Assignment on

Digital marketing for

The Coca-Cola Company
in the Context of Russia & Bangladesh

Submitted to
Dr. Abureza M. Muzareba
School of Business
North South University

Submitted by
Safa Jahangir
ID: 1835194660
Course: MKT628
Section: 2

Date of Submission: 4th June, 2020

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Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3
History of Coca Cola.....................................................................................................................3
Coca-Cola’s Business in Russia.........................................................................................................3
Coca Cola in Bangladesh..................................................................................................................4
Products...........................................................................................................................................4
Segmentation...................................................................................................................................5
Geographic Segmentation...........................................................................................................5
Place of Consumption..................................................................................................................5
Product type.................................................................................................................................6
Demographics..............................................................................................................................6
Targeting..........................................................................................................................................6
Positioning.......................................................................................................................................6
Persona of Target Customer Group.................................................................................................7
Change due to Pandemic Situation.................................................................................................7
Customer Behavior Has Shifted...................................................................................................7
Consumers Have a Whole New Set of Needs..............................................................................8
Empathetic Targeting Around the Occasions..............................................................................8
Offering & Pricing.............................................................................................................................8
Omnichannel Distribution...............................................................................................................9
Sensitivity of Marketing Communication......................................................................................10
Coca Cola’s Stand against Covid-19 in Russia............................................................................10
Coca Cola’s Stand against Covid-19 in Bangladesh....................................................................12
Digital Marketing Mix....................................................................................................................13
Owned media.............................................................................................................................13
Earned media.............................................................................................................................13
Paid media..................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................16
Reference.......................................................................................................................................18

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 Introduction

Coca Cola the largest beverage company of the world is often associated with happiness. Their
communication directly reflects the consumers’ sentiments. The company’s builds their
marketing strategy based on a concept of happiness, togetherness and joy. This idea in a whole is
emphasized in every form of marketing. The secret to its success is still unknown in formula.
Today, after 134 years, the daily number of consumptions is still increasing. Up until now, 1.9
billion servings of the company’s products are sold all around the world. So, let’s dig deep into
the digital marketing success of Coca-Cola and analyze the unique strategies of the brand with
the comparison in between Russia and Bangladesh.

History of Coca Cola

Coca Cola started its journey in 1886. A pharmacist from Atlanta, Dr. John Pemberta mixed some
chemicals together and took the mixture to a friends’ chemist and mixed it with carbonated
water. Few customers sampled the drink and were amazed at the superior taste. They
immediately denoted it as a novel drink that has never been tested before. Dr Pemberton began to
produce Coca Cola syrup for sale in fountain drinks. In 1887, he patented it and in 1893 it was
registered as a trademark. By 1895 Coca Cola was being sold in every state of the USA. The
bottling business started in 1899, when a businessman from Chattanooga, Benjamin F. Thomas
and a lawyer from Mississippi, Joseph B. Whitehead bought the franchise of bottled Coca Cola
operation. Initially the company was capitalized at $100,000 and in 1892the Coca-Cola
Company was sold in 1919 for $25 million to a group of investors led by Atlanta businessman
Ernest Woodruff. His son, Robert Winship Woodruff, led the company as president three
decades.

Coca-Cola’s Business in Russia

Coca-Cola’s entry into the Russian market in the early 1990s was very bold and impressive. As a
foreign investor, they faced significant amount of risk and barriers but their clear strategy helped
them to become successful in the Russian market. Initially, a lot of factors like high tax,
bureaucracy, systemic corruption discouraged them to operate. But with persistent effort on
building a strong relationship with government the company overcame these challenges. Even
after the tough business environment, Coca Cola continues to stand as the market leader. The
basis of their success was built on undeniable commitment and proper business strategy.

Coca Cola is one of the leaders in soft drink market of Russia. Their system is made by Coca
Cola Company and Coca Cola HBC (Hellenic Bottling Company) Russia. They are one of the

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largest foreign investors of the country. They use up to 90% of local ingredients for their soft
drink manufacturing. Their contribution on Russian economy is more than 5.7 billion dollars.
The manufacturing wing of Coca Cola in Russia is designed with all modern facilities. They
employed 10,000 highly skilled executives and provides 60,000
other jobs in the industry related to them. Within Russia their products are mostly high quality
non- alcoholic beverages like Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Fanta, Sprite, Powerade, BonAqua,
Schweppes, Fruktime, Dobry, Rich, Moya Semya, Pulpy, Nestea, Fuze tea, Burn and Monster.

Coca Cola in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh coca Cola is controlled by Coca Cola Fareast Limited (CCFL), Atlanta, USA.
Coca Cola was launched in 1963 in Tejagaon area in East Pakistan. In 1972, when Bangladesh
Government was formed, they took over the company under Ministry of Industry. It was handed
over to “Mukti Joddha Kollan Trust” as an abounded property from the Ministry of Industry.
Initially the company has a facility where 50 bottles were produced per minute. In 1985, a new
facility was implemented at Chiriakhana Road that could make 250 bottles per minute. Due to
market expansion and increased consumer demand Coca-Cola Company had to introduce
another plant that can produce 500 bottle per minute (BPM). Currently Coca Cola is operating in
Bangladesh with total 7.25 acres of factory area. In Bangladesh there are two franchise company
that are authorized distributors of Coca Cola.They are- Tabani Beverage limited and Abdul
Monem Company Limited. Tabani Beverage produces and distributes Coca Cola drinks in
Dhaka and Rajshahi divisions. Abdul Monem started their operation in 1982 after they set the
plant of K. Rahman &Company. In 1987, the company made installed a new plant of 450 BPM
at Comilla. They were quite aggressive in establishing their market. So, they opened another
factory in Chittagong. Now-a- Days Abdul Monem company is handling the major portion of
Coca-Cola Company in Bangladesh. They went after heavy promotion of the Coca-Cola
Company around the whole country. Tabani Beverage and Abul Monem company introduced
Cart and Van for tasting and buying their product. This served as a innovative promotion tool.
People from the nearest localities were attracted to the Cola-Van and tasted their product.
Another popular way is to promote in Bangladesh is providing Coca Cola scripted refrigerator in
different departmental and grocery shops. Coca Cola corporate in Bangladesh is located at
Gulshan. From this year they are monitoring the supply chain management and the promotion by
their own with partnership with Pran Group.

Products

The Coca-Cola Company operates in more than 200 countries and markets nearly 500 brands and
more than 3,000 beverage products. These products include sparkling and still beverages, such as

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waters, 100 percent juices and juice drinks, teas, coffees, sports drinks and energy drinks. The
company has four of the world’s top five nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands: Coca-Cola,
Diet Coke, Sprite and Fanta.
 Coca-Cola is the most popular and biggest-selling soft drink in history, as well as the
best-known product in the world.
 Diet Coke was born in 1982 and quickly became the No. 1 sugar-free drink in diet-
conscious America. Known as Coca-Cola light in some countries, it’s now the No. 3 soft
drink in the world. Diet Coke is the drink for people who want no calories, but plenty of
taste. Available in the following flavors: Black Cherry Cola Vanilla, Cola, Cola Green
Tea, Cola Lemon, Cola Lemon Lime, Cola Lime, Cola Orange and Cola Raspberry.
 Coca-Cola Zero offers Coca-Cola taste with zero calories. Created with young adults in
mind, this soft drink is sweetened with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium
(Ace K).
 Coca-Cola Zero has been one of the most successful products launches in the company’s
history. In 2007, the company sold nearly 450 million cases globally. Put into
perspective, that’s roughly the same size as their total business in the Philippines, one of
their top 15 markets. As of September 2008, Coca-Cola Zero is available in more than
100 countries.

Segmentation

Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market of potential customers into groups, or
segments, based on different characteristics. The segments created are composed of consumers
who will respond similarly to marketing strategies and who share traits such as similar interests,
needs, or locations. This process is done to analyze and understand the target market, identify
opportunities and to avail competitive advantage against the brands working in the same field.
Coca-Cola targets the whole market rather than and particular segment of the population. But
they have different approaches for different market segment. The Coca Cola company segments
their customer base according to following factors.
Geographic Segmentation
Coca Cola divided their worldwide market into different geographies. Different regions fall
under different divisions. Head of each division reports to the parent company. The divisions are
given autonomy to run their respective operations. Coca-Cola provides value to its customers
with the promise of great taste to convince them to buy their products. The company has big
investment on advertisement of their products in different countries. The business operations are
divided into the following geographies: Eurasia and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North
America and Pacific.

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Place of Consumption
Coca cola segments the market depending on the place where people consume the beverage.
Usually the populated places like restaurant, university campus, railway station, movie theatre
etc. experiences the most consumption. More than 3000 cans are being sold at every store and
luncheonette and sports ground across the land
Product type
Coca Cola offers the customers two categories of products. Cola products and non- cola
products. Currently the majority of the revenue comes from the cola products. But the proportion
of non-cola products is increasing.
Demographics
Coca Cola’s segmentation on demographics depend on income as well as age. Even though the
company focuses on the entire population of the world, young generation is the key target market
of the company. Especially they put vending machines in schools to gain more profit.

Targeting

Coca Cola targets different segments with different marketing strategy. Primary market of Coca
Cola is young people of 10-25 years old. The secondary market includes people aging 25-40.
People with sweet tooth and preference of strong favor are the target segment of regular Cola
flavor. While releasing Diet- Coke, Coca Cola company was extra careful as it may weaken the
brand communication. The decision was made after the invention of aspartame, a better
sweetener than. Diet cola and its variants are targeted toward the health-conscious segment. Non-
cola drinks are targeted to a different segment who do not like cola flavor. Usually Sprite is
popular amongst teens and middle-aged people.

Positioning

Coca Cola creates a position as a refreshing drink that is supposed to be consumed in everyday
celebrations. It connects people emotionally and brings joy just like tagline goes- Little Drops of
Joy. Warren et al. (2001) claims that the positioning and strategy are being used in same
condition in all countries and it shows a global image of fun, good times and enjoyments.
The product also markets itself as consistent and high quality.

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 Persona of Target Customer Group

Data Type Preference

Demographic Age- 10- 25 (regular); 25-40+ (Diet coke),
Gender- Male (Energy drink/Coke Zero) and
women (Tea/Diet Coke)
Income: Low (returnable glass bottle)
Middle- Plastic PET bottle
High- Can
Family Size- 1L,2L,5L pack
Geographic 60% consumption in summer and 40% in
winter
Psychographic Young, mobile generation with modern and
busy lifestyle
Behavioral Occasion: holidays, party, celebration
Benefit: prizes on packaging

Change due to Pandemic Situation

Customer Behavior Has Shifted

Social distancing is a new concept for us. Self-Isolation has been an enormous lifestyle change
for the entire world. The brands need reconsider if their old segments are still relevant to the
market. Previously differentiating activities, behaviors or attributes may not be the same for
current situation. Many of the segments may merge or exchange in between. Inherent differences
across segments may not be applicable in the current environment. It creates a necessity to
change the current segmentation strategy.
Furthermore, the targeting strategy of the brands has change. As the fact that channel usage has
shifted. Most of the people are stuck at home and no way to get out and shop. Many shops and
stores across the country shut down temporarily. People are shopping online more frequently.
Streaming usage is through the roof, and people are spending more time on Netflix, YouTube,
social media and even watching more television. So, the traditional strategies driving where a
brand typically targets their segments may no longer be accurate.
For Coca Cola, the segment of people with fascination towards sweet food, soft drinks, strong
flavor, fast food has adopted new behavioral pattern. As Coronavirus has a high risk on people
with low immunity or health hazards, people in general are trying to become more health
conscious. So, the previous segment for regular coke might have shifted to diet coke now.

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Consumers Have a Whole New Set of Needs
In addition to completely twirling how consumers are spending their day-to-day life in general,
the Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding economic uncertainty has forced everyone to reassess
their needs and priorities for the near-future. They are postponing luxury product purchases and
prioritizing the daily essentials for survival, hygiene and sanity.
Besides social distancing, remote work and online school experiment has opened up a whole new
set of customer needs that need to be fulfilled. Most importantly, people are overwhelmed right
now, and any insensitive message can alter the brand image for worse.

Empathetic Targeting Around the Occasions

As the statistics go, COVID-19 has high mortality rate among older people. Marketers might
want to redesign their marketing approach for potentially sensitive people around occasions.
Usually the brand positions coke as an essential in an occasion or celebration. It has set itself as a
means of bringing people closer. But this time, the communication should not be bringing people
close. It would put them to risk. As an example, this Eid, Coke’s TVC should have shown how
people might connect over video chat to share happiness. It will keep them safe at home, which
exactly the message they should be delivering. Because this is such a highly emotional time for
many people. It is preferable to show empathy than being perceived as insensitive.

Offering & Pricing

Usually any kind natural disaster or economic depression comes with a price to pay for the
consumers. Coronavirus outbreak has caused a lot of product price to rise. But luckily, Coca
Cola our regular choice of soft drink is still available the same price as before. In all the local
departmental store and all the E-commerce grocery shops, the price did not vary at all.

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 Omnichannel Distribution

Omni-channel integrates sales and marketing to create a single e-commerce experience for the
customers across your brand. Omnichannel allows customers to purchase and communicate
natively wherever they prefer to browse or shop.
Now, the brand Coca Cola itself does not have omnichannel distribution. It does not have its own
retail website or android/iOS app for purchasing products. They work as traditional vendors or
distributors.

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In Bangladesh, people still have a chance to experience omnichannel distribution through e-
commerce platform. Due to lock down, people are not being able to visit the store to buy their
necessities. But they can visit certain grocery e-commerce websites as Chaldal.com,
meenaclcik.com, Shwapno.com for purchasing their needs. They can browse and shop and the
delivery boy will pick the product from their warehouse and deliver it to the customers’ address.
Pathao Tong, Foodpanda are app-based services who do the same. So, we can see the Coca Cola
company does not give us the experience to browse their website and purchase it from there. No
link in between the Coca Cola website and local E-commerce websites were found to call it an
omni channel distribution. But the ecommerce experience puts the customer in between the omni
channel and traditional distribution. In Russia, I did not find any e-commerce grocery shop
where coca cola was available. Majority of the websites were blocked.

However, in this pandemic situation, the volume of online sales has increased. The E-commerce
websites are assuring contactless delivery. And they are also providing their deliverymen gloves
and masks and give the customers guidance to keep distance during receiving the product. This
dituation has pushed the organizations to shift their traditional marketing to digital platform. So,
internet definitely playing a huge role. People now a dasy are becoming more tech savyy to keep
them updated and safe.

Sensitivity of Marketing Communication

Coca Cola’s Stand against Covid-19 in Russia

Currently the world is going through a pandemic situation. The world has not seen such a crisis
in hundred years. This outbreak has affected the economy of the world tremendously. People all
over the world are going through a nightmare.

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“We wholeheartedly sympathize with those who suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic, and
thank everyone who tirelessly fights for the health of people and the welfare of society.” Says the
Coca Cola Company website.
The Coca - Cola Company, The Coca - Cola Foundation, and their partnered distribution
companies has allotted more than 120 million dollars to help the victims of Corona Pandemic
throughout the world. These funds will be sent to their partners in different countries.
In Russia, they provide support in two major divisions - humanitarian and medical care. They are
working with different nonprofit organization

With the donation from the Coca - Cola Foundation, the Russian Red Cross, was able to
purchase ventilation machines for hospitals in Russian regions where they are critically in short
supply. In addition, colleagues from the Russian Red Cross used these funds to provide retired
and people from the least protected groups with humanitarian aid kits, which included drinks
from the company and other basic necessary things.
Coca Cola worked with various NGOs and commercial organizations to provide drinks to
underprivileged community.
They donated juices, drinking water, cold teas and their other drinks to the Rus Food Fund,
which provides targeted support to pensioners and people from socially disadvantaged groups.
They also handed over a separate batch of drinks for the fund's volunteers, who worked in
extreme pressure due to this pandemic period.
They supported the largest volunteer movement in Russia #We together, providing free drinks to
ten thousand volunteers in 10 different regions of Russia.
They took part in the charity program # MagnitZabot that was organized by the Magnit chain of
stores and sent the Dobry juices to the needy and pensioners in Tatarstan.

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They promise to continue to work in this direction to help medical and other organizations deal
with the threat.

Coca Cola’s Stand against Covid-19 in Bangladesh

Coca-Cola along with its partner CARE Bangladesh are supporting over 50,000 people
from underprivileged people. Their collaborated project is to provide the disadvantaged
communities with a month’s food ration. During corona outbreak, the income of all sort
of people has gone down. The poor are affected more in this as they do not usually have a
financial backup to go on with life. This donation will help them survive to survive from
hunger during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Coca-Cola gave a commitment to support the government with 11.5 crore BDT. This will
be a huge help for the ongoing efforts of Bangladesh Government against Covid-19, says
a press release.

The four-day relief distribution program was commenced shortly before the occasion of
Eid-ul-Fitr and continued till May 23 to cover major Covid-19 outbreak hotspots in the
country, including Dhaka, Gazipur, Mymensingh and Comilla.

The relief program supported 1,000 families consisting of 4,000 beneficiaries.

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Households and a month’s groceries were distributed. They also provided ‘dignity kits’
for women and adolescent girls that contained personal hygiene material such as facial
masks, soaps, and detergent, to meet their immediate needs and help them get through the
most difficult times. 

Digital Marketing Mix

Owned media

Owned media is a web property e.g. Official website that a company can control and is unique to
the brand. Channels like social media and blogs are extensions of the website

Earned media

If owned media sites are the destination then earned media is the vehicle that helps people get
there. Earned media is essentially online word of mouth, trendy ‘viral’ contents, mentions,
shares, reposts, reviews, recommendations etc. everything that engages target customer with the
brand.

Paid media

Paid media is a good way to promote content in order to drive earned media, as well as
direct traffic to owned media properties. Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter and LinkedIn offer advertising that could potentially help boost content as well as
the website. Another way to gain more exposure for your content is to pay influencers to
make contents for the products or services.

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In Bangladesh, we can see the official website, Facebook and Instagram pages of Coca cola has
made contents that aware and motivates the customers in this current situation. The citizens of
Bangladesh are even more active on social media due to lock down. As a result, the customer
engagement is even more when they post a video that hits public sentiment. Coca Cola official
has made a video to thank the front-line fighters of Covid-19 scenario and to show how people
all around the world are coping up with the situation. The video was published in the YouTube
channel and Facebook page of Coca Cola Bangladesh with Bengali captions. Audience seemed
to be sharing and commenting on the post which definitely is considered as both owned and
earned media. They might have sponsored the posts but that information is usually private. The
online media coverage they got during the donation with care Bangladesh can also be considered
as an earned media. A lot of online e.g. The independent bd, Dhaka Tribune, The Business
Standard etc. news portal published that news.

Figure: Posts taken from Official Website

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Figure: Earned Media, Engaging Posts

Figure: Owned Media, Facebook posts

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Figure: Owned Media, Youtube

Russia on the other hand, does not seem to have their game in the social media platform. They
have not made any content regarding Covid-19 scenario. But the details of humanitarian work
were described in their official website. Their official website a lot more functional, user friendly
and informative compared to the one in Bangladesh. So for Russia, owned media was doing all
the work. The bottom line stands the marketing communication of Coca Cola is more sensitive in
Bangladesh.

Conclusion

In conclusion we can say that, Coca-Cola is a successful product, not only because it has built a
recognizable logo and brand name, but mostly because it has created it’s position in the market
as a brand in a way that can take advantage of all the elements of marketing mix, i.e. product,
place price and promotion/distribution. So, it develops a brand personality and positions itself
out of the box. It offers the consumers a clear view their benefits and brand values. This leads to
increased brand loyalty and satisfaction.The Coca Cola Company is currently one of the biggest

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and most recognized soft beverage brands in the world. It has over 3000 products in in their line
and they operate in more than 200 countries. They have surely become a part of part of people’s
lives. The Coca Cola Company owes its success to their employees who dedicate their service to
uphold the companies values. Thus, the Cola-Cola Company takes cares of its employees in
return by creating a good working environment. The Coca-Cola Company understands that in
today’s business world
technology is very essential to compete with the competitors. Therefore, the Coca-Cola
Company uses different types of technology and business softwares to create databases and daily
operations and even in client relationships management. Being updated with the digitalization
process is what keeping them ahead of their competitors and holding their position in the world
market. Even though there has been certain marketing and operational changes in between
Russia and Bangladesh, in general Coca Cola has always been one of the most efficient global
brand till date.

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 Reference

Coca-Cola's Business in Russia. (n.d.). Retrieved June 4, 2020, from

https://studfile.net/preview/4656712/page:2/
Covid-19: Coca-Cola, CARE Bangladesh aid 50,000 people with ration. (2020, May 20).
Retrieved June 4, 2020, from https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2020/05/20/covid-19-
coca-cola-care-bangladesh-aid-50-000-people-with-ration
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https://en.gaidarforum.ru/about/partners/the-coca-cola-company/
Hays, C. (2004). Truth and Power at the Coca-Cola Company. Random House, Incorporated.
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