Marketing Essentials Report: Coca-Cola Marketing Plan and Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive overview of marketing essentials, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within an organization. It explores key concepts such as market research, pricing strategies, and the development of effective marketing strategies. The report evaluates the interrelationship between the marketing function and other functional units of a firm, highlighting the importance of collaboration and communication. It also examines the organizational structure of Coca-Cola, analyzing how different departments like finance, HR, and customer service contribute to overall marketing objectives. Furthermore, the report delves into the application of the marketing mix, using Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Co as case studies to demonstrate how different tactics are employed to achieve business goals. Finally, it produces and evaluates a basic marketing plan for Coca-Cola, focusing on strategies to increase sales rates. The report emphasizes the importance of understanding the marketing environment, including economic, social, and political factors, to formulate successful marketing strategies and build strong customer relationships.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1. Key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function.....................................................1
M1. Roles and responsibility of marketing in the context of marketing environment...............2
D1. evaluates the key elements of the marketing function and how they are interrelated with
the other function units of the firm.............................................................................................3
P2. How roles and responsibility of marketing relate to the wider organisation........................3
M2. significance of interrelationship between marketing and other functional units of the
organisation.................................................................................................................................5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
P3. Marketing mix.......................................................................................................................6
M3. How coca cola and Pepsi-co achieve their business objective through their different
tactics...........................................................................................................................................8
LO3.................................................................................................................................................9
P4 & (M4). Marketing plan ........................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing essential defines as the process of the creating and delivering goods and
services for consumers. Marketing plays an important role in every successful industrial
establishment because it increases the productivity of the company by providing product
information to consumers in terms of the price, quality and methods for using the products.
Report presents the various roles and responsibility of the marketing functions and also evaluates
these roles and responsibility with the wider organisational context. Study also defines the
comparison of various ways in which different organisation apply the marking mix in the
marketing planning process to achieve business objective. Assignment also produces and
evaluate a basic marketing plan for Coca cola company for increasing its sales rate.
LO1
P1. Key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function
Marketing defined as the important tool of the organisation which helps in increasing the
productivity and profitability of the firm through providing goods and services to consumers.
Marketing is the process of thinking which provides the information about customer need and
satisfaction to the enterprise.
Marketing is the key aspect of every successful business unit. Marketing is an
important function in the coca cola because it helps in increasing the productivity of the
firm through advertising and providing product information to consumers. It also builds
the better relationship between consumers and Coca cola company by providing high
quality goods and services according to the need of the customers.
Marketing function plays a significant role in Coca-cola because it helps the firm in
identifying the source for potentially successful product in the market and then helps in the
promotion of the product. It involves various tools for promoting company’s product such
as marketing research, product plan, development process, promotion, sales, and customer
service. Marketing department also responsible for creating brand image of Coca-cola and
idea which best communicate the brand values (Shaw, 2016.).
Setting marketing strategy
It is the responsibility of the marketing manager to set the marketing strategy along with
overall company strategy and objective. This strategy helps the organisation in increasing the
1

share in the specific market place. For establishing effective marketing strategy, it is necessary to
get closer with consumers in order to find out their various needs and it is the responsibility of
the marketing department to plan necessary means for receiving consumer feedback.
Marketing functions
the main functions of marketing are market research, selling of product and services,
pricing and packaging, labelling and branding.
Market research
The key responsibility of marketing department is to plan for market research which
helps the organisation in terms of identifying market opportunities and also gain a better
understanding of customer need. Market research also provide the information about the strength
and weakness of the other competitors which helps enterprise to take appropriate actions to
protect business with existing consumers. Through market research company can identify their
positions regarding the market and competitors. With the help of market research coca cola can
find out the various area of improvement for better growth in the market place (responsibilities
of marketing plan, 2019).
Selling of product and service
Marketing function plays important role in selling product and services of Coca cola
through various selling functions such as advertisement , sales promotion, publicity and customer
relations. Coca cola can effectively sell their products through adopting the policies of the
advertising. In this Coca cola also advertised their products and services on the online due to
emerging trends and for this activity sales rates are based on the advertisements. The rate of the
advertisement is based on the number of expected individuals to view a given advertisement.
This functions of marketing help in increasing the productivity of the Coca-cola which ultimately
results in high profitability of the firm(Shaw, 2016).
Pricing
It is the important function of the marketing which need to be maintained carefully
because consumers are much sensitive to this practice of marketing. Stakeholders such as
consumers, supplier, governments, competitors and distributors are directly affected from the
pricing function of the marketing. The prices that are charged from the consumers regarding the
offered product should be fair enough. This function of marketing plays a significant role
2

deciding the profit margins of the Coca cola company because it decides the price of product in
accordance with their all expenses which includes during the production process of product.
Packaging, labelling and branding
packaging involves designing package for the products, labelling means putting
information specified on the product covering and branding it important function which shows
the company name in terms of brand.
M1. Roles and responsibility of marketing in the context of marketing environment
To achieve the desired level of success marketing has to study the economic, social and
political environment of the Coca cola but also has to follow the government rules & regulations,
social norms and cultural values and Tax policies of the government. After analysing all these
factors, coca cola formulates the business strategies for the consumer satisfaction and profit
maximisation of the firm. Marketing manager has great responsibility towards society in terms of
providing goods and services as per the requirement of the society and maintains the regular
supply of goods and services at reasonable price in the market. Marketing function of Coca cola
also plays an important role in providing employment services to their local communities
(Malhotra, 2015).
D1. Evaluates the key elements of the marketing function and how they are interrelated with the
other function units of the firm
If Coca cola needs to plan and implement a marketing plan, then they require the support
of the finance department, human resource department and sales department of the company to
perform effectively. Further if marketing team of the coca cola company wants to offer a
discount on the bulk purchase of the product such as buy 3 get 1 free scheme, then the marketing
team needs to communicate with the finance and production department of the coca cola for
successful implementation of the plan.
P2. How roles and responsibility of marketing relate to the wider organisation
Marketing is the important function of the Coca cola which helps to create product and
services with the best chance for making a profit because it starts with market research, taking
into consideration the target consumers of the company and also identify that what other
competitor is doing and through this information Coca cola can improve the productivity of the
3

firm by providing goods and services according to the requirement of the consumers at effective
price as comparison to other competitors.
Organisation structure of the Coca cola
Coca cola company follow the divisional organisational structure which perceives the
firm as the integration of the independent divisions. Division structure adopted by coca cola
company due to large and complex enterprises which handle diverse range of products. With the
help of this organisation structure, coca cola divides into separate business unit or divisions
which are independent and multifunctional in their operations. Each of divisions performs most
of the functions such as production, finance, marketing and human resource management and all
of this department have the separate manager which maintains the effective performance of the
coca cola company (Kotler and et.al., 2015).
Finance department
The first function of Coca cola company plays an important role in planning, organising,
accounting, auditing and controlling its company’s finances. This department remains
accountable for the resources entrusted them, including funding, facilities and staffing and also
delegate budget and responsibilities to their staff. The main role of finance department is to
maintain the firms long-term and day to day monetary operations and strategies. It includes the
tax function that is responsible for maintaining and planning all Tax related expenses. This Tax
function also ensures that all tax payments of Coca cola in compliance with any government
requirement to avoid interest fees.
4
Illustration 1: Divisional organisational structure of the Coca cola company

Human resource department
Human resource department is the important function of the coca cola company which
forecast the current and future requirement of the peoples in their organisational operations for
accomplishing organisational goal effectively. It provides the employees with high skilled
knowledge and capability of working to coca cola. This function also design the human resource
policies in the coca cola for smooth functioning of the enterprise. This function also develop the
individual through training section and helps in accomplishing desired level of outcome(Baker,
2016). It also provides the promotional opportunities to employees of the coca cola which
encourage the employees interest in terms of giving the best possible efforts towards the business
objective of the coca cola which ultimately results in high productivity as well as profitability.
Marketing department
Marketing function of the coca cola plays an important role in promoting the business
mission of the organisation. Marketing department create and manage the brand of the coca cola
company and also identifies the various requirement of consumers in terms of production and
provides this information to coca cola company for increasing the productivity. Marketing
department also find out the position and status of the firm at the market place through various
marketing researches which includes surveys and face to face communication with consumers.
Customer service department
Customer service department also plays an important role in the providing goods and
services to consumers, it focuses on treating consumer well and exceeding their expectations
which helps the coca cola company to engaged with consumers and build strong relationship.
Customer service departments also retains their loyal consumers through providing better quality
goods and services at the effective price to consumers. It also helps in reducing the employees
turnover rate of coca cola company because every employee work for the business that
appreciate worker contributions, encourage new idea and treat consumers fairly (Chernev, 2015).
Interrelation of marketing unit with other functional unit of the organisation
The marketing functions such as market research, marketing strategy and pricing are
closely related with the other functional unit of the coca cola. For example, finance department
interrelated with the marketing department because marketing functions requires various
economic resources for the implementation, research, product planning and evaluation of
marketing strategies, it is provided by the finance department of the coca cola company.
5

Marketing functions cannot work effectively without proper communication and financial team
in the company. Similarly, marketing department also closely interrelated with other functions of
the coca cola company.
Apart from this marketing functions also requires accurate description about product and
services from production department of the coca cola for providing a market plan. Marketing
function cannot perform without human resource department because it provides the human
resources with high skill and knowledge in specific filed such as marketing. The operation of
marketing needs to be communicated and backed by the other department of the coca cola
company. For example HR policies must be aligned with the marketing functions to increase the
sales and production department also convey the information regarding the product and service
to creates an accurate marketing plan for the coca cola company (Datta, Ailawadi and van
Heerde, 2017).
M2. Significance of interrelationship between marketing and other functional units of the
organisation
Marketing department is the essential factor of every successful business organisation
which plays an important role in maintaining customer base of the coca cola company.
Marketing functions are the part of a business organisation and thus other departments of the
firm are connected with each other because marketing department needed to back up by the other
functional departments of the coca cola to perform effectively towards the attainment of the
organisational goal which results in high productivity as well as profitability of the coca cola
company. The interrelationship among the various functions and marketing department leads to
increasing the overall performance of the coca cola.
LO2
P3. Marketing mix
The main business objective of the coca cola is to maximise their profitability and with
this also maintain a long term sustainable growth in the market place. This objective helps the
coca cola in building a brand image in a global market with high revenue and consumer
satisfaction. The purpose of coca cola is to inspire moment of optimism and happiness through
their brand and services.
6

Marketing mix is define as the strategy of the company which promote the product and services
of the firm.
Marketing Mix Coca cola Pepsi-co
Product The product strategy of the
coca cola in its marketing mix,
it has a wide range of product
and produce globally. It
includes coca cola, sprite,
Fanta, cola zero, dasani and
fuze etc. (Dost and et.al.,
2019).
Pepsi-co produce law range of
products as compared to the
coca cola company. It includes
diet Pepsi, mountain dew,
aquafina water bottle and other
savory food snacks.
Price Coca cola company follow the
2nd degree price
discrimination strategy in its
marketing mix. Sometimes
coca cola offers discount
offers for increasing the
productivity of the firm. Coca
cola develop the price which
are affordable for its
consumers as well as
company.
The price strategy of its
beverage industry increases
continuously due to expenses
related to transportation and
labour cost. Pepsi-co set the
price strategy in which
company can achieve high
profitability (Kotler and
Armstrong, 2015).
Place The coca cola company
operates its business in more
than 200 countries across the
world and it has developed the
excessive distribution network
which highlights the place
strategy in coca cola marketing
mix.
Pepsi-co is US based company
and its 52% revenue is located
in the states. Company also
plan on major capital
initiatives in Brazil and maxi-
co. It follows the direct
distribution channel to offer
wide range of product to its
7

consumers.
Promotion The promotion strategy of the
coca cola company is focused
on aggressive market by using
media like print media, TV
and online ads, sponsorship
etc. coca cola launches its TV
advertisement in various
national languages across the
world (Kotler and et.al., 2015).
The promotion strategy of
Pepsi-co company, it promotes
its products through personal
selling, advertising and using
electronic media
People For attracting more consumer's
coca cola always try to
implement attraction and
various effective strategies.
The coca cola focus more on
youngsters but also kids and
old peoples are appreciated.
Coca-cola provides its
employees to better
remuneration with various
facilities.
The people strategy of the
Pepsi-co is more focused on
only young peoples. Pepsi-co
always maintain the better
relationship with their
employee by taking feedbacks
from their employees and also
provides better customers
services.
Physical evidence Coca cola provides better
infrastructure facilities and
layout to its consumers for
taking better rating from
customers. Coca cola
company also provides the fast
services to its consumers with
better quality products.
Coca cola also provides the
clean and hygiene interior with
sitting facility to its consumers
and also provides the better
place to consumers where they
can eat and drink with their
higher level
satisfaction(Malhotra, 2015).
Process Coca cola company designs Pepsi-co company focus on
8

the better process to providing
goods and services which
helps in increasing the
productivity and profitability
of the firm. This smooth
process also give them higher
level of satisfaction from the
side of
consumers(Muralidharan and
Raval, 2017).
achieving higher level of
satisfaction from consumers
which helps them in building a
brand image of the company,
so Pepsi-co invest huge
amount in their research and
development activities.
Similarities in Coca-cola and Pepsi-co company-
 The marketing mix of the Coca-cola and Pepsi-co are very similar in nature because both
are worlds the largest soda beverage provider.
 Both the companies are also recognised as best global brand.
 Both the companies have strong distribution channel for providing goods and services to
its consumers.
 The test and packaging of their products are same and most of the consumers attract
towards their product and services due best packaging style as well as better quality
products.
Dissimilarities in Coca cola and Pepsi-co
 The Coca cola company produce a wide range of products such as sprite, fanta cola zero
and various cokes whereas, Pepsi-co produce less variety of products as compared to
the Coca cola such as aquafina water bottle and mountain dew etc.
 Coca cola use various tools for promoting their business in the global market such as TV
advertisement, online ads across the world whereas, Pepsi-co use promotional tools such
as electronic media and personal selling.
M3. How coca cola and Pepsi-co achieve their business objective through their different tactics
Coca cola achieve their business objective effectively through applying their marketing
mix strategies because coca cola set their price application of marketing mix, which is affordable
for consumers and company. Coca cola also rewards its employees for encouraging them to give
9