Coca-Cola International Marketing - Case Study Example

COCA-COLA INTERNATIONAL MARKETING By Location Coca-Cola international marketing Coca-Cola is the most known global producer of beverage. The company is best known for the production of a carbonated drink by the name Coca-Cola. However, this is not the only product that the company produces. The company operates in a franchise distribution system that ensures that their products are available in all parts of the world. Coca-Cola is a carbonated drink that can be found in stores restaurants and vending machines. This product is commonly referred to as “coke”. Coke’s market dominance is believed to be a result of the strategic marketing by the company. The company only produces concentrate then distributes them to bottlers who do the rest of the work. The bottlers use a combination of the concentrate from the company,Caramel colour (E150d), Caffeine, carbonated water,Phosphoric acid and sweetener to produce the end product which always comes in either a bottle or can (Lopez 2012, p. 222). The amount of sweetener used for Coke usually differs depending on the region that the bottler is based. This paper aims at discussing the international marketing strategy for Coke, with specific attention on Kenya and the US. One thing that should be noted at the beginning of the comparison between the advertisement campaigns used in the US and Kenya is the fact that these two countries have cultural differences. There are many differences in the cultures of the people from the two countries. However, only the differences that might affect the choice of advertising campaign will be discussed herein. One of the relevant differences in the two cultures can be seen in their eating habit. Unlike, people in the US Nigerians have specific meal times with meals being taken three times in a day. During meals the people of Nigeria rarely involve drinks they only drink after they are through with their meals. Another thing that should be taken in consideration is the fact that the Nigerian people have their own form of English that is known as Pidgin English. This form or English is more popular than the American English in Nigeria. Unlike in the US, Muslim is the most popular religion in Nigeria. 50% of the population is Muslim while 40% are Christians (Aig-Imoukhuede 1992, p. 111). The remaining 10% are distributed to the other religions. While American football might be the most popular sport in the United States of America, many people in Nigeria would prefer soccer to any other sport(Falola 2001, p. 165). Another notable difference between the two countries is their clothing. The Nigerian cultural clothing is highly trendy. Their most common form of clothing is known as “Buba”, which is a loose fitting long sleeved blouse or shirt (Osuntokun & Olukoju 1997, p. 187). Their culture believes in clothing that are less revealing. America on the other hand has no such restriction in clothing. Most of the people in America usually choose their clothes on the basis of the fashion that is trending and the suitability of the cloth to their physical features. The differences in the cultures in the two countries always determine the advertisement campaigns that are used in the two countries. This is because the cultural differences might make some advertisement campaigns successful in one country and unsuccessful in another country. An example of an advertisement campaign in the US is the “kissed by” campaigns. The term “kissing” in this scenario is used in reference to that instance that the coke bottle or can is in contact with the lips of anyone taking “Coke” (Michman, Mazze & Greco 2003, p. 210). This campaign makes use of celebrity figures such as Marilyn Monroe Ray Charles, and Elvis Presley. Being kissed by a Coca-Cola bottle in this case, simply implies the act of taking a sip from a bottle of coke. The advertisement campaign is aimed at showing the level to which “Coke” is special. The classic images of these celebrities having a good time with “Coke” are featured in films, music, and social history. There is a reason as to why this advertisement campaign is doing well in the United States of America. One of the reasons as to why this campaign is doing well is the fact that it makes use of the pop culture. The pop culture has grown to be a significant part of the American society. The use of pop artists is aimed at bringing out the special aspect of the product. This can be seen as a form of celebrity endorsement because of the involved celebrity (Ferrell & Hartline 2008, p. 201). The advertisement is likely to attract people who adore the celebrities that are used in this advertisement. This campaign would not have done well in Nigeria because of the fact that kissing is not a popular aspect of their culture. Apart from those people who have been affected by the spread of western culture, many people in Nigeria would dismiss this advertising campaign as gross without taking their time to know what it is about. This implies that the name given to the advertising campaign might fail to be captivating for many people in Nigeria. In Nigeria one of the advertising campaigns that have been used by Coca-Cola is the “Africa let’s go crazy” campaign. This is a campaign that did very well in Africa by focusing on the various ways in which Africans think that they are different from the rest of the world. The advertisement basically focuses on the ability of common individual’s showing uncommon acts of kindness. The advertisement focuses on people who have the ability to show kindness to people who are complete strangers. The people involved in the advertisement are not celebrities but just common people (Mennen 2010, p. 199). The advertisement was in the form of a video commercial that was aired on national televisions. The term “crazy” in this context is used in reference to the things that are done by the casts of the advertisements showing acts of kindness to people that they are strangers. The advertisement campaign presents a picture of happiness and joy. The catchiest thing about this advertisingcampaign is the fact that it is able to bring out some aspects of the African society. Africans have always been famous for their unique way of life. The advertisement takes advantage of this uniqueness to increase the consumption of Coke in Nigeria and the rest of Africa (Butler &Tischler 2015, p. 212). The campaign is successful in doing this by focusing on the positive aspects of the unique aspects of the African lives. The specific quality that is focused on in this case is kindness. This campaign is aimed at making people of Nigeria and the rest to feel special thus making Coke more appreciated in the region. No one does not like being unique in a good way. By letting their targeted market that they are appreciated for being different and kind, the Coca-Cola Company was aiming at making sure that people would consume more of the product (Falola 2001, p. 206). The phrase, “I am the crazy one who shares a coke with strangers” is believed to be strategically used in order to increase the rate at which people in this country and other parts of Africa share a bottle of coke with each other. This will lead to an increase in the quantities of the product that are sold in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. According to the international communication process, it is clearly evident that Pepsi Cola one of the direct competitors of Coca-Colahas not done much to win the Nigerian market. This implies that the advertising campaign is likely to be successful without much competition in the Nigerian market. However, this is not the case in the United States of America.However, this is not the case in the US as Pepsi has been evidently keen on the American market. Pepsi is the main competitor of Coca-ColaCompany in the beverage production industry (Gillespie & Hennessey 2011, p. 176). Pepsi has had their advertisement campaigns in the US. One of such advertisement campaigns is the” Pepsi-America’s choice” (Young-Witzel&Witzel 2013, p. 167). In both cases, it can be said that the customers from both Nigeria and the United States of America responded positively to the advertising campaigns used by the Coca-Cola Company to promote coke in both countries. This can be proved by the fact that there was a general increase in the consumption of Coke in both countries as a result of the two advertising campaigns (Baines, Fill & Page 2010, p. 184). This is attributed to the fact that they chose a perfect message for both scenarios. The encoding of the message was perfect because it made it easier populations in the two countries to familiarize with the product. As seen herein, the meaning of the messages that was communicated to the customers in both cases were relevant and carefully chosen according to the differences in the cultures of the people in the countries that this paper has discussed. Bibliography Aig-Imoukhuede, F 1992, A Handbook of Nigerian culture, The Dept. of Culture, Federal Ministry of Culture & Social Welfare, [Ibeja, Nigeria]. Baines, P, Fill, C & Page, K 2010,Marketing, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Butler, D & Tischler, L 2015, Design to grow: how Coca-Cola learned to combine scale and agility (and how you can too). http://www.contentreserve.com/TitleInfo.asp?ID={364326F7-DC2A-41B1-A267-D3E377996633}&Format=410. Elmore, BJ 2015,Citizen Coke: the making of Coca-Cola capitalism. Falola, T 2001,Culture and customs of Nigeria, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. [u.a.]. Ferrell, OC & Hartline, MD 2008, Marketing strategy, Thomson South-Western, Mason, OH. Gillespie, K & Hennessey, HD 2011, Global marketing, South-Western Cengage Learning, Australia. Lopez, D 2012, Brand Development of Coca-Cola Company (UK) Exploring new branding opportunities for Coca-Cola Company (UK), GRIN Verlag GmbH, München. Mennen, M 2010,An investigation into the role of emotional branding in the cola market with particular reference to Coca-Cola, GRIN Verlag GmbH, München. Michman, RD, Mazze, EM & Greco, AJ 2003, Lifestyle marketing: reaching the new American consumer,Praeger, Westport, Conn. 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