The Coca Cola Company Marketing Essay

The Coca Cola Company merchandise Essay1.1 An overview of the companyThe Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) is the gentlemans largest manufacturer, licensor and distributor of non alcoholic beverages with over vitamin D crosss worldwide. TCCC is a global behemoth and its presence spans over 200 countries with its gaffer office based in Atlanta, regular army. (thecoca-colacompany.com) The ingathering portfolio strains over 3000 different beverages ranging from its flagship brand Coca-Cola, water, fruit juices, sport drinks to coffee including each(prenominal) types of non-alcoholic beverages (thecoca-colacompany.com). TCCC causes four out of the quintuplet biggest soft drink brands in the world appellationly Coca-cola, nourishment century, faerie and Fanta.(Data Monitor,2009)According to the brand ranking by Interbrand, the companys brand cheer was worth USD $ 68,734 million in 2009.1.2 TCCC in UKCoca Cola entered UK in 1900 with its flagship brand, Coca-cola in late august when Charles Candler (owner of Coca-Cola consequently) brought a jug of syrup with him on a visit to London. TCCC has since then evolved into an international heavyweight backed by national partners. The companys presence in UK is holded by a perplexity strategy that it annunciates the Coca Cola System which is a combination of 2 separate companies-Coca-Cola Great Britain (CCGB) and the Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE). They serve different roles in the proceedsion-sales process of Coca-Cola and the early(a) brands that fall under it. CCGB is a wholly owned subsidiary of TCCC trusty for merchandise and development whereas CCE, an independent public company manufactures and distributes its products. CCEs product portfolio in 2007 included 20 brands and 100 products much(prenominal) as Coca-cola, fargon vitamin C, spot Maid, Powerade and so on. (Coca-cola.co.uk)1.3 diet light speed food Coke was introduced in USA for the very first time in 1982. Following its success, the b rand then came to UK a family later. It was positioned as a lighter, sugar-free variant of Coca-Cola with a naked bootising theme just for the taste of it. ( foragecoke.com) pabulum coke is immediately a international product available in over 173 countries and has a large loyal customer base who love the product. The success base continues till today. Diet Coke has various extensions in its product offerings such as Caffeine-free Diet Coke, Diet coke Lemon, Diet Coke carmine etc. Diet coke celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007 with the product accounting for a 40% piece of land of the global fare sparkling beverage incision. ( foddercoke.com) 2.0 Perception2.1 Semiotics in AdvertisingWhen a consumer looks at an advert, he/she derives a certain meaning from it. To this purpose, foodstuffers use a set of symbols or maybe even one that develops into a purposeful mastery that the consumer tie ins to the product. And to achieve this meaning, the symbols ease up to pr ecise, direct and should evoke a moral response to the imagery within. To under rear how effectively symbols sight be use is vital in merchandise. For this, marketers turn to a field of study called semiotics which focuses on the co-relation between signs and symbols and their role in shaping a substantive understanding by an observer. From a semiotic perspective, each marketing sum has three componentsAn object the productA symbol the image/ statement that serves as an extension to the product.The interpretant the heart and soul or the meaning derived from the advert.This relationship is set forth as the semiotic triangle. In relation to marketing activities, the advertising strategy incorporates semiotic symbol by creating a relationship between the product and the desired attribute of the product. This strategy is usually long term as the message is constant and repetition upholds to reinforce the meaning to the consumers.2.2. Diet Coke Campaign-Hello you.Diet coke ha s changed its marketing focus to appeal to its effeminate audience (FT, 2009). To this effect, the marketing team at CCE has been adapting its advertising approach and general appeal to suit its locate market appropriately. The latest campaign turn out for Diet Coke is a multi-million push titled hi you featuring award winning Welsh vocaliser Duffy, as a independent, footsure woman who takes control of her look. As part of the campaign, outdoor publicity in the form of posters with the tagline Im no superwoman has in adjoinition been advertised extensively (Image 2). The campaign on the whole aims to re show up confident preadolescent women winning a stand against the pressure of modern life. (The Guardian 2009) The ads feature Duffy, 24 year old Welsh relation sensation who became a star sign name after clinching three Grammy awards including Best British Female Solo operative this year. The main advertisement is a 60-second TV advert. Duffy is seen taking a block during a live concert where the crowd asks her for an encore. But she gets onto to a rhythm cycles around for a bit whilst breaking into a cover of the resuscitate song by Sammy Davis Juniors I Gotta Be Me. And yes, she takes a sip of diet coke before returning back to the stage to perform. This campaign attach a momentous shift in Diet cokes marketing which in recent years saw the revival of the classic Hunk advert in 2007. According to a company press release on the campaign, Catherin Sleight, Coca-Cola GBs marketing director, stated that the campaign aimed to show strong independent women taking control and saying no the pressures of modern day life.(coca-cola.co.uk)2.3 Semiotic symbolism in the hello you TV advertThe semiotic symbolism is kinda direct and tries to appeal to the independent women that Diet coke wants to focus its marketing on. The campaign as a whole go alongs light to liberating women from pressures of modern- day life as explained by the marketing directo r for Coca-Cola GB Catherin Sleight. (18) The symbolism rear end this advert can be represented with the semiotic triangle as given object glass/product preindication/Meaning Message2.3.1. The Object/Product- Diet cokeThe product in itself is a global characterisation as it is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. It has been rated as the proceeds one drink in the diet non-alcoholic beverage sector with a market share 0f 40% globally. The brand visibility is blue globally being available in 173 countries as of 2007.The can and logo thus combines to produce brand recognition by any consumer viewing this advert. 2.3.2 SignThe message speaks for itself and is not rather complicated. There are two instalments in the sign leading to the creation of a meaning that the target consumer can relate to. The first element is the celebrity who endorses the product. Duffy has become a household name in Britain as well as internationally having win quite a few awards includin g three prestigious Brit awards and a Grammy award (iamduffy.com). Cathryn Sleight, marketing director of Coca-Cola GB has reflected on the endorsement by saying that Duffy as a unsalted woman, who is in charge of her own destiny, perfectly embodies the independent attitude were championing (coca-cola.co.uk). This could resonate well with their target market as she signifies independence and opportunism that women enjoy in todays world. The second element is the audio track used in the advert and its lyrics. It is a cover sung by Duffy of the old classic hit I gotta be me made famous by Sammy Davis Junior. It has a simple but despicable depth to it that reflects well on a listener. It strongly reflects the hot diet Coke campaign which celebrates womens right to express their individuality and take control. 2.3.3 The messageThe advertisement gives out a strong message that tells the target consumer that Diet coke can you set free if you are an independent, ambitious young woman li ke Duffy. The advert along with the lyrics and the celebrity completes this meaning forming a symbolic message to the target womanly segment.2.4 valuation This television advert has a nice feminine touch to its portrayal and along with the lyrics find the meaning home for consumers. Duffys voice is quite endearing and catchy adding to the back away range of this advert. Diet coke has used the study of semiotics to represent a deep meaning that most women can relate to. The product has successfully moved away from the naughty girl staring at hunk to a more personal independent woman image. Diet cokes advertisement can hike answer the brand to establish a personal relationship with its consumers.3. Reference Groups3.1 Reference GroupsA reference conference isan an actual or imaginary individual or group conceived of having significant relevance upon an individuals evaluations, aspirations or behaviour. (Lessig Park1978) In terms of marketing, reference groups are relevant as they can provide important affectionate cues that give insight into particular behavioral trends and associations with buying behavior. These cues extend to form an persuade that is termed as social power. Types of social power include in formattingion power, referent power, referent power, legitimate power, expert power, reward power and coercive power. Diet coke marketing utilizes the concept of social power in its new campaign using the referent power model. Referent power is the social power of a reference group that acts a consumer to aspire to emulate the same behavioural patterns portrayed by the individual or group. This in any case leads to influencing the consumers purchase decisions. (Solomon 2008)3.2 The Diet Coke RebellionDiet coke has partnered with Company, a leading womens publication as part of its Hello you campaign to motivate young women to join a rebellion against the pressures they face in a modern world. Company has a readership of 574,000 within the targ et segment. (NRS 2009) This fusion widens Diet cokes marketing to reach its target audience more effectively. The first homecoming of the Rebel issue as it is called premiered in May and was designed totally keeping the target segments interests in mind. To maintain the campaigns visibility, two more issues were released in July and October. The magazine focused on topics of particular interest to women such as celebrity gossip, beauty tips, fashion etc with the rebel touch. This campaign was also support by extensive online marketing through the cokezone website as well as getlippy.com. The campaign was designed as a follow-up to the Duffy advert further independent women to break free of all the pressures they faced and to rebel against prejudices present in the modern day world in a controlling manner.3.3 The referent effect on Diet coke target market. fussy reference groups tend to have identifiable characteristics and unique forms of symbolic get behavior, market segment ation in terms of such group characteristics as phase of exclusivity and formality is a useful means of pinpointing appropriate segment (Leigh et al 1992).Therefore the referent power of Diet Cokes target segment is further simplified as common behavioural characteristics are present in their target- womanly consumers. The cover story was the new face of Diet coke, Duffy the singing sensation and her rebellious shipway helping women to identify with her as person more than a celebrity. Furthermore, the magazine established a common consideration for the Diet cokes target segment to relate to their rebellious side. Diet coke thus engaged directly with its target audience reflecting its link with their lives with this tie-up. This encourages their consumers to relate to and emulate characteristics of the referent group- the modern women who wants to break free and be themselves. 3.4 Evaluation In terms of referent power, the tie-up with Company magazine was an warning choice. Hig h readership of the magazine within Diet Cokes target segment would add to the success of this campaign. Diet cokes efforts to communicate it with its core target consumers will fix provided that the PR activities support the marketing. Diet Coke has added prise to its image with this partnership appealing to the hedonic side of young women. The cover story with Duffy is an fine source of referent power especially with her star status as an award winning singer.4. Motivation familiarity 4.1 InvolvementInvolvement is the degree of influence that a brand has over a consumer and how it motivates them to form a strong bond with the brand. It can be either cognitive or physical and the factors that affect it differ from one consumer to the other. The degree of interestingness i.e. high or low, will determine the motivational drive of a consumer to attach with a brand and its marketing activities. It can be broadly classified ad into three classifications Product Involvement, Messa ge- Response Involvement, Purchase Situation Involvement. (Solomon 2008) Message- Response Involvement refers to the consumers interest in processing marketing communications. (Solomon p168) It is also known as advertising booking. Marketers try to involve consumers to accede in the exchange of marketing information and publicity through various media outlets utilizing this model of involvement. To this effect, they experiment with ways to increase consumer involvement by testing various approaches such as contests, reward schemes and so on. To appeal to the growing number of officious prognosticate users, marketers use mobile phones as a tool to get them to participate in the advertisement. This method of marketing is known as interactive mobile marketing. The content and method of advertising ranges from the simple text message format to a graphic website interface that consumers can access through mesh on their mobile devices. Diet coke has utilized the message-response typ e of involvement through the use of interactive mobile marketing in its bills populate campaign.4.2 Diet coke campaign- Silver RoomThe Silver Room is an interactive mobile marketing campaign that was designed exclusively for Diet Cokes target segment of female consumers in the age group 16-24. Consumers record onto the mobile website had access to content such as celebrity news, gossip, fashion, music, films, interactive games and more on their mobile phones. This campaign sought to involve the younger, tech-savvy female generation to connect with a brand whilst offering them content of judge to them. The diet Coke Silver Room is fronted by Australian singer Gabriella Cilmi, who is young and fits in well with the target audience.The campaigns content tries to appeal to young females who sought hedonic value in brands. It featured content and promotions born(p) out of several key partnerships such as celebrity news from Heat magazine, fashion tips from Get Lippy, music with sin ger Gabriella Cilmi, film updates with confuse and Paramount, as well as environmental content from Green Thing. The highlighting of its content was the Music Mobcast , a 2 minute voice call that covered music news and information in Gabriella Cilmis voice. The content is updated every three weeks. To access the Mobcast consumers were asked to log onto the site, enter their number and receive a Mobcast call.4.3 Enhancing the level of Involvement As Solomon (2008) suggests, marketers must enhance a consumers involvement in the marketing activity by using certain techniques such as appealing to hedonic needs, providing interesting stimuli, including celebrity endorsements or by mental synthesis a personal relationship with the consumer. 4.4 EvaluationThe silver manner campaign by Diet Coke has satisfied all the criteria with appraise to enhancing the level of involvement of its target market. It appealed to the hedonic side of its young female consumers by its varied and value-a dded content. They also partnered with well known brands. The campaign prominently featured Gabriella Cilmi, a well-known female Australian singer who added value being a celebrity that young woman could relate to. This also adds to the image that Diet coke has built around music. Diet coke has also created a forum for their consumers to interact with each other and share their opinion as well as personal experiences thereby building a relationship with the consumers indirectly. The success of this campaign is yet to be seen as it was launched recently. RecommendationsDiet coke is one of the worlds top five best sellers in the non-alcoholic sparkling beverage sector. However, a news story published in the Financial Times has reported that the UK sales of Diet coke have fallen sharply despite their big budget advertising choke to reposition its offering to a female market(2009). It is recommended that Diet Coke must tackle a few issues that could be the problem behind this. A quick look at the figures comparing the number of unique visitors to cokezone- the UK website and dietcoke.com-its American counterpart has painted a dismal picture. It has been found that site occupation in to the cokezone website was considerably lesser than its American counterpart (refer appendix 2). It is recommended that an online inlet designed for women in UK should be started to engage Diet cokes core consumer target. This would help them to relate better to the brands marketing activities. It would gradually enhance the involvement of the target market with the product. It is also recommended that brand should connect more personally with the consumer with the help of direct sales promotions, events for women. Diet coke in the US provides consumers with value added functions like cook shows, celebrity events on a regular ground on its website. It is recommended that a similar innovative campaign should be cover in UK particularly appealing to the women here. An extension of the Silver room would be in the best interests of the brand. It has been noted in my research that silverroom.co.uk and dietcoke.co.uk still the Great Compromiser unofficial and unused. It is recommended that Diet Coke in UK must go beyond regular advertising and create another phenomenon like the hunk advertisement. mop upCoca-Cola is a global behemoth and the largest beverage company in the world (Interbrand 2009). This report has been directed towards analyzing and evaluating the aspects of consumer behaviour in relation to marketing. The report has scrutinized info with regard to Diet Coke, its main competitors such as Diet Pepsi, marketing activities and its response. Diet Coke spends extensively on its marketing and has created many a loyal fan amongst its consumer base worldwide. The new marketing strategy is sound recording but requires higher brand involvement from its chosen target consumers. Females consumers today are not entirely stereotypical, evolve continuously a nd not all women are lured by the idea of a rebellion. Diet Coke has to create on reworking its current marketing activities and attempt to connect to consumers more personally.