NORTH SOUTH UNIVERSITY

SUMMER 2017 – MKT 202

INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING

CUSTOMER DRIVEN MARKETING STRATEGY OF

COCA - COLA BANGLADESH

ASSIGNED BY: MEHNAAZ SAMANTHA KAMAL

PREPARED BY:
AYAZ MAHMUD– 1631054630
MD. SALAHUDDIN HUQ – 1631372630
SADMAN SAKIB SHAH – 1631890030
RAKIN IFTADER – 1620068630
FOWZIA RAHMAN – 1711704630

1
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Mehnaaz Samantha Kamal

School of Business and Economics
Department of Bachelor of Business Administration
Plot:15, Block:B, Bashundhara, Dhaka-1229

Subject: Letter of Transmittal

Dear Madam’
It is a great pleasure for us to handover the MKT202 group report on the ‘Consumer Driven
Marketing Strategy of Coca Cola’. The report is based on the knowledge gained from the
course this semester.
We have put on our best efforts to make the report. Most of the information are internet
based and few information are collected from the convenience store shop keepers. We, the
entire group has put our efforts equally to put the information together in the report
properly.
I hope you will find our report worth reading and appreciate our hard works and forgive us
for the mistakes.

Sincerely,
Md. Salahuddin Huq
Ayaz Mahmud
Fawzia rahman
Sadman Sakib Shah
Rakin Iftader

2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our deepest appreciation to the people who have helped us to
complete this report. We give a special gratitude to our honorable course instructor, Ms.
Mehnaaz Samantha Kamal, who made us capable and gave us the proper knowledge to
make this report. She has the major contribution in this report. She has also suggested,
appreciated and encouraged us to make the report. She has invested her full time in guiding
us to make the report.

Secondly, the owner of a convenient store named ‘Dulal’ has helped us a lot by giving few
information for our report. He has provided us the price of all the sizes of Coca Cola and also
gave us the information about the price of other competitors of the brand.

Lastly, the entire group members contributed equally for the report and contributed many
ideas in the report and assemble the whole report together.

3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Coca Cola Company is the world’s top leading beverage company and it’s beverages are
the most sold soft drinks of the world. Coca Cola’s mission is to refresh the mind, body and
spirit of the world along with inspiring people with optimism and happiness and also create
value and make difference in their products. As the population of the world is getting too
busy with their lives day by day, Coca Cola has made an effort to refresh them with coke and
also let the people enjoy moments in life. It is trying to serve as much as it can. It has
different product for different types of customers. Coca cola classic is their signature
product for the teenagers. Coke zero is calorie free for the health conscious group of
customers who don’t want to get attached to additional weight. Coke diet is sugar free coke
for patients with high blood sugar problems. It has positioned them as the only refreshment
drink that is natural and made has made it a part of the daily life. They are offering these
products to the closest to their customers where the customers have easy access like
convenience stores, restaurants, departmental stores, etc. It offers same price like it’s
competitors, so the customers are interested to have the best brand at the same price. It
also applies uncountable promotion techniques to promote the brand and sustain its
customers. They also have many other variety products and also have some new
diversification products like lip balms for the females. Their biggest competitor is Pepsi Co. it
is the second largest beverage company of the world. So it is challenging for coca Cola to
keep up with the changing situation of the market and adopting accordingly.

4
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Topics Page

Introduction 6

STP Analysis:

Segmentation 6

Targeting 7-8

Positioning 8

Marketing Mix Strategies:

Product 9

Place 9-10

Price 10-11

Promotion 11-13

Strategic Analysis:

Competitor 13

SWOT Analysis 13-15

Product and Market Expansion Grid 15-16

Conclusion 16

References 17-18

5
INTRODUCTION

The Coca Cola Company started its baby steps in the year 1886 at Atlanta holding the hands
of Dr. John S. Pemberton. Mr. Pemberton made flavored syrup and took it to a pharmacy
where carbonated water was added to it. It was first sold for 5 cent in the soda fountains of
Atlanta. In 1888 Mr. Pemberton sold the Coca Cola Company to different people but the
majority to the business men of Atlanta and in 1896 the Coca Cola was first bottled due to
its high demand. It has its operations running in more than 200 countries all over the globe
and has a net worth of $182.9 billion US dollar as at May 2017(Forbes, 09/08/2017). Muhtar
Kent is the owner of the Coca Cola Company currently.

Mission

‘Our mission is:

 To refresh the world in mind, body and spirit

 To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions
 To create value and make a difference.’(Coca Cola, 2017).

Vision

‘To achieve our mission, we have developed a set of goals, which we will work with our
bottlers to deliver:
People: Inspiring each other to be the best we can be by providing a great place to work
Portfolio: Offering the world a portfolio of drinks brands that anticipate and satisfy people's
desires and needs
Partners: Nurturing a winning network of partners and building mutual loyalty
Planet: Being a responsible global citizen that makes a difference by helping to build
and support sustainable communities
Profit: Maximizing long-term return to shareholders, while being mindful of our overall
responsibilities
Productivity: Being a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization.’(Coca Cola, 2017).

6
STP ANALYSIS

SEGMENTATION:

Demographic: Coca Cola targets all age group including 15-25 years old and 40 plus. Targets
both gender with wide variety drinks. It also targets all income levels.

Geographic: Coca Cola has drinks that targets different age groups, ethnic groups,
sexes, lifestyles, etc. Coca Cola Zero- targets teens that don't want calories but want the
taste. Diet Coca Cola- targets adults between 30 to 50 years who are health conscious.

Psychographics: People who are brand conscious will not drink beverages of less known
brands. They will try to show their status by drinking Coca-Cola. The level of education is
another factor that the company is paying attention to. In a high percentage education, the
company can use advertisements to convey the company massage. Because Coca Cola is a
recognized world brand, people will drink it without hesitation.

Behavioral: Coca Cola divides buyers into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes,
uses or responses. It can be any occasion based, user status based, user rating based etc.

TARGETING:

Coca Cola offers different target markets approaches to target their huge market. They use
differentiated marketing, undifferentiated marketing, concentrated marketing and micro
marketing to attract the customers and fulfill their demands.

Undifferentiated marketing: The Coca Cola classic is an undifferentiated product in the

market as it is the same cola carbonated beverage which is offered to all set of customers. It
is same coke without any change and is going on for hundreds of years.

7
Differentiated marketing: Coca Cola Zero and Coca Cola light are the examples of
differentiated marketing. Coca Cola zero is targeted towards the heath conscious people. It
is a calorie free coke for the middle aged people who are not willing to get attached to
weights. On the other hand, coca cola light is the sugar free coke for the people with high
blood sugar problems.

Concentrated marketing: Coca Cola Vanilla, Coca Cola Cherry and all the others flavors of
Coca Cola are considered as concentrated marketing as it is the targeted towards the people
who don’t like the classic taste of Coca cola and wants some additional flavor in it.

Micro marketing: Coca Cola also offers some micro marketing. It also has tried to make their
product a gift or a wishing source for close people. So it has all labeled thanks up notes in
the bottles of Coca Cola and mentioned few important relations of the customer’s life.

POSITIONING:

Coca Cola position it's products as refreshing and thirst quenching. The Coca-Cola brand has
turned out to be one of the most recognizable and a popular brand of all times and their
beverage company is among the world's largest beverage companies. They have become a
successful brand since they have used a number of different brand management strategies
depending on the market situation and target market. Coca Cola has strategically positioned
itself within the world soft drink market. Coca is thus willing to keep the same core product
which is coke, but it adapts the offer to local needs. They use strategic positioning in order
to have the same image all around the world, which is a success because it is perceived
today as a part of daily life everywhere. This perception of the brand by the consumer leads
to a high degree of loyalty and makes the purchasing decision more automatic. The products
are associated with having a good time with friends and family and enjoying everyday life.
When the name of Coke is mentioned, the first thing that comes into mind is fun and
entertainment.

8
MARKETING MIX STRATEGIES

PRODUCT

Coca Cola is a carbonated soft drink that is 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. The Coca-Cola formula is The Coca-Cola Company's secret
recipe. The company’s formula is one of the most closely held trade secrets& only a few
employees know about it and have access to it. The company Coca-Cola is a multinational
company and it is not limited to one product. Through the years they have invented and
introduced many products along with their main cola drinks. The company has the widest
portfolio in beverage industry comprising of 3300 products. Beverages are divided into diet
category, 100% fruit juices, fruit drinks, water, energy drinks, tea and coffee etc. As per
Nielson’s data, Coca cola is the No.1 brand in sparkling beverages, juice, and retail packaged
water in 2010. In Bangladesh Coca-Cola sells different varieties and versions of product, for
example: Coca-Cola, Coke Diet, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Light, Sprite, Fanta, etc.Coca-Cola
offers two different sweet and flavored cola in our country. One is normal cola and another
is diet Cola. Coca-Cola does not change its taste frequently. It has many nutritional values
similar to Pepsi. Coca-Cola products are sold in various packages & sizes. For example, its
main product Coke is sold in 250ml, 500ml, 1ltr, 1.5ltt and 2ltr bottles in cans, glass and
plastic bottles so that every possible target can afford it. The Coca-Cola bottles also have
unique shapes so that it can attract customers.

PLACE

In marketing place is one of the main parts of 4P. It can mean location, an industry, a group
of people (a segment) to whom a company wants to sell its products or services. Coca Cola
are in the market for more than 130 years and operating all over the world, it has developed
excessive distribution network. Coca Cola follows the FMCG distribution method. The
effective distribution network of coke has almost thrown away the small and middle level
players in the market. The Coca Cola Company produces the beverage using its secret

9
formula and transports it to the various parts of the globe. Coca Cola has an extensive
distribution channel and its products are available in almost all retail outlets and
supermarkets, malls, general stores, restaurants across the globe. In India Coca Cola
products are made available across 2.5 million outlets. Coca-Cola also distributes its product
through various hotels and chain restaurants.

PRICE

Coca-Cola ruled the market before Pepsi entered. That time they used the cost based
pricing, i.e. it was decided on the cost which was spent on making the product plus the
profit and other expenses. But after the rise of other companies especially Pepsi, Coca-Cola
started with a pricing strategy based on the basis of competition.

Now Coca Cola follows a 2nd degree price discrimination strategy in its marketing mix. As
the availability of wide range products the pricing is done according to the market and
geographic segmentation. Because if Coca Cola set the price its products too high as
compared to Pepsi in a particular segment, then the consumers might switch to the
competitor. Especially in developing countries where the consumers are very price sensitive.
We can say it as market penetration strategy also. For example Coke has brought a
revolution in sub-continent especially in Bangladesh market with the 15 taka pricing strategy
which was very famous. This campaign was very successful especially with the price
conscious consumers. Beside these Coca-Cola offers discounts on bulk purchases by
sometimes even bundling the products.

Price Comparison

Pepsi Price Coca Cola Price

(Taka) (Taka)

2 liter 100 2 liter 100

1 liter 60 1.25 liter 65

10
500ml/ 500ml diet 25 600ml/ 600ml diet 32

Can 250ml 35 400ml 22

Can diet 250ml 35 Can 250ml 25

250ml/ 250ml diet(Bottle) 15 Can diet 250ml 35

PROMOTION

Promotion is the final step of integrated marketing program, in short 4P. Coca-Cola sets the
bench mark for advertising and branding. It always adopts various advertising and
promotional strategies to create an increased demand in the market by associating with life
style, behavior and mainly targeting value based advertising.

Advertisement: They choose standard banner and color to advertise. Sometimes we see
different advertisements of its products with slogans such as “Opening happiness”, “Joy of
mind” etc. They also advertise its products through social networks.

 Buzz Marketing: Coca Cola have made some events such as ‘Coke quiz’ to promote
its products in different universities of Bangladesh. The main theme of coca cola is
“open happiness”. Coca cola spends billions of dollars to try to influence the new
generation and young boys and girls by giving varieties of advertisement and taste.
Every year coca cola spends lots of dollars to make a different creative slogan, theme
for the target that they want to serve.

Discount & allowance: Coca-Cola allows price discounts, allowances to the customer and
credit terms and payment period for the stores and Restaurants and to the distributors and
retailers so that they can push more products into the market. They offer promotional
pricing, occasional pricing, festival pricing frequently. For example in Ramadan Coca Cola
reduces its rate unto 3 taka on 1.5 liter bottle. Furthermore, they offers discounts in a family
size bottle, buy 1 family size and get a 250 ml free offer.

11
Promotion Mix Strategies: Coca Cola employs both push strategy through promotions and
pull strategy through advertisements and campaigns. Special incentives are given to the
distributors and retailers for pushing the products to customers. These distributors &
retailers are given refrigerators and Coca Cola hoardings for advertising the brand. At
supermarkets, special emphasis is given on the shelf spaces so that it can create more
visibility of its products to the customers.

Personal Communication: Coca-Cola promotes their products through celebrities,

ambassadors because through this they can reach to the mass quickly. For example: In
Bangladesh people are crazy about cricket. They follow their favorite players, their lifestyle,
their likes or dislikes. So recently Coca-Cola Bangladesh made Mustafizur Rahman their new
brand ambassador as he is the recent craze in Bangladesh.

Sponsorship: Coca Cola engages in many major sponsorship events globally like American
Idol, BET Network, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, Olympic Games, FIFA world cup 2010 etc. Coca-
Cola had launched a series of global TV ads, one of them featuring former Cameroon player
and Italia 90 hero Roger Mila, who was the oldest player in the tournament. He became
famous for his goal celebrations at the corner flag. The ad featured a special commissioned
song, called Wave & Flag, which will also be played online and at all Coca-Cola marketing
events.

Recently in Bangladesh Coca Cola sponsored a quiz competition called ‘The Coca-Cola
Bangladesh BhashaDibosh Quiz Promotion’. Where individuals, based on their skill,
knowledge and timing, had the opportunity to win Coca-Cola Merchandise.

Coca-Cola’s Message Content: Coca-Cola cares about their customer’s emotions, their life
stories and uses them to their promotional element. In USA recently Coca-Cola arranged a
campaign idea called “Message in a Bottle” to support their military veterans and active-
duty personnel. The Message in a Bottle campaign collected thousands of written messages
from people throughout the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest region of the United
States. Teammates at local Coca-Cola Consolidated branch offices packaged the messages
into 253ml Coca-Cola bottles, a new package size with less than 100 calories per bottle so

12
that it could be distributed via Coke Consolidated teammates and the USO to active-duty
military serving around the world.

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS

COMPETITOR:

Pepsi Co competes fiercely with Coca Cola Pepsi is a carbonated soft drinks produced and
manufactured by Pepsi Co .Originally created and developed in 1893 and introduced as
Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola on August 28, 1898, and then as Pepsi in 1961. It
is currently known in North America alternatively as Pepsi-Cola as of 2014.pepsi has huge
products like Caffeine Free Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi, Diet Pepsi Max, Jazz
Diet Pepsi, Diet Pepsi Lime, Diet Pepsi Vanilla, Pepsi Wild Cherry, Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry,
Pepsi ONE, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, Slice, Aquafina, 7 up, Kurkure, Layesetc. Pepsi Co. has a
net income of $6.33 billion.

SWOT ANALYSIS:

Strength:

Brand Equity: Coca cola with its vast global presence and unique brand identity is definitely
one of the costliest brands with the highest brand equity.

Company valuation: coca cola is one of the most valuable companies in the world. Coca cola
is valued around 79.2 billion dollars.

Vast global presence: Coca cola is present in 200 countries across the world. This vast global
presence of coca cola has also contributed to the building of the mammoth brand name.

Customer Loyalty: Coca cola has a lot of customer loyalty.  People always prefer these soft
drinks over others. Because of the good taste of Coca cola, finding substitutes becomes
difficult for the customer.

13
Distribution network: Coca cola has the largest distribution network because of
the demand in the market for its products. On the other hand, due to this successful
distribution network, Coca cola has been able to command such a high market presence.

Weakness:

Competition with Pepsi: Pepsi is a thorn in the flesh for Coca cola. Coca cola would have
been the clear market leaders had it not been for Pepsi. The competition in these two
brands is immense and we don’t think Pepsi will give up so easily.

Absence in health beverages: Carbonated beverages are one of the major reasons for fat
intake and Coca cola is the largest manufacturer of carbonated beverages. The inference is
that the consumption of beverages in developed countries might go down as people will
prefer a healthy alternative.

Harmful for health: The Coca Cola Company is considered to be high in calories and harmful
for health.

Opportunity:

Diversification – Diversification in the health and food business will improve the offerings of
Coca cola to their customers. This will also ensure that they get better revenue from existing
customers by cross selling their products. The supply chain which is distributing their
beverages can also distribute these snacks thereby sharing the load of Supply chain costs.

Packaged drinking water –With hygiene becoming a major factor in the consumption of

water, packaged drinking water has found its way into people’s mind. Coca cola has a
presence in the packed drinking water segment though Kinley.

Supply chain improvement –Supply chain can be a major cost sink hole with the
transportation costs always rising. Coca cola’s complete business is based on transportation
and distribution. Thus Coca cola should keep strict watch on its Supply chain and keep
improving to bring the cost down.

Market the lesser selling products –In the product portfolio of Coca cola, there are several
products which have not found acceptance in the market. Coca Cola needs to concentrate
14
on the marketing of these products as well. It is understood that Coca cola has made several
expenses to launch these products. Thus, the marketing and subsequent rise of sale of these
products will help revenue of Coca cola.

Threat:

Direct competitors: Pepsi, Mojo, Max Cola are direct competitors of coca cola. Indirect
competitors –Gloria jean’s coffee, TABAQ coffee, Popeyes coffee are on the rise. These
chains offer a healthy competition to Coca colas carbonated drinks. They might not be a big
competition for Coke, but they do give a dent to its beverage market. Similarly, health drinks
like Frooto and Frutika as well as energy drinks like speed and power are stealing away the
market share indirectly.

PRODUCT AND MARKET EXPANSION GRID

Market Penetration: This refers to offering existing product to the existing market. Coca Cola
classic is the market penetration product for Coca Cola. Carbonated Cola flavored beverage
is already present in the market, so the offering of Coca Cola is the same product to the
same group of customers. Thus it is considered as market penetration.

Product Development: This refers to offering a new product to the existing market. Coca
cola Vanilla, Coca Cola Cherry are considered as the product development of Coca Cola
because it a complete new product of coke compared to the classic coke as it has came up
with a unique flavor that is new in the market.

Market Development: This refers to offering the same product to the new group of
customers. Coca Cola Light and Coca Cola Zero is the market development product of Coca
Cola as Coke Light is for the people with high blood sugar problems and coke zero is a zero
calorie coke offered to health conscious people who are concerned about their health and is
not willing to get in touch with extra calorie. The target group of customers here are new
but the product is same old coke.

Diversification: This refers to offering a new product to a new market. Lip balms are a
differentiation for Coca Cola. It is coke flavored lip balm along with the flavor of cherry,

15
vanilla and all the flavor of beverage Coca Cola offers. This is generally targeted toward the
female. This is totally a new product for Coca Cola and the market is also new where Coca
Cola is entering.

CONCLUSION

Coca Cola is one of the famous global brand known by millions of people all over the world.
Its key to success is the quality of product which they have served creating a positive brand
image and goodwill over more than 125 years. Economies of scale and the intensive
connection with the total distribution channel have also played a vital role in their
marketing strategy. Marketing, advertisement and adoption of innovative techniques have
allowed them to win the hearts of millions of people. After evaluating the report we can see
that Coca Cola has used all its options to create a vital place in the market and in the minds
of customers. They have also retained their position by addicting the customers to the
brand and the products that are being produced and sold every single minute.

16
REFFERENCES
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309126383_Strategic_Marketing_Plan_for_Coca-Cola_-
_2016 [Accessed Aug 5, 2017]

http://www.assignmentsbox.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/The-Coca-Cola-Company-
Marketing-Strategy.pdf [Accessed Aug 3, 2017]

http://www.academia.edu/7569416/PROJECT_REPORT_ON_COCA-
COLA_COMPANY_SUBMITTED_BY_MUTHU_KUMARAN [Accessed Aug 5, 2017]

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309126383_Strategic_Marketing_Plan_for_Coca-
Cola_-_2016 [accessed Aug 6, 2017].

https://prezi.com/6rg4gmb3wmql/copy-of-marketing-segmentation/ [Accessed Aug 5, 2017]

https://prezi.com/40osq8p477ev/alshaya-case-presentation/ [Accessed Aug5, 2017]

http://www.notesdesk.com/notes/marketing/market-segmentation/ [accessed Aug 5’ 2017]

https://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/chapter-6/deck/11583599 [accessed Aug 6, 2017]

https://quizlet.com/10024065/biz-346-chp-7-quiz-2-flash-cards/ [Accessed Aug 6, 2017]

http://elbaz-coca-cola.blogspot.com/2011/11/ch-8-segmenting-and-targeting-markets.html
[Accessed Aug 6, 2017]

https://www.forbes.com/companies/coca-cola/ [Accessed Aug 6, 2017]

http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/mission-vision-and-values [Accessed Aug 7, 2017]

http://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/products/16786-coca-cola.html [Accessed Aug 7, 2017]

https://www.slideshare.net/RishebhClement/marketing-mix-coca-cola [Accessed Aug 8, 2017]

http://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/products/16786-coca-cola.html [Accessed Aug 8, 2017]

http://www.cricketcountry.com/news/mustafizur-rahman-named-brand-ambassador-of-coca-cola-
bangladesh-402567 [Accessed Aug 8, 2017]

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/coca-cola-set-2010-world-cup-celebration/939874 [Accessed
Aug 8, 2017]

17
http://www.coca-cola.com.bd/bn/bangladesh/ [Accessed Aug 8, 2017]

http://www.cokeconsolidated.com/community-article/message-in-a-bottle [Accessed Aug 8, 2017]

18