Evolution and Target Market of Coca-Cola Company - Essay Example

?Marketing Management Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Part Research Background 3 Coca Cola in Present 3 Evolution of Coca Cola Company 4 Target market 4 Competition positioned 5 Part 2: Application 5 Media Outlet and Celebrity 5 Other famous celebrity 5 Competition 6 Part 2 6 Prefer buying from websites 6 Bricks and Mortar establishment preferable 7 Online shopping and bricks and mortar 7 Reference 8 Part 1: Research Background Brand is a promise of satisfaction. It is the struggle between the producers and consumers to define the promise and its meaning (Healey, 2008, p.6). The brand selected for this project report is Coca Cola. It is a brand which has made its presence felt both in the national market as well as internationally. The brand has featured some famous personalities for promoting its brand. Coca Cola in Present Coca cola is the world’s largest manufacturer, distributer and marketer of non alcoholic beverages, which has its operation in more than 200 countries. It has introduced new variants to its category such as diet, vanilla and cherry coke. In the year 2002, the company launched new variant c2, which is a low carbohydrate cola, and an energy drink named Full Throttle. The following year, 2003, Coca Cola Company introduced coca cola lime, coca cola zero which was regarded as a low calorie beverage. The company also added a sugar free version of Full Throttle. In the year 2006, the company again introduced new product line which included regular and diet version of Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, energy sodas; Tom Standage, a social historian introduced Coca Cola as among the six beverages which have shaped the world. He was signed as an international symbol of freedom during the cold war in US. In 2007, the company had acquired Glaceau, which is a beverage company which produces flavored and vitamin water (Giebelhaus, 2008). The company has established a brand that is well renowned globally. Its distribution channel and the product are so huge that it cannot be duplicated. Coca cola has a competitive advantage over its competitors (Sander & Slatter, 2009, p.27). Coca cola has grown to be one of the ubiquitous brands with 1.7 million beverages being sold per day. Recently it had celebrated its 125 years of existence and has developed a recyclable merchandise to be used in grocery stores (The Coca Cola Company, 2011). Evolution of Coca Cola Company The company was started by Dr. John Pemberton who was an Atlanta pharmacist in the year 1886. Coca cola was used as a nerve and brain tonic. The first manufacturing plant was opened in 1884. Coca-Cola was sold to Ernest Woodruff for 25 million dollars. It was woodruff who introduced the first six bottle carton and also made it available in the vending machines in 1929. Promotional tools were used and the first advertisement was made in radio in 1930s following with a commercial advertisement in television in 1950. Currently Coca-Cola is advertised on five hundred TV channels globally. In 1985, Coca Cola Company introduced its diet coke. But the product did not do well in the market thus coke decided to change it to old coke. At present coca Cola is worth more than 58 million dollars. It has been the sponsor of Olympics for the past 65 years (Echeat, 2004). Target market The target market of coca cola is large. It is affordable by any level of income. It is consumed by both males and females. Consumers who drink coca cola are from the different sections from the VIPs to the celebrities to the common people. Coca cola has targeted that section of people who enjoys drinking soft drink and has made it as a part of their lifestyle. Coca cola diet is targeted for people who are older in age (Ma'arif, 2007, p.220). The target remains the same. It is targeted to both males and females and of all age groups. Competition positioned Soft drink needs to be carefully positioned with respect to competition as image is important when consumer chose a brand. Competitor of Coca Cola is Pepsi Cola. Both are trying to gain a competitive position in the cola market (Burrow, 2008, p.192). Coke has been introducing new flavors and campaign in order to stay ahead of Pepsi. Part 2: Application Media Outlet and Celebrity Since coca cola is a brand which is widely accepted globally, celebrities who endorse the brand should also match its status. Some of the celebrity who has endorsed the brand is 50cent, a rapper, Penelope Cruz, an actor, Bill Gate a business man, Jennifer Lopez a singer to name a few. Television is the most appropriate media outlet for such an endorsement. In India, Coca Cola is endorsed by many celebrities from Amir Khan to Imran Khan to Sachin Tendulkar. Imran khan has been recently been associated with coke and this is because the company feels that he is a part of young brigade the generation next to drink coke. This is communicated to the consumers through advertisements. The most appealing celebrity would be Imran Khan as he is regarded as the generation next and connects with the audience not only the younger generation but people of all age group. Other famous celebrity Other celebrity that can be connected with coke would be players like Bret lee, Virat Kholi as they connect with consumers. Since cricketers are seen as god in India, the fan following for the brand is sure to exceed. Apart from the male celebrity females can also become a part of its campaign. As coke is consumed by females also, celebrities like Katrina Kaif and Salena Gomez can endorse the brand. Katrina is well famous in India as well as abroad and same with the American singer salena Gomez. Competition Cokes major competitor is Pepsi. Pepsi Company also endorses its brand through celebrities. One of the celebrities is Ranbir Kapoor. They go for endorsers who are actors to players. The half of the cricket tem endorses Pepsi. Players like Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni are all who endorses Pepsi. Thus coke and Pepsi faces stiff competition not only in manufacturing but also in promotional techniques. If Pepsi advertisement is shown ten times, Coke would double the rate of advertisements of what Pepsi has done and vice versa. Part 2 The age group of 18-25 years prefers to shop for online books rather than software. The reason being since it is the age group of youngsters, who are going to schools and colleges they prefer online books which helps them in acquiring a better knowledge in their respective fields. But the age group of 25-45 of years mostly prefers shopping for online software. Since they believe that the generation is tech savvy, and they tend to follow. But books are also preferred. People who enjoy reading would always prefer shopping for books rather than software. This is also the case with people of 45 and above years. They prefer shopping online for books rather than software. Prefer buying from websites The above surveyed people prefer buying from the websites and having products delivered. Since they do not have enough time to go and shop for their requirements. The online market is booming and it’s a growing tool for business. The consumers do not have to run for the product as the product gets delivered at their respective place. Bricks and Mortar establishment preferable Apart from the online shopping, the above respondent prefers shopping from bricks and mortar establishments, this is because they consider it more save and secure. The consumer can actually feel the experience of shopping which is not available through online shopping. Thus shopping at bricks and mortar are still preferred. Online shopping and bricks and mortar The respondent, surveyed, goes for online shopping as well as for bricks and mortar. The surveyed result have shown that almost every shoppers shops online and also through bricks. The age group of 45 years and above prefers the brick and mortar way of shopping as the products are physically available and less amount of risk is involved. The implication of sellers in the online market of the books section and software is widely high. Companies providing excess to books through the internet has succeed. This is because consumers prefer buying books and it is well bought over the internet or web (Kurtz, 2008, p.119). The same goes with the software. The online retailer offers a wide assortment than the physical stores. Companies like Amazon.com, flip kart are few examples of retail online industry which has achieved success. Reference Burrow, J.L. (2008). Marketing. Cengage Learning. Echeat. (2004). the Evolution of Coca Cola. Retrieved on October 20, 2011 from http://echeat.org/essay.php?t=28 . Giebelhaus, A.W. (2008). Coca-Cola Company. Retrieved on October 20, 2011 from http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/ArticlePrintable.jsp?id=h-1854. Healey, M. (2008). What is branding. Rockport Publishers. Kurtz, D.L. (2008). Contemporary Marketing. Cengage Learning. Ma'arif, N.N. (2007). Power of Marketing. Penerbit Salemba. Sander, P. & Slatter, J. (2009). The 100 Best Stocks You Can Buy 2010. Adams Media. The Coca Cola Company. (2011). our company. Retrieved on October 20, 2011 from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/index.html . Read More