JAYPEE BUSINESS SCHOOL

NOIDA

“MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COCA COLA”

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:Dr. Vandna Ahuja Gaurav Singh Rana (13609071)

Faculty of Marketing Neha Chakraborty (13609083)Shivika Chandel (13609045)

Priya Singh (13609034)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am sincerely thankful to Dr Vandana Ahuja (Project Faculty Guide), under whose guidance we have

successfully completed this project and time spent with her had been a great learning experience. I

think her constant encouragement, warm responses and for filling every gap with valuable ideas has

made this project successful. She made it possible for me to put all my theoretical knowledge to work

out on the topic: “INTEGRATED MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COCA COLA”

A mammoth project of this nature calls for intellectual nourishment, professional help and

encouragement from many people. We are highly thankful to all of them for their help and

encouragement. We wish to acknowledge our great debt to all of them whose ideas and contribution

influenced me to complete the project work.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

1. TITLE PAGE

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

3. INTRODUCTION

4. EVOLUTION OF COCA-COLA

5. NEW OPPORTUNITIES

6. LOGO DESIGN

7. MARKETING STRATEGY

8. GLOBAL ADVERTISING

9. ROLE OF ADVERTISEMENT, METHODS, ANALYSIS

10. PROMOTIONAL MIX

11. PRINT MEDIA

12. ADVERTISING

13. OUTDOOR

14. DIRECT MARKETING

15. INTERNET MARKETING

16. SALES PROMOTION

17. PERSONAL SELLING

18. CONCLUSION

19. REFERENCES

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INTRODUCTION

Global marketing has become a reality, the product most representative of this process is Coca-Cola's Robert Woodruff, former chairman of The Coca-Cola Company stated in 1923, that Coca-Cola should always be 'Within an arm's reach of desire'.

The mission has continued to drive the Company's marketing strategy, enabling Coca-Cola to build a strong global presence in a world in which citizens on all continents are seeking to purchase leading 'brands'.

Coca-Cola is the most recognized brand name in the world with 94 per cent recognition. This profile has spread with increasing rapidity in recent years as evidenced for example in China, where Coca-Cola became the most recognized trademark in the late 1990s. Today you can buy a Coke almost anywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires, from Moscow to Mexico City. The Coca-Cola Company sells half of all soft drinks consumed throughout the world.

The Coca-Cola Company has, on occasion, introduced other cola drinks under the Coke brand name. The most common of these is Diet Coke, with others including Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Vanilla, and special versions with lemon, lime or coffee. In 2013, Coke products could be found in over 200 countries worldwide, with consumers downing more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings each day.

Since it announced its intention to begin distribution in Burma in June 2012, Coca-Cola has been

officially available in every country in the world except Cuba and North Korea.However, it is reported to

be available in both countries as a grey import.

Coca-Cola has been a point of legal discussion in the Middle East. In the early 20th century, a fatwa was

created in Egypt to discuss the question of "whether Muslims were permitted to drink Coca-Cola and

Pepsi cola." The fatwa states: "

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Evolution of Coca-Cola

Coke in India

Coke gained an early advantage over Pepsi since it took over Parle in 1994. Thus it had ready

access to over 2,00,000 retailer outlets and 60 bottlers.

Thus Coke had greater than Pepsi because it had ready access to the Parle network. For

example in 1994 Pepsi had 20 bottlers to serve the entire country while Coke had Parle’s 60 bottlers. In

an important market like Delhi Pepsi had just one bottler while Coke had four. On the other hand Pepsi

had taken over the Dukes Mangola of Mumbai.

Entry of Pepsi and Coke in India or their proposals were at that time being opposed because of

the impact of first - strike on the minds of consumers. If Coca-Cola is allowed an easy and quick entry

through a window established by the government, there can be no justification for denying similar

access to Pepsi Co.

Coke had plans, to invest $ 20 million in India and Pepsi was going to pump in Rs. 300 crore

more. Ramesh Chauhan greatest compulsion, to 90 in for the 2nd option was that many of his biggest

bottlers were preparing to desert him for Coke, .since the bottlers accounted for nearly one-third of

Parle's sales. Parle's biggest bottles in the Easter region,. Goenka, accounted for 80% market share in

Calcutta, felt that the future lay with Coca-Cola, no Indian company had the financial muscle to take on

Coke.

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1886

Originated as a soda fountain beverage & sold for 5 cents/ glass

1899

Signed the first bottling agreement

1916

Birth of the first “contour” bottle1920s

Expanded internationally out of United States

1970

Exited from India – FEMA regulations

1993

Re-launched in India & acquired local brands2000s

Leading Cola brand in India (Thums Up & Sprite combined)

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NEW OPPORTUNITIES

A developing business organization will forever seek new opportunities to renew itself. A successful global business will seek to penetrate new markets and new countries while building on improving its presence in existing markets and in this way it will continue to grow.

The Coca-Cola Company has come a long way since the product was invented in 1886 by Dr John Styth Pemberton in a back yard in Atlanta, Georgia. Today the Company is selling over one billion servings a day. To many business people such results would indicate that the Company has arrived but key decision makers at Coca-Cola do not see it like that, they believe that the Company is in its infancy. The Company is acutely aware that, although one billion servings of Coca-Cola are consumed each day, there are 47 billion servings of other beverages.

The Company prefers to look forward rather than back and it sees there are enough opportunities in the market to keep it going for a very long time. The average person drinks The Coca-Cola Company’s beverages about once a week. Four billion consumers live in countries where the average is even less. The reality is that countries with about 20% of the world’s population account for 80% of Coca-Cola’s volume. Clearly this presents a challenge for a global company and its marketing strategy if it is going to tap into virgin territories.

Coca-Cola is focusing on the next billion servings. 70% of the world’s population live in countries where per capita consumption of Coca-Cola products is less than 50 servings per person per year - this means that they are drinking Coca-Cola products less than once a week. Even in developed countries like the United States there are many opportunities to raise sales.

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LOGO DESIGN

The Coca-Cola logo was created by John Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885.

Robinson came up with the name and chose the logo's distinctive cursive script. The typeface used,

known as Spenserian script, was developed in the mid-19th century and was the dominant form of

formal handwriting in the United States during that period.

Robinson also played a significant role in early Coca-Cola advertising. His promotional suggestions to

Pemberton included giving away thousands of free drink coupons and plastering the city of Atlanta with

publicity banners and streetcar signs.

MARKETING STRATEGY

Marketing involves getting the right product to the right place, at the right time, at the right price and with the most suitable promotional activity. Coca-Cola has always been able to create the most appropriate marketing mix.

Since its beginnings, Coca-Cola has built its business using a universal strategy based on three timeless

principles:

acceptability - through effective marketing, ensuring Coca-Cola brands are an integral part of

consumers’ daily lives, making Coca-Cola the preferred beverage everywhere

affordability - Coca-Cola guarantees it offers the best price in terms of value for money

Availability - making sure that Coca-Cola brands are available anywhere people want

refreshment, a pervasive penetration of the marketplace.

Coca-Cola has created an extensive and well-organized global distribution network guaranteeing the

ubiquity of its products. (Ubiquity is the ability to appear to be present everywhere at once.) Its

approach is founded on the belief that Coca-Cola must try to quench the thirst of everyone in the world

- all 5.6 billion of them!

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The Company operates a worldwide franchise system supplying syrups and concentrates to over

1,200 bottling operations, (there are more than 350 in the US alone!) which thus involves local

companies and suppliers in the 200 countries in which Coca-Cola is sold.

The bottling companies distribute the world's favorite brand using the most sophisticated

technology and distribution networks available. The Company supports its international bottler

network with sophisticated marketing programs seeking to guarantee the Company's brands are

available where anyone is seeking refreshment. Coca-Cola's bottling system is the largest and

most widespread production and distribution network in the world.

GLOBAL ADVERTISING

Advertising is a most effective force in gaining social acceptance for any product and Coca-Cola has

recognized and used this power from its very first advertisement in 1892.

Over the decades, by emphasising youth and energy, Coca-Cola has created advertising slogans, or

'straplines' , which are memorable, innovative and still relevant to the brand today:

1886 - Delicious and Refreshing

1929 - The Pause that Refreshes

1942 - It's the Real Thing, often used since 1942

1963 - Things go Better with Coca-Cola

1971 - I'd like to Teach the World to Sing

1976 - Coke Adds Life

1982 - Coke is It

1989 - Can't Beat the Feeling

1993 - Always Coca-Cola

1996 - Eat Football, Sleep Football, Drink Coca-Cola.

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Coca-Cola is able to engage in global advertising because the messages created about its products have

a universal appeal. Coca-Cola's powerful brand personality has become a vehicle for promotion in its

own right.

Coca-Cola has provided a platform for a number of highly successful artistic and sporting events,

including the Olympics. The brand has also proven to be strong enough to support a wide range of

branded merchandise bought not only for its quality, but because it is fashionable.

THE ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN AN INTEGRATED PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY FOR COCA-COLA

Advertising really plays a big role in Coca-Cola’s success. Its advertising has been rather pervasive, as one of Woodruff’s stated goals was to ensure that everyone on Earth drank Coca-Cola as their preferred beverage. Advertising for Coca-Cola is now almost everywhere, especially in southern areas of North America, such as Atlanta, where Coca-Cola was born. The most popular words in the world in 20th contrary are: God, she and Coca-Cola. After the highest popularization of word – “OK”, the second one is “Coca-Cola”. 98% of the people know “Coca-Cola”. That’s the result of Coca-Cola spending 6 hundred million dollar on promotions.

There are five main ways of promoting the brand – Coca-Cola.

The first one is traditional advertising, like showing advertisements on TV or posters.

The second one is the sponsoring of sport events.

The third one is online promotion.

The fourth one is selling Coca-Cola’s collections.

The fifth one is local promotion held by bottlers or retailers.

Although the main advertisements in every country still follow this strategy, especially using the local stars to attract young customers, Coca-Cola begun to use computer technology to make cartoon images which matches local culture or just funny.

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APPROPRIATE METHODS/TECHNIQUES FOR THE COCA-COLA ENTERPRISE TO

BOOST THEIR SALES AND MEET STRATEGIC TARGETS

The Coca-Cola Management System (TCCMS) is the new management system for achieve the target by the company. This system aligns with the internationally recognized requirements for quality, environment, health and safety, and food safety. In 2010, the Coca-Cola system will begin to transition to ISO standards for all Management System requirements previously covered by TCCMS.

• Quality: Coca-Cola management procedures ensure that we maintain high-quality standards. Ten facilities earned TCCMS certification in North America and all of production facilities in Europe are ISO 9001 certified.

• Environment: All of European production facilities are ISO 14001 certified, and 17 facilities in North America achieved TCCMS certification in 2008.

• Health and safety: Currently, 18 of European facilities are ISO 18001 certified and 17 facilities in North America are TCCMS certified.

• Food safety: Six of European production facilities are ISO 22000 certified and plan to certify six more in 2009 also certify 23 U.S. production facilities in 2009.

ANALYSIS OF IMAGES AND WORDS USED IN COCA-COLA ADVERTISING AND THEIR APPEAL

Coca-Cola marketing campaign materials have been devised according to the messages they aim to

convey, and images, words and sounds featuring within them have been perfected by marketing

professionals in order to serve the same purpose.

Messages sent through images, words and audio materials promoting Coca-Cola can be classified into

three categories: Coca-Cola helps to best satisfy the thirst, drinking Coca-Cola is stylish, and drinking

Coca-Cola is part of a lifestyle.

Marketing initiatives, words, images, audio and video materials Coca-Cola employs tries to communicate

a message that this drink satisfies the thirst in the best possible manner and partially for this reason

Coca-Cola is consumed by millions of people per day. However, a range of scientists as well as marketing

authors such as Bsonera (online, 2009) cast a doubt about the ability of Coca-Cola to satisfy the thirst

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efficiently, and argue that ‘thirst’ for Coca-Cola has been created by company marketing professionals in

the first place.

In other words, ‘thirst’ created for Coca-Cola is fundamentally different from the natural thirst for water,

and the ‘thirst’ for Coca-Cola is more a want than a thirst in a virtual meaning of the word.

Moreover, Kotler and Keller (2006) state that the most effective marketing messages are presented by

companies as a solution to a problem potential customers experience. This idea finds its confirmation in

case of Coca-Cola in a way that the drink is being associated with a style and being ‘cool’ and trendy and

at the same time the drink is consumed by successful and famous personalities such as Wayne Rooney,

Cristina Aguilera, and Jessica Sarah-Parker. The linkage between these two points requires more

detailed explanations that is provided below.

According to Freud (2005) in whatever they do people are motivated by two forces: sexual satisfaction

and the willingness to be great. These two issues can be viewed as a problem and need that need to be

satisfied. Specifically, some people aim to satisfy the need of the willingness to be great by trying to be

stylish and trendy and associating themselves with established, famous, and successful personalities.

Apart from the above discussed points of the Coca-Cola being positioned as a drink to satisfy thirst, and

attribute of style and success, the contents of various marketing materials used to promote Coca-Cola

also try to make the existing and potential customers believe that Coca-Cola is a necessary component

of everyday life. This is achieved by making potential and existing customers exposed to intensive

marketing campaigns through various channels.

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Promotional Mix

Advertising

As a part of ‘pull strategy’ and also due to intense competition spends heavily on advertisements.

Before creating advertising message the Coca-Cola Company gives lots of time to the factor that the message must gain customer attention.

This is basically called “Clutter Buster” means that only that advertisement will leave impact on customer mind that has some specialty or uniqueness in it.

For example in India Coke slogan “Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola” has gained reasonable customer attention.

E.g. Thanda Matlab Cola-Cola, Jo chaho ho jae Cola-Cola enjoy, Coca-Cola-Piyo sir utha ke, Brrrrrrr!!!

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Print Media:

Coca cola is said to have a different print media department.

Point of sale Materials:

Merchandising is essential to communicate to the consumer at the point of purchase.

Sales people and delivery personnel both take the additional responsibility of merchandising.

If required special teams are sent to specifically merchandise its products

Includes Posters and stickers displayed in different areas

Vizi coolers, freezers, Display Racks

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TV Commercials:

Regular TV Commercials on different channels

focuses on both rural as well as urban crowd

feature diffrent brand ambassdors from time to time

Try to connect with the crowd

Examples

Reasons to Believe India

Brrr Ad Campaign

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Outdoor Advertising:

Very much conscious about their billboards and hoardings

Many sites in different locations for their billboards

Billboards are usually found at cross roads, buildings, shops

In India the Coca-cola can be seen painted on walls, bus stands, dhabas etc focusing in rural areas of India.

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Direct Marketing

Uses direct marketing in many ways

It partners with various restaurants, movie theatres, etc. to carry its product

So when a customer orders a drink, the only brand they are offered is Coca-Cola, which forces them to consume that brand itself

Thus Coke forces out the competitors, and keeps the restaurants, or other businesses, purchasing their product over and over again

Eg. Mc Donalds, Dominos

Coca-Cola India now with its ecommerce presence

Latest online store, Coke2home.com to provide home delivery

First of its kind venture by any FMCG company till date in India

Initially services will be available only in Ahmedabad providing free home delivery at minimum order of Rs. 300

Same day delivery is available if ordered before 12 noon

Can also make order with mobiles through m.coke2home.com.

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Internet Marketing

Uses the internet to promote its products

Company has its own website - simple to navigate

Website allows customers to become interactive through various games, contests, shopping, and through a special section of the website that enables consumers to find out how they can help their community.

Also company uses various social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter to connect with the consumers.

Internet marketing helps to reach to those consumers who cant afford to spend time on T.V and are always online.

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Sales Promotion

A sales promotion is an activity that is implemented to boost the sales of a product or service temporarily.

It allows price discounts and allowances to distributors and retailers in order to push more products into the market. It employs both push strategy through promotions and pull strategy through advertisements and campaigns.

Coca-Cola does sales promotion in two ways to quickly increase sales.

Consumer - Oriented sales promotion:Getting ShelvesEye Catching PositionUnder The Crown Scheme

Trade - Oriented sales promotion:Discounts to retailers and storesReturn back allowancesMerchandising assetsFree goods or free tours

Sponsorship

Coca-Cola India was the official beverage partner of The Commonwealth Games .

Launched an impactful outdoor campaign in Delhi NCR

45-day campaign rolled out on September 10

Is complemented by Coca-Cola India also launching its new visual identity system (VIS) and logo for the Games

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Personal Selling

Has many salespeople, who are individuals representing the company to communicate, sell, service, and build relationships with customers.

These salespeople promote their product to different customers within their regions, and once they sustain a customer, they sell their products to them and service them many times per week.

These individuals form close relationships with the customers in order to continue business with them.

Thus though minimum, the company also thus have many sales people for personal selling.

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CONCLUSION

Having an effective integrated marketing communications strategy and efficiently to implement it is one

of the necessities for companies in a modern business world without which the chances for company’s

long-term growth will be compromised. In order to be successful the components and all elements of

marketing campaigns, including images, texts audio and video materials need to be effective.

This paper has studied the related issues in the case of Coca-Cola Company in general, and their core

products Coca-Cola soft drink in particular. The company relies on media extensively in order to conduct

its integrated marketing communication strategy. The choice of media used by Coca-Cola includes

newspapers, magazines, internet, television, cinema, radio, posters and billboards.

Marketing campaigns initiated and conducted by Coca-Cola has a range of objectives to achieve that

include encouraging a liking for Coca-Cola, increasing short-term sales, forming buyer behaviour and

others.

Analysis of images and words used in Coca-Cola marketing campaigns has identified that these

marketing efforts aim to communicate three types of messages. Firstly, Coca-Cola marketing initiatives

aim to communicate a message that this drink is a best solution to satisfy the thirst. Secondly, Coca-Cola

marketing campaigns aim to communicate a message that drinking Coca-Cola is associated with style,

being ‘cool’ and trendy. Thirdly, marketing campaigns devised by Coca-Cola aim to communicate the

message that drinking Coca-Cola is a part of everyday life and that the drink is a part of a lifestyle.

In supermarkets and convenience stores Coca-Cola has their own fridge which contains only their

products. There is little personal selling, but that is made up for in public relations and corporate image.

Coca-Cola sponsors a lot of events including sports and recreational activities.

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References

http://research-methodology.net/coca-cola-marketing-communications-a-critical-analysis/

http://writepass.com/journal/2012/12/advertising-and-promotion-in-coca-cola/

http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/coca-cola-great-britain/within-an-arms-reach-of-desire/conclusio.html#axzz3D011qw8n

http:// www. coca - Cola india.com

http:// www.altavista.com

Books & Magazines:

Marketing Management By (Philip Kotler)

Economic Times

Annual Report of Coca-Cola company.

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