The Application of Marketing - PARTA -The tools of Marketing - Essay Example

The Application of Marketing - PARTA -The tools of Marketing Introduction: According to Groucutt, 2005, p. 208, “promotion is an all-encompassing word that describes the tactics used by organizations to raise and sustain the profile of their product or service in the mind of the customer.” The three key techniques involved in these tactics are advertisement, public relations and sales promotion that target achieving the objectives of creating a primary demand in the market; creating brand awareness; enhancing attitudes and influencing intentions of potential customers and facilitating purchase (Groucutt, 2005).

Using the Tools of Marketing: Advertising, public relations and sales promotion as tools of marketing have their strengths and weaknesses. For example, advertising is a powerful means to reach out to customers, but it is expensive and needs to use the right media and the right message for effective results on the vast resources expended on it. Public relations is a more subtle approach useful in managing issues of public concern and top level messages, but suffers from the deficiencies of requiring professional support and difficulty in evaluating its impact.

Sales promotion is an effective means of addressing a particular target market, whose impact on the objective of increased sales can be measured, and enhances sales channel commitment to the product. However, it suffers from the deficiencies of forecasting problems, with the effect being only as long as the sales promotion lasts and the possibility of brand devaluation, particularly if price is a part of the sales promotion strategy. Yet, when used in conjunction these tools of marketing can be an effective to achieving the marketing objectives for a product (Cheverton, 2006).

In 2003, Coca-Cola along with its competitor Pepsi ran into trouble on India, when the environmental NGO, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE report) released a report that the presence of pesticides in the soft drinks exceeded the European standards (Vedwan, 2007). Coca-Cola attempted to negate the effect of this accusation by running advertisements using film stars to indicate that their production infrastructure and methods provided soft drinks that were pure for consumption. In addition they ran a sales promotion campaigning giving 50 ml more of soft drink at no extra cost.

These efforts failed, though Coca-Cola was not at fault for the CSE report on the presence of pesticides in the soft drinks and their market share dropped. There was more faith in the non-profit making report than in the claims of the profit making multi-national giant and went to show the inept handling of the situation by Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola in Hot water). Shortly afterwards Coca-Cola ran into its second controversy in India and this time with its green critics on the issue of using up fresh water in drought prone areas making he poor villages in those areas bereft of fresh water.

This time around, besides advertisements and sales promotions, Coca-Cola turned to adding public relations also in an attempt to refurbish its damaged brand image. Coca-Cola went on a detailed assessment of the water risks posed by its production facilities to the surrounding villages in India and then in conjunction with the United Nations agencies and the non-governmental groups like World Wildlife Fund and CARE worked out a plan to harvest rainwater to offset any risk posed to fresh water availability to the poor villages in India.

This time around, making use of the three tools of marketing in conjunction Coca-Cola was able to offset any bad publicity that could have resulted from the issue of depriving poor drought prone Indian villages of fresh water and instead enhanced its brand image and created an image of corporate social responsibility (Coca-Cola in Hot water).Conclusion: This example of Coca-Cola in India demonstrates that use of the three tools of marketing in the form of advertising, public relations and sales promotion in conjunction assist in sustaining the profile of a product in the minds of customers.

Literary References ‘Coca-Cola in hot water’. (2005). The Economist. Economist.com. [Online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4492835 (Accessed on May 30, 2008). Cheverton, Peter. 2006, Key Marketing Skills, BookPower Edition, Kogan Page Limited, London.Groucutt, Jonathan. 2005, Foundations of Marketing, PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, Hampshire. Vedwan, Neeraj. 2007, ‘PESTICIDES IN COCA-COLA AND PEPSI: Brand Image and Public Interest in Globalizing India’, Cultural Anthropology, vol.22, no.4, pp.659-684.