure: Product Life Cycle
(Source: Kurilova-Palisaitiene et al., 2015)
In the present time, Coca-Cola comes under the maturity section. The main reason behind this
is stable and loyal customer base, solidity, flexibility, huge stock, investors and many more.
Moreover, Coca-Cola is travelling for a long in the maturity stage after introducing in the western
regions.
There are different ways in order to enhance the product life cycle are discussed below:
 Improve the quality of the product. In the case of Coca-cola they launch diet coke,
caffeine free products etc.
 Proper product promotion. In the present time, Coca-Cola launched its several new
products and promotes them both in online and offline manner.
 Price alteration. Coca-Cola always analyses the market and then set the price of the
product which helps to understand the market situation, rate of other products in the
market.
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Promotional strategies of the products along with target market
segmentation and positioning
Promotional strategy used by the Coca-Cola is:
Getting Shelves
Coca-Cola purchase or buy shelves from the big stores and show that products in that shelves
in a proper way, in order to make it catchy and more attractive for the consumers.
Sales Promotion
In the case of Coca-Cola, they do sponsorship with some other multinational companies,
colleagues of the organisation and school cafe’s so that it can help to enhance the market
growth of Coca-Cola.
Figure 3: Market Analysis
(Source: Coca-cola.co.uk. 2019)
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High position
Salesperson of the Coca-Cola Company used to place their freezers in a suitable place, so that
the customers can easily able to see it. It will help to increase the sales of the company.
UTC Scheme
UTC scheme is nothing but the under the crown scheme. In the case of Coca-Cola company
they use this scheme along with that they also offer various prizes with the soft-drinks. Example,
they offer bi-cycle, phones, World Cup tickets and many more.
The Coca-Cola Company tries to fulfil the basic needs of the customers by offering a wide range
of products at a pocket-friendly price (Aghdaie and Alimardani, 2015). Generally, there is no
such particular target for Coca-Cola Company. Main customers of the Coca-Cola Company are
the youngsters or the people of age lie between 18-30. In the present time, almost everyone is
busy, they do not have time to sit and eat properly. In order to enhance the sales of the
company, Coca-Cola uses their advanced marketing tool and improves the taste of the product
so that the sales of the company become high.
3. Market research
Two brands like Coca cola are Coca Cola zero taken for analysing the brand strategies of Coca
Cola and their effects on market share and revenue.
Brand analysis, brand positioning strategies and target market
segmentation for two brands
Brand analysis
Coca cola has been initiated as patent medicine that has been invented in the 19th Century it
consists of approximately 78% of total gallon sales of the company. In 2017, the company has
sold 1.9 billion drinks per day. Besides, after initiation of Coca Cola Zero, it has increased the
profit and brand image of the organisation abruptly. The business analysts of the UK has
identified that it has generated revenue of $7.88 billion and increased 46 cents per share of the
organisation. It has been the biggest products launched by the company and 43% of Cola
products are Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in 2018.
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Figure 4: Sales value of Coca-Cola
(Source: Coca-cola.co.uk. 2019)
Brand positioning strategies
The main motto of the Coca-Cola Company is to cure fatigue and headaches of the patient.
Main motto of the Coca-Cola Company is to refresh and quench the thirst of the general people.
There are various factors that are associated with the Coca-Cola company includes product
price, online and offline promotion, competition, distribution and packaging.
Target market segmentation
Target market for Coca Cola is the people of the UK who are young and have between 18-30.
On the other hand, Coca cola zero mainly target the customers who are health conscious and
interested in low calorie foods. Therefore, this carbonated soft drink mainly targets the males
and the persons who are young as diet drinks are mainly associated with females. It has
increased customer base and satisfaction.
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4. The way through which Coca Cola Company promote
intangibles
Ethical values of the brand for services, people and places
Both the term ethics and values are essential for any organisation. There are several
components of the values of any organisation includes integrity, caring, teamwork, leadership,
management and many more. Whereas in the case of ethics can be defined as the business
code that is authenticated by both ethics & committee of compliance. In the case of Coca-Cola
Company, different ethical and brand values include EthicsLine, Ethical Conduct Administration
that help the company for cross-functional senior management and improves global online and
telephone information. Different brand and ethical values of the Coca-Cola Company are:
CSR or Corporate Social responsibilities: The term CSR or Corporate Social responsibilities
can be defined as the social responsibility of the company, the responsibility of the company in
order to conduct any business operations, corporate accountability and many more (Hopkins,
2017). There are many functions that come under CSR are:
 Corporate branding and maintain the image of the company in the market.
 Develop the business related strategies
 Recognize and analysis of the financial markets
 Plan building for business advancement
Ethical values also includes three major components are People, Place and Services.
People: For any business organisation people plays a pivotal role. In the case of Coca-Cola
Company, they mainly focus on the needs of the customers and check try to fulfil the
requirements of the general people.
Places: one of the essential parameters that is associated with the Coca-Cola company is
Place. In the case of Coca-Cola, as the company has opened several outlets in the high-streets,
it helps the customers to get the product without any hassle. It enhances the sales of the Coca-
Cola Company.
Services: In order to enhance the business growth, one of the most important tools is services.
In the case of Coca-Cola Company, they try to solve all the problems that are encountered by
the customers during dealing with the product. It helps the Coca-Cola a lot to build a huge
happy client base.
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