Coca Cola Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix of Coca Cola analyses the brand/company which

covers 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) and explains the Coca
Cola marketing strategy. In this Assignment I will elaborate the pricing,
advertising & distribution strategies used by the company.

The Coca Cola Marketing Mix:

Product:
Coca Cola product strategy in its marketing mix can be studied by
understanding its wide product range. The following products are
offered by Coca Cola
globally: Coca Cola,
Sprite, Fanta, Diet Coke,
Coca Cola Zero, Coca
Cola Life, Dasani, Minute
Maid, Ciel, Powerade,
Simply Orange, Coca
Cola Light, Fresca,
Glaceau Vitaminwater,
Del Valle, Glaceau
Smartwater, Mello Yello,
Fuze, Fuze Tea, Honest Tea, Osewalla, Powerade Zero
Coca Cola products are sold in various packaging and sizes. For
example, its core product Coke is sold in 200ml, 500ml, 1ltr, 1.5ltt and
2ltr bottles in cans, glass and plastic bottles. The Coca Cola logo is
clearly made visible on each of these bottles and cans to differentiate
itself from Coke. The Coca Cola bottles also have unique shapes
pertaining to the brand. Coca Cola, Sprite and Fanta have large market
shares in their respective segments but their growth is almost stagnant.
Hence, they generate huge cash for the company. Minute maid has high
market share and good growth rate.

Price:
Coca Cola follows a 2nd degree price discrimination strategy in its
marketing mix. In the sense they charge different prices for products in
different segments. The beverage market is considered to be an
oligopoly in which there are few sellers and many buyers. Coca Cola
and Pepsi are the dominant players. Coke products are priced similar to
that of Pepsi products in that particular segment. If Coke prices its
products too high as compared to Pepsi in a particular segment, then the
consumers might switch especially in developing countries where the
consumers are price sensitive. Hence both come to an agreement of
maintaining price parity in each segment. However, Coca Cola offers
discounts on bulk purchases by sometimes even bundling the products.

Place:
Coca Cola being in the market for more than 130 years and operating in
more than 200 countries worldwide, it has developed excessive
distribution network. The wide distribution network highlights the place
strategy in Coca Cola marketing mix. The Coca Cola company produces
the beverage using its secret formula and transports it to the bottlers
located in various parts of the globe. The bottle shapes and sizes are
predefined by the company. The bottlers then fill the bottles with the
adequate beverage and then ship it to the carrying and forwarding
agents. From there the bottles are transported by road to the stockists,
then to the distributors and finally to the retailers from where the final
consumers buy the products. Most of the times the goods from the
distributor are transported to the wholesalers who distributes these to the
retails according to the demand on regular basis. Coca Cola has an
extensive distribution channel and its products are available in almost all
retail outlets and supermarkets across the globe. In India Coca Cola
products are made available across 2.5 million outlets.
Coca Cola products are also distributed to various Hotels and restaurant
chains throughout the world. Coke has also built an extensive reverse
supply chain where they collect the leftover glass bottles from the
retailers and convert them into a reusable product thus saving cost and
additional resources.

Promotion:
Coca Cola sets the bench mark for advertising and branding. The
promotional strategy of Coca Cola focuses on aggressive marketing
through ad campaigns using media like TV, online ads, print media,
sponsorships etc. Coca Cola engages in the following major sponsorship
events like American Idol, BET Network, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA,
Olympic Games, FIFA worldcup etc. Coca Cola also launches TV
advertisements in various national languages across the globe. In India
in March 2016, Coca Cola launched “Taste the Feeling” Campaign
which seeks out to remind its customers about the joyous and happy
moments Coke brings to their lives. He was chosen so as to connect well
with the Indian youth. The ads were telecasted frequently across various
channels.
Special incentives are given to the distributors and retailers for pushing
Coke products. Also, these retailers are given refrigerators and Coca
Cola hoardings for advertising the brand. At supermarkets, special
emphasis is given on the shelf spaces to generate more visibility of its
products. Coca Cola also engages in various CSR activities to help
support environmental and social issues across the globe. Hence, all
these points give an overview on Coca Cola marketing mix.

About Coca Cola:

Coca Cola is a carbonated soft drink produced by Coca Cola company. It
has a diverse product portfolio in the beverage industry. Coca Cola was
founded in May,1886. Its revenue in 2015 was 44.29 Billion dollars. Its
major competitive rival is Pepsi Co.