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The coca cola company was invented by John Pemberton in
1886. During these years Pemberton advertised at a cost of 77
dollars while his profits amounted to 50 dollars only and this led
to a loss and he was forced sell a portion of his company, due to
this he sold a portion of the company to Candler who later
acquired the whole company.
Coca cola brands are sold in over two hundred countries and
have over 6 billion consumers all over the world. The company
today is worth approximately 60 billion dollars as per the stock
market. This growth in worth and in terms of market share has
been attributed to advertisement strategies that the company has
adopted over time. Advertising in these early years of the
company was done on billboards and newspapers, the
newspapers had a coupon which consumers would claim a free
drink at any distributor, this was one of the methods that led to
the success of the company in those years
Candler sold the company to Ernest Woodruff who later gave
the company to his son Robert Woodruff, Robert had very
influential marketing strategies, and he focused on contributing
in colleges, universities and organisations, despite never leaving
any name for the contribution this really increased sales level of
the company, radio advertising of coca cola started in the year
1930 and in 1950 coca cola started advertising its product on
television.
Christmas promotion of the company started in the year 1931.
This involved the use of coke Santa to promote the product in
the market. From the above marketing strategy discussed it is
clear that coca cola advertising first started advertising through
bill boards and newspapers and as technology advanced the
company further started advertising over the radio and
television.
Other changes were made to the product and this include
branding, the packaging of the companies product has evolved
through the years example in 1923 the six bottle carton was
introduced, in 1960 the coke can, in 1915 the contour bottle and
in the 1978 the two litre bottle.
In 1985 however the company tried to change its formula and its
royal customers reacted negatively to this change, the company
planned on introducing a new product for the market but this
failed and the company lost its market share to other companies
such as Pepsi, realising the mistake the company switched back
to its original formula.
The company has also tried to market itself through the
sponsoring of sports activities, over the years the company has
sponsored the Olympics and other sporting activities and this is
how they have been able to achieve popularity all over the world
because today the company sells its products in over two
hundred countries, other sporting activities that the company has
sponsored include the NBA, NASCAR, NCAA, FIFA world cup
and the English Football League.
One of the major competitors of the coca cola company is Pepsi,
Pepsi was invented by Caleb Braham in 1890, and Pepsi was
advertised in newspapers starting 1929 where its advert unlike
the coca cola promotional coupon the Pepsi company advert
portrayed a race driver as a bully drink before a race. In 1929 the
company went bankrupt and it was sold to Roy Megargel and
again in 1937 and it was sold to Charles Guth, the rise in sales
level of the product of the company was as a result of a cut in
the price of drink by half and this was made public through a
radio advertisement, the reduction in price led to a substantial
increase in popularity and sales level.
The Pepsi advertisement campaign was different in the 1940
where the company realised that adverts ignored certain groups
in the society, Pepsi targeted the African American community,
this helped create a niche market for their product, however in
1950 the adverts failed following a criticism that the drink was
only meant for a certain group in the society.
Both companies therefore used the
same marketing strategies although coca cola succeeded in
creating a drink for all, although the coca cola company failed in
changing the formula for its drink in the past it has maintained
the lead in the soft drink market. However this shows how the
advertisement and marketing strategies have evolved over the
years, today both companies have still maintained television and
radio advertising and also the sponsoring of sport activities.
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Advertising has played a major role in marketing products of the
coca cola company, the use of radio advertising has been one of
the oldest means of advertising used by the company, the main
aim of this type of advertising is to reach a large portion of the
population, the mass media is a means of shaping the popular
culture of the population and if people are changed to think that
drinking coca cola drinks is the way of life then the
advertisement is successful.
Television advertising is another means of advertising, this form
of advertising is a more expressive form due to the use of both
sound and film, the aim of this form of advertising is convince
and persuade the consumers that coca cola is the number one
drink and it is the only refreshing drink. Other adverts by coca
cola involve the mixing of the brand with football, the company
realises that there are very many football fans and for this reason
they advertise their product using the game.
The use of testimonials is one of the best methods used in
advertising, this is the use of famous people to advertise the
product and for this reason the consumers will transfer the
feelings of those people into the product. An example is where
Pepsi uses a popular race driver to advertise its product as a way
of gaining advantage over its rival. Coca cola has also used the
coke Santa during Christmas period as a way of creating a
positive opinion over its products.
The use of band wagon is another form of advertising strategy,
this strategy is aimed at showing the consumers that the product
is number one and because consumers always want to be on the
winning side they will purchase the product, this has been used
by the coca cola company whereby in its advertisement the
company tends to portray that it is the number one drink and that
it is the largest company in the world.
Name calling is also another form of strategy used in
advertising, it involves the use of negative labels on competitors
in order to place them in unfavourable position, this is evident in
the coca cola case whereby it changed its formula and Pepsi
used this opportunity to show that coca cola was only aiming at
making its drinks taste like Pepsi.
The use of Glittering generalities is another form of advertising
strategy, this involves the use of appealing words which look
attractive, advertisements are prepared in such a way that they
are appealing to the genera public, example in the coca cola
company a 1970 advertising campaign used a song that had such
words as "perfect harmony". This word phrase has no much
meaning but it sounds attractive, for this reason therefore the
company over the years has used this strategy to win a larger
market share.
The company therefore tend to show the consumer that their
products are the most widely consumed and that it is the number
one product, it also tends to show that their products are the best,
other products tend to be on the losing side and because
consumers want to be on the winning side they will choose the
product. The use of popular people such as football players and
the sponsoring of such events tend to place the drink in a better
position because people tend to transfer their feelings toward
their heroes into the product.
Concluding the advertisement strategy analysis it is clear that
coca cola has achieved its objectives, it acts as a monopoly in
most countries as the provider of soft drinks, the change in the
formula in the early years led to a mass protest that oversaw the
company switching back to its old formula, this shows that the
product has royal consumers who prefer the drink over other
products. Advertising have played a major role in the success of
the company and technological advancement have led into even
more success to the company.
    
  


Advertising involves the persuasion and informing consumers
on the available products, the company has not succeeded in the
use of card slacking in its advertisement campaign, card slacking
is the use of facts to convince the consumers that the use of the
product will result into certain advantages, example a company
would state that it had been proved that the consumption of
product A has resulted into the reduction of the occurrence of
disease B. the coca cola may state that their drinks are refreshing
and an individual will gain essential nutrients but they do not
provide information on what other facts on advantages gained
from the consumption of their product.
For example a coca cola brand may be said to reduce hangover
after a drinking spree and this would really increase the
consumption level of the product, this message should be used
to market the product and the facts being provided about the
product should be those aimed at solving problems faced by the
masses.
Market segmentation has not been of much emphasis in the
company, the company should subdivide its market and provide
products that meet special needs of its products, this is already
evident in the fast food market whereby purchases can be made
online and delivery is made within a few hours, for this reason
therefore the company should try to make products that are to be
consumed by specific groups and also that the price level should
differ depending on the market segment.
Advertising should also be accompanied by promotional
activities that are offered by the company, in most cases
advertisement only inform the consumers but promotions such
as periodical price cuts of the product are not included in this
adverts, example buy one coke and get one free are not evident
in the companies strategy, this would be a means in which to
share with the customer the profits made by the company. This
is possible because in most cases the advertising costs are even
higher than the production costs, most of the funds are used up
in advertising.
Other forms of advertising should include extensive internet
advertising, due to the changes in technology many companies
have decided to advertise online but coca cola tends to lag
behind in this strategy, there should also be the extent to which
one can purchase and order products online and delivery made at
home like in the fast food industry, for this reason therefore
there is need to change the mode of advertising and adopt with
the current change in the world today.
Having considered the above discussed likely solutions to
improve the current advertisement strategy there is need for the
company to involve the card slacking technique in their
advertisement, this should involve providing facts to the
consumer regarding the advantages gained from drinking the
products, this benefits should not only be monetary gains
through discounts but also gains in terms of health and also to
solve certain problems, when consumers are provided with this
information then the ales levels will definitely rise and this will
create a niche market.

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