Marketing Essentials: Coco-Cola Report on Marketing Functions

This report provides an in-depth analysis of marketing essentials, using Coca-Cola as a case study. It begins by outlining the roles and responsibilities of various marketing functions such as market analysis, market segmentation, pricing, distribution, and after-sales service. The report then explores how these functions relate to the broader organizational context, including the interrelationship between marketing and production, research, finance, operations, and human resources. A key focus is on the marketing environment, including political, economic, competitive, technological, social, cultural, and legal factors. The report examines how these factors impact Coca-Cola and its strategies. The report also emphasizes the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units within an organization. Finally, the report develops a basic marketing plan for Coca-Cola, demonstrating how marketing principles can be applied to achieve business objectives. The report highlights the importance of adapting to the marketing environment and the need for effective collaboration between marketing and other departments to ensure business success.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing functions............................................................1
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing functions relate to wide organisational context. 2
M1 Role ad responsibilities of marketing related to marketing environment........................4
M2 Signification of interrelationship between marketing and other functional units............6
LO2..................................................................................................................................................7
P3 Comparison of different organisation which apply marketing mix..................................7
M3 Tactics applied by organisation to achieve business objectives......................................9
LO3................................................................................................................................................10
P4 Develop a basic marketing plan......................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the process of producing, buying and selling of products. It makes a relation
between producer and customer. It helps to manage business objectives and helps to target
customers in efficient manner. Present study lay emphasis on Coco-cola. It is a British
multinational company which has products in terms of soft drinks manly. It is introduced on may
1886 in country of united states. This report is about marketing and their terms relating to
marketing functions. It outlines marketing in terms of marketing environment and also it explains
about roles and responsibilities of other functional units to have effective relation with marketing
unit. This report also frames a basic marketing plan for coco-cola which helps to increase its
productivity and market share.
LO1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing functions
Marketing is a process to manage relation between marketers and customers. Marketing
needs functions which describes roles and responsibilities briefly. Marketing functions are key
factors for organisation to advertise and promote their products against favourable
brands(Rowley, 2016). Each marketing function has its own role and responsibilities which are
explained below:
Market analysis- This function is to give information about competitive market. It
analyses customer expectations and demands. The role of market analysis is to determine
qualitative and quantitative assessment to analyse economy, demands, crisis, challenges of
market. Its responsibility is to evaluate strength and weakness of competitive brands. It helps to
reduce risks while taking decisions during process to increase productivity. Coco-cola have a
separate research unit to analyse market and gather information according to economy and other
competitive favourable brands strength and weakness.
Market segmentation- This function is to segment customers on the basis of age,
income, location and interests. The main role of market segmentation is to help marketer to
target effective customers to increase market share in less time. Segmentation is based on four
types geographic, demographic, firmo graphic, behavioural, psycho graphic segmentation. Its
responsibility is to divide customers in specified groups. Coco-cola is using demographic
segmentation in which they divide the customers according to age as soft drinks are mostly liked
by teenagers(West and et.al., 2015).
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Pricing- It is a function where an organisation or company sets a price for their product
according to information analysed from research of market. Main role of pricing is to set prices
in desired limit so that it meets customer expectation. It is a part of marketing plan to have
productivity. Its responsibility is to take market conditions, account segmentation, economy rate,
trade margins, etc. to set price of goods and services. Pricing skimming strategy is used by Coco-
cola to set prices of their products.
Distribution- It is a function of marketing which distributes goods or services to
customers. It can be done directly or indirectly like direct to customers from produces or from
retailers to customers. Main role of Distribution is to deliver goods to customers according to
their need through stores or home delivery. Its responsibility is to create a network channel
through which goods distributes from one place to another throughout the world(Menon and
et.al., 2015). Coco-cola monitors and controls distribution channels by having on time report by
them,
After sales service- This function is to fulfil needs and help to customers after delivering
goods to them. Main role of after sales service is to solve the problems of customer as they are
suffering with their organisation product. Its main responsibility is to be a customer care means
taking care of customers when needed and also to take feedback from them for improvement in
products. After sale, services are provided till warranty period. Coco-cola takes feedback from
customers in direct selling and advice to them store soft drinks in cold storage.
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing functions relate to wide organisational context
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Marketing functions helps to develop a marketing plan to have better productivity and
popularity according to customer expectation and demands. Marketing unit in organisation
cannot work alone. It is a team work of every unit participation to achieve business objectives.
Other units are like research, production, finance, operations and human resource.
Marketing with production unit- Production unit function is to manufacture products as
per information provided from research, marketing and operation unit. The role of production
unit is to maintain quality of material that used for producing products. According to information
given from research department about customer expectation to have desired taste, production
unit helps to achieve customer desired taste preference and helps marketing unit to interact with
customers in positive manner. Coco-cola production unit maintains an effective relationship with
marketing unit to have better growth and to maintain quality.
Marketing with Research unit- The function of research unit is to analyse and evaluate
market information that what is in demand and what are customer expectations so that
organisation can meet needs of consumers which take the organisation to a higher level and
portioned in most top list of favourable brands. Coco-cola marketing unit advices research unit to
make efforts that while searching on internet, Coca-Cola shows on top of list. Research unit uses
SQL techniques to have current trend information.
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Illustration 1: marketing environment
Source: (The Marketing Environment
2018)

Marketing with Finance unit- The function of finance unit is to set prices of products.
So to set the price of product, finance unit take information from both research and production
unit that what is current economy in nations and what rate of investment is done during
production. It is the responsibility of finance unit is to take advice from marketing unit to set
final price as per group decisions so that profit margin and customer expectation both achieved.
Coco-cola marketing unit totally cooperates with finance unit to have better price tag on their
products for better productivity and market share(Hanssens and et.al., 2016).
Marketing with Operations unit- The function of operation unit is to pack the goods
and deliver them to customers on time. The role of operation unit is to take information from
marketing unit that what quantity of products to be deliver and where i.e., taking all information
about customer. In Coco-cola, packaging, dispatching and delivering are parts of Operation unit
and these all coordinates with marketing unit to achieve objectives of business and most
importantly to meed deadlines on time.
Marketing with HR unit- The function of HR unit is to recruit and select employees
according to the need of organisation. For wide growth of company, it is responsibility of HR is
to select skilled and talented candidates for marketing, production, research, operation unit.
These all unit gives information regarding vacancies for employees within organisation.
Coordination between all unit is must for wide growth of organisation. Coco-cola HR
management ethics is to selected skilled candidates only which participate effective in welfare of
organisation.
M1 Role ad responsibilities of marketing related to marketing environment.
Marketing environment is combination of factors which helps to make an effective and
efficient relationship between producers and customers. To meet customer expectations, needs
and demands environment factors need to be considered essentially for better growth of
organisation as they predict the scenario of competitive market and helps to make strategies for
market planning.
Political and regulatory environment- Political environment scan threats and
opportunities for organisation. In political situations, it makes a little difficult for producers to
have direct interaction with customers. Every nation has its own political government which
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makes their own rules then it becomes a challenging task for organisation to adopt a new
regulatory environment which can have both profit and loss. Coco-cola research unit helps to
analyse political environment and motivates employees to stand in political competitive market.
Economic environment- Every day, economic news changes and it directly impacts on
organisation productivity. As economy of nation goes down then its difficult for organisation to
have certain profit as they are getting before. To set price of product, economic situations are
analysed and evaluated by marketing department to have better growth and to meet customer
needs. Coco-cola set prices according to competitive market and take care in mind that ordinary
people can also afford their products.
Competitive environment- The role of competitive environment in marketing is to
analyse strength and weakness of other favourable brands. It helps to make strategies to have
profitability against other brands. Coco-cola tries to convince customers through their soft drink
taste that they are better than other brands and do not affect health of people.
Technological environment- Technology is getting advanced step by step nowadays and
people are becoming indirectly habitual of innovations. In daily life people are surrounded by
new technologies, organisation also make their workplace environment full of techniques so that
qualitative product are being produced and helps to meet deadlines on time to fulfil customer
demands. So it is expectation of customers that organisation uses new platforms to deliver their
products and provide facilities. Coco-cola uses online platform to place an order online and get
home delivery on time.
Social and cultural environment- This factor affect sales of products. It helps to predict
current trend and current demands of customers inn society. It gathers information regarding
customer interest and their preferences means it tells about what customers want right now and
in which services they are lacking. This gives marketing unit to have an advantage according to
customer preferences and their interests. Coco-cola conduct surveys for taking information
regarding current interest and according to them it predicts future interest of customers.
Legal environment- Every nation makes rules and regulation for global companies to
invest in their nation. It is a task for organisation to have license for global trading against all
rules and regulation made by other nation government. For example, Coca-Cola has license from
health and safety department their products do not harm the health of people and are free to use
comfortably. It makes Coca-Cola unique among other brands about their qualitative product.
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M2 Signification of interrelationship between marketing and other functional units
Marketing unit interacts with customers and take order of their products. From
manufacturing to dispatching products from organisation needs marketing unit to main relation
with other units for better productivity of organisation. So is important to have effective relation
between units. So below is the brief description of importance of marketing unit with other
functional units.
Marketing with production unit- Production department has responsibility to
manufacture goods with better quality(Du and et.al., 2018). It is important to have relation
between marketing unit and productions unit to maintain both quality and quantity of products
according to customer demands. Coco-cola marketing unit coordinates with production unit to
have better result. They focus on working in a team by having healthy discussions between them.
Marketing with research unit- The significance of research unit to coordinate with
marketing unit to have effective information regarding economy crisis, competitive market,
favourable brand strength and weakness. So that marketing unit takes step or makes decisions
based on information provided by research unit to increase market share. Coco-cola marketing
unit maintains healthy relationship with research unit as research employees are base of
organisation productivity(East and et.al., 2016).
Marketing unit with Finance- The role of finance unit is to set price of products. So its
important to have healthy relation between marketing unit and finance unit for fulfilling
customer expectations based on their affordability to have products. The price set by financial
unit makes marketers comfortable for interaction with customers and helps to convince them. It
leads to better productivity of Coca-Cola.
Marketing with operation unit- The main role of operation unit is to solve queries
raised by dispatchers, troubleshooting in distribution process. Customer expect from marketers to
have products on time. So, its important to have healthy relationship between marketers and
operation unit so that they work in a team by having healthy discussions to meet customer needs
on time and helps to solve their queries(Green and et.al., 2019).
Marketing with HR unit- Employees who work in organisation are responsible for
growth and productivity. Selecting employees is a role of HR. So, its important to have effective
relation between HR and marketing so that skilled and talented employees are hired who
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attractively interacts with customers and solve their issues. To bring new technologies to
organisation for better marketing of products is also indirectly related to HR. So to very
important to have healthy relationship between them(Rundle-Thiele and et.al., 2017). Marketing
employees performance appraisal are also important and related to HR, it increases interest of
employees to do their work.
LO2
P3 Comparison of different organisation which apply marketing mix.
Marketing mix refers to those factors which influence customer and helps to convince them to
purchase their products. It helps to focus to prepare a marketing plan to have better productivity
and market share. It includes 7P's which helps to make strategies.
7P's Coco-cola Pepsi Co.
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Illustration 2: marketing mix
Source: (Are you using all of the 7 P’s in your financial services
marketing? 2017)

Products Coco-cola has approx 3900
beverages choices. It has
products lie soft drinks, sprite,
fanta, diet coke, ciel, fresca,
Glaceau vitamin water.
Pepsi has large portfolio of
their products like pepsi cola,
lay's, mountain dew,
Tropicana, 7up, Mirinda,
ruffles, Aquafina.
People Coco-cola hire different
language skilled employee to
have better interaction with
customers in different nations
effectively(Garg and et.al.,
2016).
Pepsi hires skilled employees
to bring new technologies to
increase market share.
Place Coco-cola creates local
distribution channels to deliver
products on time. It makes
vendors partners to distribute
goods effectively.
It has a great distribution
network like direct store
delivery, customer warehouse.
It helps to deliver products on
time.
Promotion Coco-cola uses social media
and television channels to
promote their products with
the help of celebrities to make
it attractive.
It heavily invests in
advertising and promoting
product against favourable
brands. It uses social media
network to aware people about
their products.
Physical evidence Coco-cola has face to face
interaction through direct
selling stores to customers for
satisfaction.
It makes packaging of
products attractive so that it
easily collects attention of
customers.
Price Pricing skimming strategy
used by coco-cola to set price
Pepsi pricing strategy is to
maintain loyalty of customer
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of products so that ordinary
people can also afford to buy
their products.
to provide good quality
product.
Process For manufacturing products,
Coco-cola uses automation
techniques to get products in
same quality and in same
proportion.
Pepsi is focussing on e-
commerce process to avail
their products easily to people
which makes interactive
experience.
M3 Tactics applied by organisation to achieve business objectives.
Marketing mix strategy helps organisation to make a plan against favourable brands.
Organisation aims to achieve its objectives for better result and productivity. Business objectives
are those factors which measure company's market share. These objectives help organisation to
make and stay profitable long. It drives values to target mission and achieve on time. Providing
customer services effectively is also a major business objective. To meet these objectives, there
are some tactics which need to be applied which are explained below:
Social media advertising- most people are connected on social sites like Facebook,
Instagram because these sites are in current trend and more and more people are connected
through it. So, it is easier to make a product popular, its best way to advertise and aware
customers. It increases chances of connecting new customers and also helps to aware existing
customers about new product or new taste in existing products.
Promotional advertising- In this tactic, to make a product popular or attractive between
public, it is a better way to promote product with the help of celebrities. On television,
advertisement is presented and it aware ordinary public as well. It increases the chance to
connect fans of celebrities. Like coco-cola advertise through Salman khan.
Referral programs- This tactic is used highly nowadays because more customers are
joined by it but customers want their profit in between. Like by referring product, it gives
discount to both connectors. So Coco-cola uses platforms like Paytm such that by referring they
earn coupons and avail product in discount price.
Banners/Hoardings- It is the best way to promote products within public and this tactic
helps to aware about product between ordinary public and at every time from day to night.
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Hoardings are placed on corners of roadways to make people aware about their product
effectively and attractively. It gains public attention and increases publicity.
Contests- This tactic helps to increase interest of public towards their product. It benefits
to both customers and producers. By winning contest, customers can avail the product at
discount price and for producers, it increases market share of organisation. Campaigns are also a
part of contest where people participate to win products.
Occasional promoting- like on occasions, organisation plan to make a discount sale for
customers so that it benefits to both customers and producers. For example, Coco-cola makes
sales on New Year evening because at that is has been analysed that more people chooses coco-
cola as their brand to have drinks.
LO3
P4 Develop a basic marketing plan
Covered in ppt
CONCLUSION
This unit summarised about marketing and its functions which help on achieve business
objectives. It also explained and highlighted interrelationship between other functional units and
marketing. Other units are outlined as major role in marketing process which all together
enhances organisation market share. Marketing mix strategies are evaluated on basis of 7P's by
comparing two organisations named as Coco-cola and Pepsi co. At last, it is concluded by
developing a basic marketing plan for coco-cola which increase market share and its productivity
which further provide sustainable growth to Coco-cola. It summarised that gaining customer
attraction needed strategies and tactics which further lead to target business objectives.
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