Consumer Behavior of Coca-Cola Company - Essay Example

Consumer Behavior: Case Study Coca Cola Company The Coca Cola Company introduced “The arctic Home Campaign” in November last meant to run until March this year. The campaign was being run in conjunction with the World Wildlife fund (WWF) to help protect the polar bear’s arctic home. In this campaign the company decided to introduce temporarily a white can for its famous coke brand. The usual red cans were rebranded to white cans with images of white polar bears on them. The company for the first time in history changed its iconic red cans white in order to celebrate the polar bear and commit money to WWF’s conservation efforts (Coca Cola). Many consequences arose as a result of this move. The first consequence and a positive one is the fact that people accepted the move because they saw it as a way of environmental conservation. The negative consequences are seen it terms of the confusion it created. People could not differentiate the diet coke from the regular coke. Secondly, people were loyal to the red can and therefore changing to white was like playing with their minds and this made it difficult for them to even buy the drink (abc). The case of coca cola confirms the view that people buy products to satisfy their need. They attach a certain meaning to a give product and develop a relationship with the brand. They therefore become loyal to the brand and changing any aspect of it may anger consumers and the consequences may be dire for a company. People identify with their brands and in so doing develop a relationship with the brand to the extent that their beliefs and attitudes towards the product become permanent. A slight change becomes costly to the company (Helm). As discussed above, consumers often build relationships with products over time. These relationships are as a result of the beliefs and attitudes that they hold about a particular product or service. These attitudes and beliefs shape their perceptions about the product and its perceived value. The perceived value the customers attach to a product is as a result of the benefits that they get as a result of using the product. The product may perform relatively high above the performance of other competitive products or it may offer better service to them or even it may be of superior quality than competitive products. The difference may be small but this generates customer loyalty to the product and thus subsequent purchase of the product is guaranteed (Mullins and Walker 13-16). Product perception can be defined as the individual’s mental impression of a stimulus object in this case a product. People have different perceptions about products and no two people think alike about the same product. Perception is selective, is organized, and depends on personal and stimulus factors (Helm). It is important that companies build a brand and work on maintaining the brand and its associated images and product designs. A change in this creates conflict within the customer’s minds altering their beliefs and attitudes towards the product (Mullins and Walker 18). Some customers take time to adjust to the change will others fear change and therefore prefer to stick with what they know about their product. This was the case for Coca Cola and the white cans. The introduction of the white cans violated the expectations of the consumers and thus creating the confusion and this led to subsequent rejection of the white cans. This process of rejection of the white cans can be explained by the cognitive dissonance theory. According to this theory, there is always a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions that is their beliefs, opinions, attitudes etc. when there is an inconsistency between the attitudes or behaviors often referred to as dissonance, then something must change to eliminate the dissonance. In the case of a discrepancy between attitudes and behavior, it is most likely that the attitude will change to accommodate the behavior (Blythe 161-162). Two factors affect the strength of the dissonance: the number of dissonant beliefs, and the importance attached to each belief. There are three ways to eliminate the dissonance: (1) reduce the importance of the dissonant beliefs, (2) add more consonant beliefs that outweigh the dissonant beliefs or (3) change the dissonant beliefs so that they are no longer inconsistent (Blythe 163). Therefore dissonance is seen to occur in situations where an individual must choose between to incompatible beliefs or actions. The greatest dissonance is created when the two alternatives are equally attractive. In this respect attitude change is more likely in the direction of fewer incentives since this result in lower dissonance (Blythe 164). When coke consumers saw the white cans, they were presented with a mental conflict. There cognitions or beliefs in this respect showed that they knew or recognized their brand can as red. When the white one was introduced consumers had a mental discomfort because what was there contradicted with their beliefs. For those who were used to the dietary one, they still picked the white one because its color was consistent with the white one. Unfortunately it was not the product they wanted and thus ended up returning it. In the confusion the consumers want to eliminate the dissonance and therefore seek information. The end result we can see is that the consumers change their beliefs and start using the white cans amidst complains. It is therefore evident that consumers attach some affective aspect to their brands. These emotions result in a relationship that often exists between the consumer and the product (Helm). This relationship is as a result of many factors including how the product is packaged and the type of colors used in packaging the product. Messing with any of the components of the product means messing with the relationship that the customers have made with the product and therefore chances of losing them are very high for such a company. Based on this fact I would recommend that, first any company must recognize its unique selling proposition (USP) of their product or service. For example coke is a brand that has been identified with the color red for a very long time. Red is part of their USP and this must not be tempered with because it is what the customer values about the product. A change leads to customers believing that there is a change in the product components which may not be the case. Secondly a company must establish always provide information to its consumers about the introduction of something new that may alter the beliefs and attitudes they hold about the actual product. Coke failed here because it did not tell its consumers that they will be introducing the white cans in support of the arctic bears. Information reduces dissonance and therefore people are able to adapt quickly and adjust their beliefs about a new product. Third is that companies must always involve their customers in the production process by testing their perception of the intended new product. This will give them an idea of what will happen if the new product is introduced in the market. If the perception is negative it is better to stop the production before the consequences become unbearable. Works Cited abc. "Coke and Diet Coke cans should be polar Opposites, buyers say." 1 December 2011. abc News Online: Cnsumer Report. 17 February 2012 . Blythe, Jim. Consumer Behavior. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print Coca Cola. "Ionic Coca-Cola Red Cans Turn Arctic White." 25 October 2011. The Coca Cola Company. 17 February 2012 . Helm, Sabrina V. "Consumer Behaviour in Retailing." Lecture notes. Arizona: The University of Arizona, February 2012. Mullins, John W. and Orville C. Walker. Marketing Management: Astrategic Decisin Making Approach. 7th. London: McGraw Hill/Irwin Publishers Inc, 2010. Print. Read More

 

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