Chap 12: Services and Nonprofit Organization Marketing

Marketing Mix:

Product: Coca Cola is the number one brand in sparkling beverages, juice, and retail packaged water in the year 2010. The company has a product mix of 3,500 products, divided into diet category, fruit drinks, water, energy drinks, tea, and coffee.

Place: The company has its market presence in 200 countries around the world. The company distribution system follows the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) distribution pattern.

Promotion: The company spends lots of money to advertise their products such as on TV, audio and outdoors. Coca Cola also uses the internet to advertise their products and they also have their own website. The company uses social media to connect with the consumers such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Price: Since Coca Cola is in lots of places in the world, the pricing of the products is done according to the market and geographic segment. The company’s pricing strategy is based on the competitors pricing, such as Pepsi, Coca Cola’s direct competitor.

Chap 18: Social Media and Marketing

Coca Cola on Social Media

Coca Cola is one of the most recognized brands in the world who runs campaigns such as "share a coke" and current one "Taste the Feeling" to engage its audience and generate content that they can share, which is crowdsourcing. Coca Cola uses social media like Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Instagram having millions of followers. The company advertises their products on social media and also their own website which the company spends lots of money doing so.  Coca Cola has 3.2 million followers on twitter and uses this social media for direct engagement responding to feedback, complaints, and compliments. The biggest fan base for Coca Cola is on Facebook, having 82 million fans which the company promotes campaigns and brand initiatives like they do on Instagram. According to the Coca Cola website, the company has commitments concerning how they react with the public and also each other. Those commitments are being transparent in every social media engagement. The company wants to protect consumers privacy such as IT security policies, rules and regulations. Coca Cola also wants to respect copyrights, trademarks, and other third party rights. The company wants to be responsible in their use of technology and also monitor there behavior in social media space
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Chap 11: Developing and Managing Products

The Product Life Style For Coca-Cola

Introductory Stage: Coca Cola was created by Dr. John S Pemberton in 1886 and was first introduced as a soda fountain drink. The product at the time was sold for 5 cents a glass. Frank M. Robinson, which is Pemberton's partner and bookkeeper, suggested a name with c's which then led to "Coca-Cola."

Growth Stage: in 1888, Pemberton sold Coca-Cola to Asa Chandler. Chandler then formed the Coca-Cola Company in 1892 and then by 1895 the soft drink was made available to every state across america. As demand grew for coca cola, the production increased and then coca cola was made available in bottles rather than through soda fountains.


Maturity Stage: Coca-Cola is currently in this stage. Coca-Cola has developed new market strategies product improvement. Also the company entered new market segments and enlarged its distribution channels.

Chap 8: Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Coca Cola does not target a specific segment but the company adapts its marketing strategy by making new products. Segmentation helps the company define the appropriate products for specific customer groups. Coca-Cola develops a marketing mix for each of the segments. Now, Coca-Cola has a total of 3,500 products, providing drinks for many different target markets.
The Geographic Segmentation: is that Coca-Cola is the most popular non alcoholic beverage that is being sold all around the world. People are going for a healthier lifestyle which influenced Coca Cola to make healthier products such as diet coke and coke zero.
The Demographic Segmentation: Coca-Cola targets both genders and as for the age segmentation, that depends on the product. For Coke Zero, they target young adults between the ages of 18-29 years old who don't want the calories but want the same great taste. As for Diet Coke, they target adults ages 30-50 who are health conscious but still love the taste of coke.
The Psychographic Segmentation: Coca-Cola's one brand strategy (which is Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Coke Life) is an example of the lifestyle segmentation, again for people who are health conscious and want no calorie or sugar free drinks.

Chap 15: Marketing Communications

Competitive Advantage

Coca Cola has developed a strong brand name that is recognized by 90% of the global population. Coca Cola always concentrates on the customers and focuses on all the age groups of people and comes up with a market strategy that influences all the targeted consumers. Today people are becoming more health conscious, coca cola comes with new product innovation that attracts customers who maybe want drinks with low sugar/calorie or maybe want juice drinks. Coca Cola bottling system is the best competitive advantage that the company enjoys. Coca Cola has given rights to the bottlers company around the globe to make and sell the company's products.



Promotional Mix

Advertising: Coca Cola uses advertisement to introduce different themes and concepts to sell their products. The company spends lots of money for advertisements to promote products used. Coca Cola mainly advertises on social media such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook also outdoor advertisements. The Coca Cola Company's Advertisements build brand image and have created memorable slogans throughout the years.

Public Relations: Coca Cola has a section on their website where consumers can view press releases, and company articles, also investors can access financial statements made by the company regarding current information. Coca Cola can address stories, new products, and activities.

Sales Promotion: Coca Cola does sales promotion in two ways to increase sales rapidly which are Consumer and Trade Sales Promotion. The consumer sales promotion is getting the eye catching position and for trade sales promotion, its the discounts to retailers and stores and also return back allowances.

Personal Selling: The Coca Cola Company has many salespeople who represents the company to sell, service, and build a relationships with the customers. The Salesperson promotes their products and sells them and also service them many times per week.

Chap 10: Product Concepts

The Coca Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company that has the most valuable and recognizable brands. Coca Cola is the number one provider of sparkling water, ready-to-drink coffees and juices with consumers in more than 200 countries enjoying it and a  product mix of over 3,500 products. Coca Cola is a consumer product because as it says in their mission statement, the company wants "to refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit." Coca Cola can be easily found everywhere. In a gas station, newsstands, vending machines, supermarkets, restaurants, bars/clubs, and more places around the world. This makes Coca Cola a convenience product because it is so easy to find a Coca Cola drink with little shopping effort. As for the benefits of branding, Coca Cola products are recognized around the globe so that gives the company an excellent product identification. Coca Cola's brand equity in 2014 was estimated at $81.6 billion, which makes the company valuable. These benefits is what led Coca Cola to have brand loyalty. The company has a loyalty program in which members can earn rewards by participating in mycokerewards.com.

Chap 17: Personal Selling and Sales Management

Coca-Cola steps in The Selling Process:

Step 1: Generating Leads 
The Coca-Cola Company brand is a trademark worldwide, the company generates its leads through advertising and social media, developing new slogans and new advertisements.
Step 2: Qualifying Leads 
The recognition of the need of the Coca-Cola Company is the need of a beverage (in reality a want). The company recognizes its needs by the use of their website and social media.
Step 3: Approaching the Customer and Probing Needs
The Coca-Cola website informs customers about the products and events. Coca-Cola also uses social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter to inform customers of the company's product and events.
Step 4: Developing and Proposing Solutions
The Coca-Cola Company's salesperson is the one who develops a solution in which the product or service solves and satisfies a particular need.
Step 5: Handling Objections
The customer has other options instead of purchasing Coca-Cola, such as Pepsi-Cola. The Coca-Cola loyalty brand are more open to purchasing Coca-Cola beverages.
Step 6: Closing the Sale 
When the objectives of buying Coca-Cola are met. Salesperson negotiates so there can be a sales agreement
Step 7: Following Up
The Coca-Cola main company's website has information and also a feedback site to follow up on their selling process.