The Coca-Cola Marketing Mix has laid down the foundation for Coca-Cola’s success in the beverage market. The consumer brand marketing initiatives of the carbonated soft drink brand have helped in optimizing customer engagement and growing brand recognition amongst the masses. The marketing strategies of the million-dollar brand have been one of the primary reasons for enjoying immense brand loyalty and gaining a competitive advantage over rival brands. The Coca-Cola Company no doubt has been successful in becoming one of the most valuable brands in the beverage industry with a huge market share.
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About Coca-Cola
- Origin Country: USA
- Founded: 1892
- Headquarters: Atlanta, USA
- Employees in 2023: 80,300
- Annual Revenue in 2023: 38,665 billion USD
- Net Income in 2023: 9.771 billion USD
- Market Value in 2023: 260.590 billion USD
- Market Cap in 2023: 243.070 billion USD
- Company Website: coca-colacompany.com
The American origin The Coca-Cola Company is one of the most valuable brands in the world based on revenues. The public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange is owned by Berkshire Hathaway (9.23%), The Vanguard Group (7.90%) and BlackRock (6.45%). The Coca-Cola Company is one of the leading companies associated with the beverage industry that manufactures, markets and sells syrups, non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and alcoholic beverages. The most popular beverage Coca-Cola was originally introduced as a temperance drink or patent medicine. Currently, Coca-Cola’s success all over the world has made it the highest-selling soft drink in the beverage market.
Target Market of Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company is a premium brand with a huge market share. Although its target market is between the age group of 15-35, the non-alcoholic beverage brand enjoys huge popularity amongst every gender and every age group. The core customers of The Coca-Cola Company are the fun-loving modern youth and the teenagers popularly known as the Millennials and the gen Z.
The highest-selling soft drink company targets both families and individuals through its ads and commercials that depict Coca-Cola products as the go-to drink during parties, festivals and celebrations of all kinds. The Coca-Cola marketing strategy targets diet-conscious people and diabetic older and middle-aged adults with help of Coca-Cola products like Diet Coke a sugar-free soft drink and Coca-Cola Life, a low-calorie beverage. Coca-Cola’s products are available in various sizes and packaging to target low-income and middle-class individuals and families at various price levels. Coca-Cola launched Coca-Cola Light to target females and Coke Zero to target men as part of the Coca-Cola marketing strategy in the soda industry.
Coco Cola Marketing Mix (4Ps)
The Coca Cola marketing mix includes the product, price, place and promotions of the company which led to its success. The Coca-Cola marketing mix has been used as a prominent tool by The Coca-Cola Company in creating marketing strategies that have enhanced its brand image and helped it to become one of the prominent players in the soda industry. Let us get go through the 4Ps of Coca-Cola’s marketing mix namely product strategy, place and distribution network, price points and digital marketing strategy to get a clear understanding of the leading beverage brand.
Product Strategy
Product strategy: Coca-Cola in Coca-Cola’s marketing mix focuses on the 500 master brands and 3,500 beverages associated with the company. It is the largest manufacturer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages in the world. The million-dollar brand sells concentrate to authorized bottlers and these bottling partners manufacture the finished beverages and sell them through vending partners to end customers.
Coca-Cola’s achievement over the years to a great degree depends upon the numerous brands and the company’s wide range of product portfolio. Besides the carbonated soft drink, The Coca-Cola Company manufactures, owns and distributes sparkling and still beverages. Coca-Cola’s products include teas, ready-to-drink coffees and teas, sports drinks and energy drinks, bottled water, enhanced water, fruit juices, dairy & plant-based beverages and other soft drinks also. Coca-Cola launched its popular drink in several variants like caffeine-free, diet, zero sugar, vanilla, cherry and sugar-free soft drink etc.
Product Mix of Coca-Cola
- Coca-Cola: The most recognized and top most selling.
- Coca-Cola life – Low-calorie beverage made from Stevia leaf extract and cane sugar
- Diet Coke: DIET COKE is a sugar and calorie-free soft drink which is also known as COCA-COLA LIGHT in several markets.
- Sprite: Introduced in 1961 Sprite is a popular lemon-lime drink. SPRITE SUPER CHILLED
- Fanta: Introduced in 1940 in the orange flavor, Fanta is now available in variants of strawberry, pineapple, apple, grapefruit, peach and grape. FANTA PINEAPPLE.
- Valpre: Introduced by Coca-Cola South Africa the brand is available as Sparkling and Still water with a naturally sweet taste. VALPRE STILL SPRING WATER
- Healthy Beverages: Minute Maid – juices such as MINUTE MAID FRUIT PUNCH.
- Powerade: Sports beverage
- Nestea: a flavoured tea created in a joint venture with Nestle
- Dasani: Dasani purified water
- Simply: Juices and drinks
- Vio: dairy product such as VIO ALMOND DELIGHT
- AdeS: Founded in Argentina in 1988 it is the leading soy-based beverage brand in Latin America. ADES ALMOND
- Ayataka: Green tea
- Finley: Introduced in 2014 the fruit-flavoured sparkling drink is available in four flavours
- Non-food Assets Coca-Cola products also included non-food assets of the brand like COLUMBIA PICTURES which was purchased in 1982 and sold in 1989 to Sony.
- Discontinued Products Simba – Introduced in 1968 Simba was a lemon-flavoured sugar-sweetened drink with a tagline “Simba – It Conquers the African Thirst”. The brand was withdrawn in 1972. Alcoholic Beverages The Coca-Cola brand forayed into the alcoholic beverages segment in 2021 with a range of alcoholic hard seltzers in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Pricing Strategy
Coca Cola pricing strategy puts the focus on driving sales as it is one of the beverage brands meant for the common masses. The higher the sales volume greater the revenues and profit margins. The marketing strategy targets families interested in bulk purchases with packs of 30, 24, 8, 6 and 12 etc. and individuals with the smallest size bottles. The Coca-Cola bottles are available in different sizes like 13.2 fl oz, 2 litres, 7.5 fl oz, 12 fl oz and 20 fl oz etc. so that they can become the drink of the masses irrespective of price points.
The Coca-Cola pricing strategy uses different types of pricing target end customers. The pricing mix of Coca-cola includes the following.
- Competitive Pricing Strategy Coca-Cola brand faces stiff competition in the soda market from other beverage brands like Pepsi. It has adopted a competitive pricing policy to deal with these rival brands where the prices of almost all sizes of the bottles are similar to those of the competitors.
- Promotional Pricing Policy Coca-Cola offers discounts on bulk purchases as part of its promotional pricing policy. The company also decreases its product prices for special events to connect with customers and boost its sales volume.
- Segmented Pricing Coca-Cola brand has adopted a segmented pricing policy for its products that are available in different sizes and packages.
- Discriminatory Pricing The brand has adopted a discriminatory pricing policy as it sells its products through several channels like authorized bottlers, retail shops, restaurants, Automated Teller Machines, nightclubs and cafes etc.
Place Strategy
The Coca-Cola Company has spread its presence to 200 countries across the world with help of 225 bottling partners and 900 bottling plants. It operates through four geographic segments Latin America, North America, Middle East & Africa, Europe and Asia-Pacific. It also includes non-geographic segments of Bottling Investment Group and Global Ventures. The place and distribution strategy of the brand are possible because of “The Coca-Cola System” which refers to the company and its bottling partners. The place mix of Coca-cola includes the following.
- Coca-Cola Distribution Network: The marketing strategy includes a vast distribution network where the company relies on its licensed bottling partners for the manufacturing, packaging, merchandising and distribution strategy of the final Coca-Cola products to the various retail stores.
- Franchising Model: The brand follows a franchising model for the production and distribution of its products. The Coca-Cola Company manufactures and sells concentrates as beverage bases to its licensed bottling partners who are entrusted with the bottling operations throughout the world. These bottling partners manufacture the final branded beverages from these beverage bases in combination with sweeteners and filtered water. The authorized bottlers have exclusive territory contacts with The Coca-Cola Company and can sell the finished products in bottles and cans to its vending partners.
- Outlets: Coca-Cola products are sold in restaurants, street vendors, movie theatres, convenience stores, retail outlets, amusement parks, grocery stores, hotels and vending machines etc. throughout the world. The company also sells concentrate for manufacturing soda drinks for food service distributors and major restaurants.
- Reverse Supply Chain: The vast distribution network of the company is used as a reverse supply chain where the leftover glass bottles are collected from the retail outlets. These leftover glass bottles are again converted as reusable Coca-Cola bottles by the company thus saving resources and huge costs.
Promotions Strategy
The Coca-Cola marketing strategy is quite intense as the company follows an aggressive marketing policy. The brand spends a huge chunk of money on digital marketing and ad campaigns to drive up the sales figures of its company. On average it is estimated that worldwide consumers drink nearly 1.9 billion beverage servings daily. To maintain and increase its sales volume the company under its aggressive marketing promotions has utilized both traditional media and social media platforms to the fullest.
Traditional Media
The ad campaigns of the Coca-Cola brand are prominent on television, radio, billboards, hoardings, sides of vehicles, newspapers, leaflets, posters and magazines etc.
Social Media
Coca Cola promotion strategy includes ads on social media so that the brand can connect with the end customers and fans. The brand utilizes online digital marketing platforms like Snapchat and Facebook to post videos and images. The official YouTube channel of the company has innumerable promotional videos for boosting its brand reputation in the soda industry. Under digital marketing tactics, the brand also sends emails to its regular customers and invites both potential and existing customers to company web pages.
Sponsorships
The TV Show American Idol and recently the BET Network are considered true representatives of America. The Coca-Cola Company sponsors BET Network, American Idol, Olympic Games (1996 Summer Olympic Games and 2010 Winter Olympic Games) and NASCAR Cup Series as part of the Coca-Cola promotion strategy.
Tie-Ups
The Coca-Cola Company has tied up with Mcdonald’s for serving Coca-Cola soft drinks in its restaurants.
Designer Bottles
Karl Lagerfeld has created a special designer version of the regular Coca-Cola Contour bottles. Versace, Blumarine and Fendi have also designed special edition bottles as part of Coca Cola marketing strategy.
Coca-Cola Logo
The red and white Coca-Cola logo is synonymous with the brand and is quite familiar to most of the world.
Sustainability
Coca-Cola in 2021 announced that the brand would be selling sodas in bottles made from 100% recycled plastic materials as part of its sustainable mission to combat plastic waste.
World of Coca-Cola
The “World of Coca-Cola” is a tourist attraction with a soft drink theme in Atlanta. The multi-storied exhibition featuring a history museum and flavor sampling is located in several locations like Florida, Buena Vista, Nevada and Las Vegas.
Memorable Marketing Campaigns in Coca-Cola Marketing Strategy
Share a Coke Campaign In 2011 the “Share a Coke Campaign” was launched by the brand in Australia. The campaign was a huge success. It was paired with a Facebook Page, a website page and an online “Share a Virtual Coke”. In 2013 the campaign was launched in the United Kingdom to introduce Diet Coke, Coca Cola and Coke Zero cans and bottles. Taste the Feeling In 2016, the “Taste the Feeling” campaign was rolled out which involved digital marketing, TV commercials, print and shopper initiatives.
Key Takeaways of Coca-Cola Marketing Mix
The Coca-Cola marketing mix has laid the groundwork for an effective marketing strategy of Coca-Cola that has helped the brand in becoming the heart-throb of most nations in the soda industry. Key takeaways from the marketing strategy of Coca-Cola are
- Good marketing strategies to boost customer loyalty
- Wide range of product portfolio to cater to individual tastes
- Effective pricing policies to keep a check on competitors
- Amazing digital marketing for one-on-one connection with end customers
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What’s the Placement of Coca cola?
I’m working on a project for marketing and I have few questions about coca cola company. I want to know what type of marketing segmentation they use (in details, please), what their target markets are, what is their marketing orientation (customer oriented or mass production), what their targeting strategy is, who are their main competitors, how they position themselves in the market and in the consumers’ minds, how they differentiate their products form competitors’, their SWOT analysis?
Thanks in advance.
Please refer this.
https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-of-coca-cola/
I am conducting a report on internationalization of coca cola and want to know which internationalisation process are they using?
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hello I’m alicia and I am doing an assignment on coca cola company and I need some info on the macro and micro environment for the coca cola company please thank you very much (2014 – 2015)
When did you post this article?
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Can you throw some light on the supply chain network of coca cola also the logistics vertical of coca cola. I am doing a project on coca cola.
Hi I want to know the strategies of prices between Pepsi And Coca cola how they beat to each other
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Do you know what demographics are they?
HOW DOES COCA COLA MARKET ITS OWN BRAND?