The Marketing Strategy of Coca-Cola - Article Example

The second of the 4 P’s i.e. the price of Coca-Cola is only $2 per bottle that contains 2 liters of the drink that essentially means a dollar a liter. However, the 2-liter bottle is available on sale in certain places for only $.99. Coca-Cola can be purchased from a variety of places ranging from petty tuck shops to large utility stores and gas stations, the place being the third P of marketing.
The fourth P i.e. promotion is the most important factor which Coca-Cola uses to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Coca-Cola is promoted in exciting ways. For instance, if a consumer manages to show a winning cap to a shopkeeper from one of the bottles the consumer has drunk before, he/she is entitled to a new free bottle. Coca-Cola also promotes its product by getting consumers free in the theme parks during the super bowl. The main product of Coca-Cola is the soft drink that is available in almost all countries around the globe at a very reasonable and affordable price. Coca-Cola adopts creative and innovative strategies to promote its products as will be discussed shortly. The product is equally popular among people of all ages except for infants. The competitive advantage of Coca-Cola is its innovation and corporate social responsibility.

Coca-Cola is undeniably the most popular and respectable brand that has gained global recognition since its inception in 1866. The unique marketing strategies of Coca-Cola since the time of its establishment of this company have left its competitors surprised. There has been a continuous modification in the brand positioning of Coca-Cola and its packaging over the decades. Coca-Cola has always aligned itself closely with innovation and consumer sophistication. Coca-Cola always associates itself with events of global significance especially sports that are watched all over the world in such creative ways as making songs. Factors commonly used in Coke branding include the feeling of happiness and unity that reflect in the songs and advertisements the company makes. The main themes of events that Coca-Cola focuses on and associates with include but are not limited to the connection of people by family, sports, culture, etc. Coca-Cola has a huge fan following on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter where they watch Coke videos and comment. The senior vice president of Coke, Wendy Clark said, “having all those fans respond to Coke is meaningful because fans are twice as likely to consume and 10 times more likely to purchase than non-fans” (Siddiqui).

Coca-Cola also takes care of the environment which is yet another way to brighten its image in the public eye. Corporate social responsibility is what provides Coca-Cola with a competitive advantage. This can be assessed from the recent pledge made by Coca-Cola to recycle the plastic bottles taken from the Olympics 2012 in London to produce 80 million new bottles of Coke within only a month and a half of the ceremony’s end. This plan is hoped to accommodate about one-fifth of the total waste generated during the Olympics games. In addition to this, Coca-Cola has introduced a Coke can that is white and shows pictures of polar bears to reassure its fans on Facebook that the proceeds from sales will be used to protect the habitat in the Arctic. These two measures are remarkably strong predictors of Coca-Cola’s seriousness about preserving the natural habitat and making the world a better place to live in. Such are the innovative ways that have made Coke an integral part of the life of consumers all over the world.