Marketing Essentials Report: Coca-Cola's Diet Coke Launch in the UK

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Marketing Essentials
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Activity 1 (Booklet).........................................................................................................................4
Activity 2:........................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................20
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Introduction
Marketing is the most important function of an organisation, which is responsible for efficient
production and sales of the products in the organisation. This report will provide the key
functions, responsibilities, and objectives of the market function with context to the other
functions. A comparison of the marketing mix of Coca Cola and Pepsico has also been provided.
Finally, a marketing plan will be suggested to Coca Cola for the marketing of Diet Coke in
United Kingdom. Coca Cola is the leading manufacturer of carbonated soft drink and beverages
in the world. This international company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. John Stith
Pemberton founded this retailing company in 1892.
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Activity 1 (Booklet)
Marketing Essential
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
An explanation of the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function and how these
relate to the wider organisational context........................................................................................5
Analysis of the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
environment and further analysis of the interrelationship between marketing and other
organisational functions...................................................................................................................6
A critical analysis and evaluation of the key elements of the marketing function and its
relationship with other functional units of an organisation.............................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Marketing function is integral to business and the importance of the concept of marketing and its
roles and responsibilities are analysed along with understanding the interrelationships that exist
between marketing and the various functions of an organisation (Kotler, 2003). Coca Cola is a
leader in the beverage industry and in the competitive environment; it has to maintain excellence
in its marketing endeavours to retain its position.
An explanation of the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function and how
these relate to the wider organisational context
Coca Cola is a transnational firm, which has to ensure that there is a global focus. There is need
to ensure that the firm is able to steer ahead of competition and there is establishment of the
global brand, which is able to maintain every aspect of marketing like pricing, new product
development and distribution function in order to satisfy the target audience. The responsibilities
of the marketing function are associated with the entire cycle that is initiated in market research
and culminates in sale. The key responsibilities are as follows:
 Market research: This is linked to gathering business intelligence from the market in
order to formulate various strategies associated with making the product demand centric
(Bagozzi et al., 2018).
 Market segmentation: This is associated with stratification of the market into various
segments and ensuring finding the target audience associated with the products.
 Budgeting: The entire marketing activity is related to ensuring that there is designing of
the budget with respect to the need of funds related to the marketing activity from market
research to final revenue generation.
 Product Design: This function is related to understanding the business intelligence and
making products on the basis of co-ordinated knowledge of the latent demand in the
market.
 Pricing: This role is related to find the optimal pricing strategy and ensuring that
excellent pricing decisions that will make the product competitive be decided upon.
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 Promotion: This responsibility is associated with ensuring that a brand value of the
product is created through strategic promotional activities.
 Distribution plan: Distribution is an important activity and it ensures the wide spread
target of the market and ensures that the product of this company can reach all markets
and also attract the consumers.
Analysis of the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
environment and further analysis of the interrelationship between marketing and other
organisational functions
There is an interrelationship between marketing department and other departments of the
organisation. The roles and responsibilities associated with the organisation arise when there is
the need to, effectively meet, the organisational objectives (Chernev, 2018). Coca Cola is a large
global enterprise, operations of this firm are huge, and that is the reason why it is essential that
the various functional operations of the different departments Finance, Human Resource
Management, Sales, and distribution need to work in collaboration with marketing. The
interrelationship between the various departments is described below.
Finance department is associated with various marketing functions that are linked to budgeting
related activities of the organisation. The Human resource department is responsible for
ensuring that all the various departments of the organisation are provided with the most suitable
human resource and ensure that the best minds are hired as staff for the organisation.
Product design and the design team are associated with ensuring that the results and trend
analysis are studied in depth in order to ensure that the product design is developed in that
respect. Corporate communications is a very vital part of communications for the promotional
strategy of the company in order to ensure that brand value and the communication associated
with promotional strategy is effectively communicated to the target audience. The Sales and
distribution is the end function of the marketing function and that is the reason why there is
effective focus on various decisions that are associated with ensuring that the product is
effectively promoted in the organisation.
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A critical analysis and evaluation of the key elements of the marketing function and its
relationship with other functional units of an organisation
The marketing functions are associated with various other departmental units in the following
manner:
 Marketing plan: This is associated with aligning the financial goals with the marketing
related plan of the organisation. This is closely associated with business strategy is the
positive part and the negative aspect is that marketing plan needs constant change as per
 Product designing: This is related to the research and development wing of the
organisation. The positive part of this is that it ensures that there is effective use of the
market research. However negative aspect is product designing in Coca Cola is
associated with innovation only in the recent times. The product designing is the
culmination point of market research and trend analysis from the same.
 Branding promotion and advertisement: Branding is associated with creating a specific
identity for the product in the market that has many close substitutes (Davis, 2017).
Branding activity is associated with ensuring that with the aid of the financial department,
it is associated with ensuring that promotion of the product and so that there is
establishment of the brand value and through advertisement, there is promotion of the
product (Ruskin-Brown, I. 2006). Branding has the positive impact of ensuring that there
is creation of brand identity. The negative aspect is that it is a costly activity. This
function is related to the budget and hence the finance team and it is also associated ith
the design team and the corporate communications unit.
 Standardising: This function is associated with ensuring that the product is evaluated
based on the market research, market development and the communication made on
behalf of the product by the company. Standardising helps in the uniform quality of the
product where as the negative aspect associated with this is that there are no individuality
that may lead to huge windfall profit.
 Packaging and labelling: This is associated with ensuring that there is collaboration
between the various aspects of packaging design and this function is related to
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communications as well as the legal department as this department provides guidelines
in order to ensure that all the legal aspects associated with the product is made. In case of
Coca Cola the packaging and labelling is very attractive and ensures that brand gets an
image however the major negative aspect of labelling is that in the wake of consumer not
liking the ingredients may opt for other products without trying the product. Labels and
information on the labels of a product are subject to legal guidelines that establishes the
relationship.
 Distribution: This function is associated with ensuring that the products are distributed to
the target markets and that is the reason why it is essential that through effective strategy
with least investment it is possible to get maximum returns (Baker,2016). The positive
aspect is that it ensures that there is effective reach in the markets all over and the
negative aspect is this that in order to set up a distribution channel it is requires a lot of
time and money.The distribution function of marketing is also related to finance,
communication and transportation.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that marketing is associated with multiple roles and responsibilities and it is
such an integral part of the business that it is related most intimately with the various other
functions of the organisation. In Coca Cola, it is important that all the various functions
associated with marketing collaborate and work effectively towards attainment of organisational
goals.
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Activity 2:
Introduction
The further report discusses about the marketing mix and strategies for the production and sales
of Coca Cola in United Kingdom. In addition, plans for the marketing of the Diet Coke by Coca
Cola have been provided.
A comparison of how different organisations apply the marketing mix to the marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives and an evaluation of different strategies
applied by organisations to demonstrate how business objectives can be achieved.
Different organisations use marketing mix in different ways. The application of marketing mix is
associated with providing a framework that will aid in meeting the strategic goals of the
organisation (Mullins et al., 2013).
7P’s of marketing Coca Cola Pepsico
Product There is a huge product range
that the organisation has from
diet cola variations and it has
incorporated mineral water
and other energy drinks to the
wide variety of products that
are available to the potential
consumer.
This organisation is
associated with ensuring that it
creates a differentiated space
for itself and that is the reason
why along with the presence
and continuance of carbonated
drinks the company has
forayed into fruit based drinks.
Price Effective pricing strategy is
crucial and in the face of stiff
competition it is important that
the company offers seasonal
discounts and this helps in the
boosting of the sales during
the festive seasons
This multinational does not
have a blanket pricing strategy
and it is associated with
ensuring that there is market
specific variation at the
organisational level. The
pricing strategy is associated
with market based demand
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centric policy.
Place There is no specific location-
centric strategy that the
organisations posses. It is a
global firm and it has forayed
into all markets in order to
ensure huge sales.
It is spread all over the globe
and it is associated with the
fact that it has presence in
over 200 countries thus
ensuring that all its products
are in markets as per
requirements and preferences
of the market.
Promotion It is related to ensuring that
there is eye- catching global
campaigns in all the markets
all over the globe. An
important part of this is seen
in the case of the global
campaign “Share a Coke”
(Moye, 2019). The packaging
strategy and the promotional
aspects of the business are
associated with ensuring that
there are effective promotional
plans made as per specific
target audience and market.
The promotional campaigns
are more sport oriented, the
strategy is event centric, and
celebrities are involved in
most cases. It is now
concentrating on global
campaign approach
Campaignlive.co.uk.
(2019). This is the form of
advertisement campaigns that
the organisation engages in.
People Trained and disciplined people
are the strength of this
organisation. It hires people
from all over the global as
well as for local markets and
that is the reason why there is
tremendous importance that is
attached to the human
Focus is on recruiting the best
talent and ensuring that there
is a match between the people
and the role that is associated
with the recruitment function.
There is effort taken by the
organisation to promote
people in the organisational
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resource function associated
with the organisation.
hierarchy from within the firm
to make them feel more
motivated.
Process Coca Cola is engaged in
ensuring that there is effective
manufacturing unit that is set
up and it is associated with
ensuring that from
manufacturing to delivery
there is excellence attained in
the smooth functioning of the
entire process.
It is very focused in building
an end to end process that is
associated with meeting the
corporate social responsibility
factor and hence the triple
bottom line approach is a
major goals of the process of
Pepsico.
Physical There are bottling plants,
storage units, setting up of
other infrastructure like kiosks
that are associated with the
physical evidence part. The
company has excellent
infrastructure associated with
process manufacturing as well.
The manufacturing process is
linked to the fact that it serves
as an integral part of the
physical evidence. The
network system of distribution
all over the globe is also a
major infrastructural upgrade
in the physical evidence aspect
of the organisation.
Table – 1- Comparison of Marketing Mix of Coca Cola and competitor Pepsico
(Source- created by the learner)
An evaluation of a detailed, coherent and strategic marketing plan for a product for one of
your chosen organisations that applies to the 7Ps in order to achieve the business objectives
Executive summary:
Coca Cola is the largest manufacturer of beverages and soft drinks in the United Kingdom. The
company boasts a rich name all over the globe. However, people concerned with their health and
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diets did not pitch for this brand. The reason was Coca Cola had high sugar content in their
products. To tackle this challenge, the company have introduced a new brand by the name of
“Diet Coke” (Menczel et al., 2016). The prime target of the company now is to produce positive
awareness about the brand and increase the product’s sales
Mission and vision of the company
The quality of the product must satisfy the requirements of the customer. The company should
aim to exercise proper promotional strategies to ensure maximum awareness of the new brand.
To make the new brand easily accessible, the company should ensure the shops and the
customers in the different parts of the country. Efficient procedures for the production of the new
material should be ensured
Objectives of the marketing plan
 To ensure the availability of the new product in Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, and
Birmingham
 Increase in the rate of production of Diet Coke
 Proper promotional strategies targeting the health concerned people of the country
 Establish relationships with new suppliers for the raw materials.
 Assure profits by efficient sales of Diet Coke.
Situational Analysis
SWOT Analysis:
Strength:
 Coca Cola was awarded the highest brand equity award in 2011 and has a positive global
appeal and unique identity (Weitzl, 2019).
 The company claims the largest market share in the beverage industry.
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