Major Aspects of Coke Advertising - Coursework Example

8th June Advertising Introduction With the increased stiff competition in the soft drink industry, Coca Cola Company, the leading brand in the local and international markets, has invested heavily on brand improvement and diversification. Apart from quality improvement, the company has also adopted extensive marketing strategies that have made it to effectively face off its competitors in the market. One of the notable brands that make Coca Cola Company to enjoy strong positive brand-consumer relationship is Coca Cola brand, which was innovated in 1886 by John Pemberton, a renowned pharmacist. The brand has continued to gain popularity in the global market based on its various strategies such as being involved in FIFA World Cup and environmental conservation among others. In order to ensure that the diversified needs of the consumers are met, Coca-Cola Company has established various Coca Cola brands that have different amount of sugar. Some of the notable brands include Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla, Coca-Cola Zero Caffeine-Free, and Coca-Cola Cherry Zero among others. Being one of the most consumed soft drink in the world, Coca-Cola strong awareness has been achieved due to the extensive promotion and advertising using various avenues. As a company with global distribution, Coca Cola Company advertises its top brand through online means, television adverts, newspapers, billboards, magazines and through participating in corporate social responsibilities. This paper aims at discussing one of the major adverts that the company initiated in 2015 during the celebration of 100 years since Coca-Cola effectively penetrated the market. The Coke advert Since Coca-Cola is one of the brands that are highly consumed regardless of the age of the consumers, it is advertised by young adults, old men and women. For example, during occasions such as Christmas, Father Christmas advertisements, which portray old men, are launched (August 16). However, it is imperative to note that in most of the Coca Cola brand adverts, a couple or a group of young people are involved. During the celebration of 100 years for Coca Cola bottle, the advert involved a young man and an attractive woman. This is an indication that the brand major target is young people. This advert indicates a moment of real deliciousness and refreshment that emerges once a bottle of Coca-Cola is consumed during the start of a new love affair. It indicates the crave and the satisfaction that is achieved once one spend a moment with his or her loved one. While in a well-decorated room, the couple seems to be enjoying their companionship, which is made stronger by the involvement of Coca Cola brand. One of the major aspects that make the couple to enjoy its association is love. The advert starts when the young man opens up the Coca Cola bottle and pours the content in his glass with half-full of ice. Once he pours the drink, the young woman who had no glass snatches the young man’s drink making the man to be surprised. The young woman however wins his heart, once a song is launched within the advert. The love song which goes as ‘nobody, nobody like you, nobody, nobody like you, the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you move’. The young man gaze at the woman as he takes the drink while the song is in the air, he looks to be admiring the young woman as she take the Coca Cola drink. The young couple, who have tender skins and blackish hair, makes the advert to be attractive. As the man is pouring the content, the bottle is portrayed to have a tough text, an indication that the brand is strong in the market and its rivals are not in a position to outdo it. One of the major aspects that this advert displays is that even though it only takes 31 seconds, it is very clear and the potential consumers can effectively get the message being delivered by it. The repetition adopted in the love song, that is ‘nobody, nobody like you, nobody, nobody like you’, has an emphasize that clearly indicate how the brand makes the partners and basically the consumers to have strong connection among themselves. In most of the Coca Cola advertisements, the company has emulated the word cool. In this advert, the use of ice depicts the coolness that emerges after consuming the Coke brand. As noted in the advert, there is a feeling of harmony. For instance, the top worn by the young man has a colour that is similar to his seat. Similarly, the top worn by the woman, her seat and the Coca Cola bottle have similar colours. This implies that during its designing and execution, the advert was effectively prepared making its composition to have a resourceful impact on the consumer loyalty. The use of palette is also noticeable in the advert. For instance, during the start, the Coca Cola bottle seems to have a maroon colour but as it continues, black, white, red and purple colours among other are noticed. As a result, the advert creates an attractive scenario that is associated to the physical attractiveness possessed by the young woman. The advert, which appears as a video in the Coca Cola Company website, is one of the current adverts that the company has used to indicate the strong connection created by its brands among the consumers locally and in the foreign markets. Importance of frontier As a company that has penetrated different cultures, Coca Cola has experienced various challenges especially in the developing markets. One of the notable buying patterns of the US consumers is that they highly value Coca Cola brands. Based on the support that the brand enjoys in the home market and the application of the frontier in the American culture the demand and sales volume in the local market are the highest globally. After being incorporated in 1892, Coca Company penetrated various markets. Coca Cola brand is distributed through the six operating groups that are involved in the Coca Cola Company business strategies. These include Latin America, Eurasia and Africa, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Bottling Investments. In order to ensure that it is in line with the requirement of the different cultures, the company undertakes an extensive market research. One of the cultures that significant impact on the distribution of Coke brand is India. Over the 200 countries where the brand is sold, India has the fastest growing market. However, the environmental implications have subjected the parent company in US to various protests and criticism. For example, some India communities indicate that Coca Cola Company production facilities have resulted into reduction of water supply resulting to virtual deserts in the farming communities. In 2004, more than 500 protestors rallied and condemned the company due to its excessive use of water among the Mehdiganj in Uttar Pradesh, Wada and Plachimada Bottling Investments in Kerala. While the US consumers would like more Coke production facilities to be established in US, there seems to be different views in some foreign communities. For example, due to water shortage in India, other local communities such as Tamil Nadu and Sivagangai were in forefront in opposing establishing of production facilities in their regions. To deal with the problems that were emanating from the Coke production in India, the Indian government shut down one of the Coke plants in the country. On its part, the company responded with claims of deceptive statements and public relations scam, but in the real sense the support that it enjoyed in this foreign market reduced. With the emerging new firms in the soft drink industry, due to its flexibility and lack of barriers to enter, the US will continue adopting the myth of American frontier. Gendering In the advert, the use of gender and sexuality is clearly portrayed. The ad, which covers a couple while starting their journey to a new love affair, is designed with images that associate Coca Cola brand with feelings of pleasure. The woman is represented as a beautiful sexy lady to make the ad be attractive. It is vital to note that if the woman was alone in this advert, it would not have stronger impact on the consumers. Thus, the young good-looking man is included in the advert. This implies that this ad goes beyond the statement sex sells. While the attractive young woman in this case provides sex, the young man is the receiver. The use of top with a red colour, which is an indication of love, the young woman makes herself to be appealing to the young man. The use of red top is a strategy to make the young man’s willingness to have sex with the young woman become stronger. If though sex sells, other aspects must accompany it. For example, slim and tall women appear sexy and in most adverts, like the one Coke is using, such women are used (Terry 23). Additionally, women with long flowing hair and men with well trimmed hair cut appear to have more urge of sex. Once the sexy women are involved in an advert, they are obliged to behave in a sexy way for example by kissing the product or the man while closing the eyes or making a catwalk. The young woman in the coke adverts is seen to be closing her eyes while taking the Coke and then smiles at the man after finishing it while a love song is on the air. The objective of making these moves by the women is order to make the advert have a real feelings and pleasure that couples experience while having sex. As noted by Craig in his article Men’s Men and Women’s Women, most women know that their appearances is possibly the crucial way by which men form opinion of women (Craig 192). The use of gender roles as noted by Craig in advertising is in line with Craig opinions, which are diverted towards gender images. Conclusion Advertisement is a marketing tool that cannot be overlooked by any firm that aims at remaining competitive. The use of gender images has for example become a marketing idea by soft drink companies such as Coca Cola. As noted in the paper, an effective add must have some notable aspect such as use of palette and lovely songs. Even though the statement sex sells is common among the marketers, advertisers must take into consideration such as who is providing the sex, how, why and who is receiving the sex among other aspects. As noted in the coke advert, the aspect of sex are evident, an aspect that makes one to like looking at the couple and especially the way the sexy lady is behaving herself. Works Cited August, W. Coca-Cola Company. Georgia Humanities Council.2008. Craig, S. (1990, December). A content analysis comparing gender images in network Document Reproduction Service Number ED 329 217.) television commercials aired in daytime, evening, and weekend telecasts. (ERIC Terry, M. Coke adds life to health drinks sector. Scotland On Sunday (UK). Coke ad. Available from http://www.coca-colacompany.com/videos/taste-ytg7vdcvej3h8. Read More