Sales Promotion and Advertising Presentation

Martha Martinez

University of Phoenix

07/17/2017

Coca Cola’s desired outcomes of its marketing communications program

In its marketing communication program, Coca-Cola uses different media that are, the internet, newspaper, televisions, magazines, radios, posters, and billboards. The company has launched its marketing communication program to achieve specific objectives. It is clear that as a business entity, the primary objective of the Coca-Cola Company is to maximize its profits. However, the company achieves these objectives in a number of ways. Firstly, it aims at creating awareness of its products. This is among the secondary objectives of Coca-Cola since the organization already has high-level brand recognition. Secondly, the organization aims at educating and informing its consumers since there are no educational or informal points associated with the Coca-Cola products. Thirdly, the campaigns aim at encouraging the liking of its products over that of its competitors. This is among the primary objectives of the Coca-Cola Company marketing campaign strives to achieve. Lastly, the company aims at encouraging the trial of its product among new potential consumers (Dudovskiy, 2015).

How these brands have remained strong and viable over the long term regarding the concepts of brand image and brand equity

Marketing brands is a very involving and sensitive affair since consumers keep changing their preferences and most people do not like advertisements. Therefore, for the Coca-Cola Company to stay strong and viable over the long-term period, it must be using the right strategies. First, it important to note that Coca-Cola has taken advantage of the fundamental shift that has taken place in the world today. Most people in the world watch You Tube videos as well as use the social media a lot. This company has over the years taken advantage of such fundamental shifts and adapting to different situations in order to allow it to sell its products. Secondly, the Coca-Cola Company has managed to embrace the customer experience approach. This organization has become very proactive in its marketing that it hosts its own talent show, The Coke Studio. This has enabled Coca-Cola to capture the attention of the youth and thus securing its future spot in the beverage industry. Typically, one can conclude that for a brand to remain strong and viable over a long period, it has to adapt to the market changes.

The role brand image plays in the advertising of a particular company's product or service

Branding is a concept that extends past the marketing of the brand name. An organization’s brand represents their market identity; what they do, who they are, their reputation for trustworthiness, the quality they provide, and much more. Consequently, a brand image is crucial to all businesses since it helps them in conjuring their messages instantly, enhancing credibility, motivating buyers, augmenting customer loyalty, as well as prompting an emotional affirmation from the customers. The use of brand images helps in influencing the decisions of a variety of customers and it is most effective when developing repeat business since any customer’s perception concerning a brand is largely informed by their previous experience with that brand. For customers, the brand image represents instant knowledge of an organization.

How this image compares to a competitor's image in the same industry

The main competitor of Coca-Cola is Pepsi and both companies have a great market share in the beverage industry. However, the companies portray their brand images differently. The Coca-Cola brand is more emotional oriented since the company markets its products based on family, love, and sharing. This is different from Pepsi who uses comedy, music, and high energy driven strategies in marketing their brands. The Coca-Cola marketing strategies embrace diversity and this is evident from one of their past slogans “I’d like to buy the world a Coke.” Furthermore, Coca-Cola has always been in one form or another in different countries across the globe (CokeSolutions, 2014). Even when not targeting global diversity, Coca-Cola possesses a very strong sense of community and overcoming hardships and differences through universal similarities like love for Coke. In addition, Coke has expressed the human experience over the past decades via a strong emphasis on families. This is quite contrary to Pepsi whose image appeals to children alone.

Does Coca-Cola use integrated marketing communications; if so, how?

The Coca-Cola Company greatly embraces integrated marketing communication and the components used by the company employ a mass media methodology that includes print media, television advertising, social media advertising, and banner advertising. This approach uses a marketing mix of advertising; web based interactive and social media marketing, direct marketing, and sales promotion. This Company’s advertising has historically been among the most prolific in the marketing history (Perner, 2008).

An overview indicating how effectively the company uses digital marketing, and how they might improve

It is evident that the Coca-Cola Company has achieved some notable success in digital marketing and because of this; the company is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Coca-Cola has ensured that it is in all popular social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The company’s marketing team actively participates and engages with its followers in order to keep the brand popular among its customers. The company has also used platforms such as You Tube to promote its products and events. The use of these kinds of media is cheaper for the company as compared to the use of conventional methods such as print media, television, and radio. Moreover, by the use of digital marketing, the Coca-Cola Company has managed to reach millions of people and thus increased its market share significantly.

References

CokeSolutions. (2014). Beverage Sales Strategies for Soft Drink Marketing. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from CokeSolutions: http://www.cokesolutions.com/MarketingTools/Pages/Site%20Pages/Strategies%20and%20Solutions.aspx

Dudovskiy, J. (2015). Coca-Cola Marketing Communications: A Critical Analysis. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from Research Methodology: http://research-methodology.net/coca-cola-marketing-communications-a-critical-analysis/

Perner, L. (2008). Promotion: Integrated Marketing Communication. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from ConsumerPsychologist: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/intro_Promotion.html