Discuss about the Marketing Plan For Coca Cola Company.
The report will be mainly based on the formation of a marketing plan for the Coca Cola Company. The plan will be mainly based on the objective of the company to increase its revenues and presence in the industry where it has its operations. The internal and external environment of the organization will be analysed with the help of the specific frameworks. The external environment will be analysed with the help of the PEST framework. The industry in which Coca Cola operates will be analysed with the help of the Porter’s Five Forces Framework which help in the clear understanding of the levels of competition that the company will need to face (Banerjee 2017). On the other hand, the internal analysis is performed with the help of the SWOT framework which will help in understanding the internal operations of the company in an effective manner. The aims and the objectives of the organization will be analysed based on which the marketing and the promotional plans of Coca Cola will be decided (McDONALD 2016).
Target Market of Coca Cola Company
Coca Cola is considered to be brand name in the world and the company is globalizing with a huge speed. The company has been able to form huge number of customers all over the world. The products that are offered by Coca Cola are liked and consumed by people belonging to different age groups. The company is mainly planning to target its marketing plans towards the consumers belonging to the age group of 18 to 34 years as the highest number of customers of the company are a part of this group (Coca-Cola Company.com 2018).
Political – The political factors of the country in which the business operates affects the operations. The stability of the political conditions is a major factor that influences the profitability of the company in that area.
Economic – The economic situation of the country also has huge effect on the profitability of the organization. The long-term sustainability of the organization is also affected by the economic factors of the country. However, the consumption of the products that are offered by Coca Cola are affected by the economy to a large extent (West, Ford and Ibrahim 2015).
Social – The social conditions have huge effect on the consumption of Coca Cola as the health conscious consumers can try to avoid the extreme use this product. The consumers mat tend to shift to the healthier drinks from the unhealthy options provided by Coca Cola.
Technological – The Coca Cola company has become one of the topmost brands in the world. The changing technologies have been readily adopted in the different processes of the company in the international and the local markets as well (Payne and Frow 2014).
Rivalry in the industry – Coca Cola is the leader in the market where it operates. However, tough competition has been provided to the company by another major player in the market named Pepsi. The organization has many other competitors in the market. However, the entire soft drinks related market is dominated by these two organizations.
Threats related to new entrants – Coca Cola does not have huge threat from the entry of the new organizations in the market. The organization wishing to enter the soft drink industry have to face huge number of barriers related to the channels of distribution which are already dominated by the major players (Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss 2018).
Threats of the substitutes – The soft drinks based industry has to face huge threats related to the availability of substitutes for the customers. The various substitutes that can be considered by customers in the software industry include, tea, coffee, juices, mineral water and many more.
Power of the suppliers – Coca Cola is a huge global organization of the world. The organization thereby owns a huge number of suppliers as well. Therefore, the power of the suppliers is low in the industry for Coca Cola (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes 2015).
Power of the buyers – The buyers of the company have high power in the industry in which Coca Cola has its operations. The main reason is the huge number of substitutes and options that are available for them in the market (Liebl 2015).
Strengths – The strong value of the brand is a key strength of Coca Cola in the industry. The customers belonging to the local and the international prefer the products that are offered by the company over the other products.
Weaknesses – The lack of the own bottle manufacturing setup is a major weakness of the company. The organization thereby has to depend on the suppliers for the manufacturing related purposes of the bottles of the products (David and David 2017).
Opportunities – The changes that are taking place in the standards of living of the consumers of Coca Cola have helped in the increase of its profitability to the highest levels. The company also has the huge opportunity to form strategic alliances with the hotels and the restaurants so that the products can be promoted in an effective manner (Varadarajan 2018).
Threats – The main threat that is faced by the manufacturers like Coca Cola are related to the entry of the local players in the market. This has affected the revenues of the company as the local organizations are able to offer the products at lower rates as compared to the organizations like Coca Cola. The barrier of distribution channel is also present for the local companies as they are easily able to source their raw materials from the various local suppliers in the countries in which Coca Cola has its operations (Kerr and Patti 2015).
The marketing plan that is being designed by Coca Cola will be mainly based on the various strategic objectives that are to be achieved by the company within the stipulated amount of time. The objective that is designed by the company is important for the successful operations of the expansion related plans that are made by Coca Cola. The main aim of the objective will thereby be to achieve the goals that are set for the company related to the fast increase of its revenues in the market (Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch 2017). The objectives that will be set for the company will be SMART in nature so that they can be time bound and achievable in nature. There is absolutely no point in setting the huge goals which cannot be achieved by the company. The strategic marketing based plan that has been designed by Coca Cola is based on one year of its operations and expansion related objectives (Rosenbaum-Elliott, Percy and Pervan 2015). The major SMART objectives of the company for the next one year are as follows,
Segmentation process used by Coca Cola – The organization has proved itself to be the largest advertiser, producer, and the merchant of soft drinks in the whole world. The multi-segment focussing based procedure is used by Coca Cola to perform the segmentation of its target market in the world. The company tries different blends of the products for the different segments of the market (Milichovsky and Simberova 2015). The organization has 400 items in its product portfolio. Oasis is a product manufactured by Coca Cola which is targeted towards the age group of 20 years to 30 years. The product of the company named Diet Coke is targeted towards the consumers belonging to the age group of 30 to 50 years of age. The company has also been designing special packs that are offered to the customers on the special occasions. Coca Cola thereby tries to blend the products according to the geographic, psychographic, demographic and the behavioural process of segmentation (Villeneuve and Pasquier 2017). Coca Cola uses the mixes of the strategies related to undifferentiated marketing and mass marketing. This strategy is used by the company for some of the products that it offers in the market.
Targeting process used by Coca Cola – The company has been targeting the specific groups of consumers based on the media habits that are displayed by them. The youthful group of people are the major target customer group of Coca Cola in the world. The company has designed advertisements in such a manner so that it is able to target the sentiments of the potential customers or the existing customers directly (Kaleka and Morgan 2017).
Positioning strategy used by Coca Cola – The organization has positioned itself in the world soda market. Coca Cola has used the same positioning strategy in 200 countries where it has its operations. The organization gains the trust of the consumers with the help of the advertisements and the nature of its products. The positioning strategy that is applied by Coca Cola is mainly based on the specific goal that is has to keep the picture or the image of the company similar in all the global locations of the company (Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss 2017). Coca Cola has created such an image in the minds of the consumers that just by taking the name of the company an image of diversion and fun comes in their minds. The competitive positioning based strategy is also used by Coca Cola to stay ahead of the competitors that is has in the market. The one brand marketing strategy has been given huge importance by Coca Cola. This has helped the brand to maintain its same image in the all the global locations (Galliers and Leidner 2014). The countries where the brand has its operations have similar sentiments for the company and can instantly connect with the products. The link of the products with the sentiments of the customers has further enabled the successful operations of Coca Cola in the world.
The communication based strategy or the marketing campaigns of Coca Cola have been designed in order to address the various needs of the organization which are related to providing the messages to consumers about the brands and the products to the consumers. The messages are sent to the consumers with the help of images, audio based materials and others (Icha and Agwu 2015). These materials help in promoting Coca Cola based on three different categories which are, satisfying the thirst of the buyers, increasing the style quotient of the consumers and further making the products a part of the lifestyle. The drinks of the company are associated with style and coolness which is related to the image of Coca Cola in the industry. Coca Cola also uses famous celebrities for the promotion of their brand (Archer-Brown and Kietzmann 2018). This is also associated with the wishes of the consumers who desire to become famous like the various celebrities who are endorsing the products. The communication process has been set up by the company in such a manner so that the main vision of the products which is mainly related to the satisfaction of thirst can be fulfilled effectively by the product that are offered to the consumers. The marketing campaigns of Coca Cola have been highly successful in the enhancement of the brand value of the company in the industry (McDonald and Wilson 2016). The company has been able to strengthen its brand and further increase its revenues in the market as well.
The marketing mix that has been formed by Coca Cola has been able to create the position which the company currently enjoys in the market. The product portfolio of the company is also quite huge which has been helpful in the creation of the huge global customer base of Coca Cola. The increased brand value of Coca Cola is also a major effect of the marketing mix that has been applied by the company (Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre 2015). The 4 Ps of the marketing mix of Coca Cola are as follows,
Coca Cola has its global operations in many areas all around the world. The company has built the brand value of the products to the highest level. The major reason behind the huge growth of the Coca Cola company has been the promotional and distribution based strategies that have been implemented by the company in all the areas of its global operations. The organization has continued its successful operations in the areas like, Europe, Middle East, Africa where the sales have increased by 1% in the year 2917. The regions where the sales of the company have dropped in the same year is Latin America which include countries like, Venezuela and Brazil (Karjaluoto, Mustonen and Ulkuniemi 2015). The sales volumes of the company have also been flat in different areas of North America. The sales of Coca Cola have been lifted by around 3% in the year 2017.
Coca Cola thereby needs to make significant changes in the strategies that have been implemented by the company in the areas where the sales and revenues drop in the last few years. This will be helpful for Coca Cola company to increase its profitability and revenues in these areas which will further increase the overall revenues of the organization in the industry.
The distribution channels of the company will play a major role in changing the situation that is being faced by Coca Cola in the recent environment. The organization needs to choose the perfect channel of distribution which will help in increasing the each of the products that are offered by the Coca Cola. This may thereby lead to the success of Coke in increasing the revenues that are earned in all the global operating areas (Coca-Cola Company.com 2018). The various factors related to effective distribution that need to be considered by the company are, the transport based facilities, the lead-time that is required and the distance of the distribution centres from the point of sale. The company can choose two types of distribution based strategies which are, intensive distribution and selective distribution. The major rival of Coca Cola company in the soft drink industry is Pepsi (Tjemkes, Vos and Burgers 2017). The company needs to conduct extensive research about the distribution channels that are used by Pepsi and further implement these strategies in their own processes. The intensive channel based strategy states that Coca Cola needs to select each and every retailer from the local area and provide the different products of the company. This will increase the reach of the organization in the market. The intensive strategy has always proved to be successful in Fast Moving Consumer Goods or the FMCG industry. Coca Cola also needs to target the intensive strategy as it is a major beverage provider in the world (Karjaluoto, Mustonen and Ulkuniemi 2015).
The selective process of distribution on the other hand suggests that the company needs to choose some selected distributors who are able to distribute the products of the company to the consumers in the market. This can help Coca Cola company to dominate some of the distributors so that they become the exclusive distributors of the products that are manufactured by the organization. This type of distribution channel can also be termed as exclusive channels which are helpful in enhancing the value of the brand in the industry (Feng, Morgan and Rego 2015).
Sales promotion strategy has been used by Coca Cola in an extensive manner in all the global operations. The company has however paid more attention to the traditional ways of advertising like, TV commercials and billboards. The organization also sponsors many shows and events for the purpose of promoting the brand all over the world. The major mistake that has been made in the market by Coca Cola is the increase of the prices of the products at the time of summer. This further leads to the loss of revenues for the company. The single focus of Coca Cola over the carbonated drinks has also caused a lack of enough revenues of the company (Archer-Brown and Kietzmann 2018). The consumers are becoming more and more conscious and this has led to the decrease in demands for the soft drinks that are offered by Coca Cola in the market.
The promotional strategy that is used by Coca Cola thereby needs to go through specific changes so that the customers can be attracted towards the company. The use of digital marketing strategies will be best option which can increase the reach of the products in the global world. The advertisements of the company can be placed on the digital media with the help of the platforms like, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook. The media communication strategy can also be used by the Coca Cola Company to increase the reach and the revenues of the company (Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss 2017). The organization can aim at creating communities on the social media platforms so that the promotions of its products can be made possible with the help of electronic word of mouth process. The extensive usage of the social media based platforms will increase the revenues of the company to the highest levels in the countries where they are facing issues related to the loss of revenues. This will help in the increase of the overall brand value of the Coca Cola company in the industry. The company will have to incur specific costs related to the promotional strategies that will be formulated and implemented by them in the global area of operations in the various countries of the world (Milichovsky and Simberova 2015). The costs related structure of the company is as follows,
Media related costs – 30 million dollars
Social media based costs – 3 million dollars
Digital marketing activities – 60 million dollars.
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that the promotions and the marketing related activities of the organizations are important for the successful operations of the company in the industry. A global organization like Coca Cola also has to change the marketing related activities based on the changes that have occurred in the external environment and the ways by which these factors affect the profitability and the operations of the organization in the market. The marketing related strategies of the companies need to be changed on a periodic basis so that they can remain competitive in the market. The strategies that keep on working in a specific region or country may not applicable similarly in the operations of the organization in other areas as well. This has been proved right by the operations of Coca Cola. The strategies of the company have increased the sales in some of the countries, whereas, on the other hand the sales of the company have decreased in the other countries. Hence, it has been proved that the changes in marketing plans are necessary for the successful operations of the company in all the areas where it distributes the products.
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