Analysis of Coca-Cola's IMC Strategies in the Australian Market

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Coca-Cola's integrated marketing communication (IMC) strategies within the Australian market. It examines the theoretical communication model and its application to Coca-Cola's marketing efforts, including the importance of encoding, decoding, and message transmission. The report evaluates Coca-Cola's IMC strategy, highlighting its target audience segmentation, with a focus on youth, and the use of various promotional methods such as sports sponsorships, advertising on television and in cinemas, and press advertising to reach different demographic groups. Furthermore, it offers recommendations for enhancing Coca-Cola's marketing efforts, focusing on banner advertising, sports-related sponsorships, sales promotions, and online promotions. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for a comprehensive approach to maintain brand awareness and drive sales in the competitive Australian market.

Running head: INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Integrated Marketing Communications
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Findings and discussion...................................................................................................................4
Theoretical communication model..............................................................................................4
Analysis and evaluation...................................................................................................................5
IMC strategy of Coca-Cola..........................................................................................................5
Target audience........................................................................................................................5
Targeting the youths................................................................................................................6
Sports events: Attracting males...............................................................................................6
Pubs and Clubs: Attracting young adults.................................................................................7
Advertising on TV and Cinema: Attracting large audience....................................................7
Press advertising: Targeting the elder people..........................................................................7
Other strategies........................................................................................................................8
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
Sports...........................................................................................................................................8
Sales promotions..........................................................................................................................9
Online promotions.......................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................11

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Appendices....................................................................................................................................12

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Executive Summary
It is seen that the Coca-Cola Company is not doing well in the Australian market due to
its failure in the communication strategies. The company needs to develop a good
communication plan so that it can attract the customers in the market. The communication
strategy will consist of the communication model along with the strategies that needs to be taken
up by the company so that it can be successful in the Australian market. The recommendations
have been provided, which will help the company in attracting the potential customers in a better
manner.
Introduction
The Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) plays a crucial role in communicating
the message of the brand to a larger group of audience. This communication pattern helps in
implementing the necessary elements, which will help in communicating the message in an easy
manner. This method of communication helps in developing the awareness of the brand at a
lower cost, as it helps in communicating with the customers directly. The use of IMC not only
helps in spreading awareness of the brand among the customers but also helps in developing trust
with the customers. It is one of the best tools that help in saving time, as the company has a wide
range of options that help them in connecting with the customers easily (Belch, Belch, Kerr, &
Powell, 2014).
The Coca-Cola Company that is present in Australia uses the strategies that are present in
IMC in an efficient manner, which has helped them in increasing the awareness of the brand
among the customers. It is seen that the company targets its audience in a proper manner, which

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has helped them in increasing the sales on a half-yearly basis. The company is trying to increase
its brand awareness among the Australian customers, which will help them in increasing their
value by 20 percent on a yearly basis. The company will try to reposition its brand in the
Australian market by attracting the teenagers so that the consumers in the market can prefer the
brand (Schultz, Patti, & Kitchen, 2013).
Findings and discussion
Theoretical communication model
The communication model according to Belch, states that the sender encodes the
information in the messages and sends it to the receiver through a proper medium of
communication channel. The receiver then decodes the message and provides feedback to the
sender or the source who at that point becomes the receiver. It is a cyclical process, which takes
place between the company and the customers. However, it is to be noted that the messages may
be experiencing noise during the transfer, which may lead to the damaging of the information
(Belch & Belch, 2016).
The message that will be sent through the medium needs to have meaning so that the
information can be valuable when sent to the receiver. The message needs to be transmitted
through an appropriate channel so that the receiver can easily understand the message that wants
to be conveyed by the sender. The message that is communicated has to based on multiple levels
such as it should have a literal meaning or a symbolic meaning. The company needs to use the
people that are trained in communicating in through cultural and semiotic anthropology so that
the meanings can be understood through conscious or subconscious meanings (Belch G. E.,
Belch, Kerr, & Powell, 2014).

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According to the author, the perspective of semiotics comprises of three components,
which are objects, sign or symbol and interpretant. The object is the attribute of the product or
the brand for the company. The sign or the symbol helps in associating the meaning that the
sender wants to convey to the receiver. The interpretant perspective is through which the
consumers will associate the product. It is seen that communicating with the customers makes
them associate themselves with the advertising or the promotion that is being done by the
company. The perspective of the customers is that they will associate the brand with either the
quality or the celebrities that are being used in the advertisements. This helps in increasing the
consumption of the brands by the consumers (Belch & Belch, 2016).
The audiences are also aggregated in to various levels where the companies need to
identify the audiences and the target market. This will help the company in segmenting the
market so that the target audience can consume the products and services that are offered by the
company. The companies will be able to increase its profits, if the identification of the market
can be done in a better manner so that the target audience will be able to consume the products or
services that are being offered by them (Schiavo, 2013).
Analysis and evaluation
IMC strategy of Coca-Cola
Target audience
It is seen that the company has targeted its audiences in a better way, which has helped
them in disseminating the information through an efficient manner. The teenagers present in the
Australian market have shown that they are likely to consume more volumes of the product than
the average Australians are. It can be seen that the company has maximized its profits within the

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age group of 15-24. These consumers are the future customers of the company, as it will help the
company in reaching its objectives that are long term in nature. The company also needs to target
the age group of 25-34, as most of the consumers in this group act out of impulse, which will
help in increasing the sales of the product (Luxton, Reid, & Mavondo, 2015).
Targeting the youths
The company needs to consider the youth by implementing the pull strategy. With the
help of sponsorships, it will help in improving the status of the corporate, which will help in
improving the image of the brand. An example of attracting the youths will be to use younger
and new generation singer, Avril Lavigne who is being recognized as a pop singer in the modern
world. It will help in attracting the girls, as it will be easy for them to identify themselves with
the image and boys will prefer them, as she is pretty. The company can sponsor the concerts that
will be held in Australia so that the youths can associate the brand with the image of a rock
concert (Kitchen & Burgmann, 2015).
Sports events: Attracting males
The company has a good reputation in sponsoring the events that are related to sports.
The main idea that the company has is that providing these kinds of sponsorships will help in
attracting large number of audience. The country has a famous football team that participates in
international matches, which has helped the company in associating themselves with the team.
The company can sponsor the games played by the team so that it will help in attracting the men
towards the products. Another strategy is that the country is known for the game of tennis called
Australian Open, which is one of the prestigious events on a global basis. The company can
sponsor the event by putting banners inside and outside of the stadium so that it can help in

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attracting the potential customers. The customers who will be waiting to enter the stadium can
indulge in impulse buying due to the presence of the banners (Thorson & Moore, 2013).
Pubs and Clubs: Attracting young adults
For the company to attract the younger adults, they must use a push strategy, which will
help in attracting them. These adults will prefer drinking with their friends in the Australian pubs
so the company needs to devise a strategy that will help them in attracting these potential
customers. The company can go in to a joint venture with some alcoholic drinks so that it can
promote its brand among the young adults (Percy, 2014).
Advertising on TV and Cinema: Attracting large audience
Most of the young audiences are receptive to the advertisements that are being shown on
television. The company can use it as an advantage by avoiding the clutters that are associated
with spot advertising. This communication medium will be cost-effective, which will also
provide an opportunity to the target audience to connect with the program and the sponsors. The
cinema complexes that are present in throughout the country need to be targeted with the choice
of films that the customers want to see. This will help the brand to showcase its products in the
films that will help in attracting large customers (Schlinke & Crain, 2013).
Press advertising: Targeting the elder people
The company needs to target two kinds of customers through press, which is the elder
and the young audiences along with the females, as they love to read more than the males. The
older generation people in the country are likely to read newspapers and magazines, which will
help the company in advertising its brands. This will provide a chance to the company to attract
the elder people (Naeem, Bilal, & Naz, 2013).

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Other strategies
The company needs to use the drip strategy so that it can help in maintaining awareness
among the customers for a long period along with a burst strategy that needs to be used during
the summer, which will help the customers to indulge in impulse buying (Luxton, Reid, &
Mavondo, 2015).
Recommendations
According to (Kitchen & Burgmann, 2015), the company needs to use the banners in an
extensive manner during the concerts so that it will help in attracting the customers. The banners
will have the same themes that will be showcased in the television campaigns but will not be
detailed. The banners need to be displayed on the public transports, as many potential customers
use the public transports for commuting to their respective work places. It can be seen that the
majority of the customers who use the public transports are either school or university students.
The other banners need to be displayed in and around the stadiums as well the big cities like
Queensland, Brisbane and Melbourne. This will help in attracting the potential customers
towards the concert arranged by the company.
Sports
The sponsorships related to sports can be developed by the company during the summer
season when the country participates in various sporting events. The football team and the
cricket team is well-renowned in the country and sponsoring them would help the company, as
many people will get aware of the brand and its products. Sponsoring these events will be done
through putting banners inside the stadiums and the jerseys of the team members needs to carry
the logo of the company (Percy, 2014).

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Sales promotions
For the promotion of sales, the company needs to use two methods, which are promotions
related with manufacturer to resellers along with the promotions of manufacturers to consumers.
The company needs to ensure that the resellers of the products need to be display the products of
the company in a better manner, which will help in attracting the customers. This will help the
company, as they will try to establish brand loyalty, which will help in increasing the orders of
the company.
The second method is that the company needs to pursue the consumers of the competitor
brands in trying out their products. The company can provide coupons to the customers so that
they can get attracted towards the product that is sensitive towards prices. It will be a cost-
effective method, as the coupons can be used for a limited period, which will help in increasing
the sales of the company (Schiavo, 2013).
The company can arrange lucky draws for the customers such as trips and others to the
winners, which will help in increasing the sales of the company. The winners of the concerts and
the lucky draw winners from the other competition will help in getting the brand recognized.
This will help in increasing the consumption of the products, as the customers will be willing to
try out the various gifts that are being offered by the company.
Online promotions
The competition that will be provided by the company needs to be accessed by the
customers from the website portals as well, which will help in increasing the awareness of the
brand. To make the customers aware of the products, the company needs to provide screen-

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savers and some games on the websites so that the young generation can spread it through word-
of-mouth to their friends and families.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that the Coca-Cola Company needs to adopt the Integrated
Marketing Communications in a proper manner so that it can help them in attracting the
consumers. The effective communication models needs to be used by the company such as the
extensive use of banners and other promotional methods will help in spreading awareness of the
brand among the customers. The merging up of the company with the teams will help in
attracting the male customers, as these customers associate themselves with sports. The female
customers can be attracted by arranging concerts and advertising the brands in the newspapers
and magazines.

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Bibliography
Belch, G. E., Belch, M. A., Kerr, G. F., & Powell, I. (2014). Advertising: An integrated
marketing communication perspective. McGraw-Hill Education.
Belch, G., & Belch, M. (2016). Evaluating the effectiveness of elements of integrated marketing
communications: A review of research. ISBN: 10 12-3869 Vol No 4 No 1.
Kitchen, P. J., & Burgmann, I. (2015). Integrated marketing communication: Making it work at a
strategic level. Journal of Business Strategy, 36(4), 34-39.
Luxton, S., Reid, M., & Mavondo, F. (2015). Integrated marketing communication capability
and brand performance. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), 37-46.
Naeem, B., Bilal, M., & Naz, U. (2013). Integrated marketing communication: a review paper.
Interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business, 5(5), 124-133.
Percy, L. (2014). Strategic integrated marketing communications. Routledge.
Schiavo, R. (2013). Health communication: From theory to practice. John Wiley & Sons.
Schlinke, J., & Crain, S. (2013). Social media from an integrated marketing and compliance
perspective. Journal of Financial Service Professionals, 67(2).
Schultz, D., Patti, C. H., & Kitchen, P. J. (2013). The evolution of integrated marketing
communications: The customer-driven marketplace. Routledge.
Thorson, E., & Moore, J. (2013). Integrated communication: Synergy of persuasive voices.
Psychology Press.