Coca cola company marketing strategy

The position of being a global leader in beverage manufacturing has taken a lot of work. Coca-Cola has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the mid-1880s when the brand was at its infancy in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. John Pemberton has to be credited for his “cough syrup” formula that later became to be known as Coca-Coca (Bellis, 2018). Pemberton did not live to see the growth and development of his product as he died in 1888. In an effort to remain authentic and counter competition, the contoured bottle was introduced in 1916 and patented in 1917 by the bottling company (Bodden, 2011). Since then, the organization has expanded to employ thousands across the globe in approximately 200 countries. 0 The Concept of a Marketing Strategy A marketing strategy is a long term of attaining a sustainable competitive advantage.

All categories of enterprises have a marketing strategy that often determines their tenacity in the industries they operate. Marketing strategies have to reflect organizational goals and objectives. The four P's in marketing are the product, price, place, and promotion. The four components are the areas marketing managers have to focus on when rolling out a new product or when re-branding (Kiiru, Makokha, & Gichuhi, 2017). A product refers to either goods or services offered by a business to its consumers. Apart from the product, there are several elements associated with it. These components include quality, features, options, warranties, and brand name. This is not to rule out that Coca-Cola faces challenges in several countries where it is yet to get a significant market share.

For instance, Coca-Cola is struggling to infiltrate the Pakistan market, where its rival Pepsi is the preferred brand with Coca-Cola being second. Nonetheless, Coca-Cola enjoys a monopoly of approximately 49% of the global market share, where Pepsi comes second at an estimated 21% (Kumar, Mujtaba, & Jumani, 2016). Pepsi remains to be the closest competitor of Coca-Cola. From a general perspective, Coca-Cola’s four Ps of the marketing mix can be summarized as discussed herein. Coca-Cola has a long term pricing strategy, which is value-oriented (Ciafone, 2019). In spite of being the leading beverage brand, the company maintains relatively affordable rates that accommodate a majority of the middle class, which forms a notable share of the target market. Fierce competition from Pepsi has ensured that Coca-Cola prices its products reasonably and not exploit consumers.

In 2011, Coca-Cola had to handle criticism from shareholders in the United States who complained about the organization’s prices remaining low despite the global economic recession at the time (Ciafone, 2019). The incident highlighted the risk of a company running price-driven strategies. During the 1970s, Coca-Cola was linked to people feeling happy and having a good time. The mottos, “I would like to buy the world a Coke,” and “Buy a Coke and Smile” were popular during the period. In 1993 the brand opted for TV commercials with animations of polar bears. The initiative received a cordial reception from the consumers hence making it one of the most successful advertisement campaigns by Coca-Cola. The commercial was tagged “Always Coca-Cola” in its backyard America and later changed to “Open the Happiness” in 2009 at the international scale.

All the advertisements are created by an in-house team that is knowledgeable about the corporate culture as well as its goals and objectives. To appeal to different sections of its client base, the firm creates tailored campaigns with the same motto (Ciafone, 2019). Commercials in Africa will feature African characters, and those in Asian countries will feature people from the region. Besides, the local language will be used as well. Swahili is adapted for countries that speak it while Spanish is used for states that have it as their official language. Coca-Cola uses the Adaptive Cycle for Resilience model to maintain an equilibrium and protect its market share. Primarily, it has reorganization through new combinations to realize stability (Vaver, 2014). References Bellis, M.