Ch. 7 - Business Marketing

When it comes to business marketing, Coca Cola is very strategic. They market to fast food chains such as mcdonalds, shows like american idol and to supermarkets. By marketing to different companies they are marketing directly to and indirectly to their customers. they can reach their target market without having to be directly involved in promoting their products to their customers.

Another strategy that Coca Cola uses to market is that they use a variety of products in fast food chains. Coca Cola currently dominates fast food companies over its competitor Pepsi. McDonalds,Wendys, Burger king and popeyes all serve Coca Cola beverages with their meals and offer a varity of drinks for people to choose from. Due to the different selections of drinks the company can profit from any beverage sold whether it is Coke or Hi-c.Coca Cola has hundreds of bottlers world wide that sells beverages to consumers, this helps coca Cola to grow as a company and not have to directly sell to consumers which is a key factor    in business marketing.

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Coca Cola is targeted at many different groups of consumers. The company mainly targets young people  from around ages 17-30. The different varieties in beverages also contribute to attracting different groups of people. Coca Cola carries energy drinks, juices, and water to fit the needs of everyone. The company also uses pricing to target different people such as making smaller bottles that cost less for people at lower economic status'.

Coca Cola has different market segments which targets a specific group of people. They carry energy drinks and vitamin water for athletes, juices mainly for children, Carbonated beverages in different flavors for adults, and water. Meeting the needs of different consumers means that the company can prosper and get more customers. Today, Coca Cola still  makes new products to target more people and expand their product line; this helps the company to remain the number one in carbonated beverages against competitors.

Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

Developing new products is one of the many ways large companies stay successful and current. Coca Cola is known for constantly coming up with new products. Today, the company owns and markets over 450 products worldwide ranging from carbonated beverages to beauty creams. Creating new products allows companies to attract new customers as well as adapting to changing times. Creating a new product is a big process for a lot of companies and goes through many stages. For product development, Coca Cola uses the stage-gate model. A stage is a period of work and a gate is the decision making point. The process of the stage-gate model follows creating an idea, building a business case, development, preparation and marketing.

 

The duties of product managers are to market and develop products. Product managers assess how a company can remain competitive as well as meeting the interests of consumers. Their job requires them to show consumers the benefits of the products they are selling. The decisions of product managers affect the success of the business. Coca Cola has remained the leading brand of carbonated beverages due to successful product managing.

 

ch. 16-Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage

In order to remain competitive, Coca Cola is constantly coming up with new ways to keep and attract customers. In order to remain the leading company for carbonated beverages, Coca Cola has remained competitive through special promotions, advertisements, sponsors and going global. Over the course of the year, Coca Cola has special promotions that motivate buyers. Promos such as 'mycoke rewards' give customers prizes for entering the codes marked under the cap of certain drinks. Coca Cola also offer discounted prices on beverages at certain times of the year. Finally, the company gives coupons for 'Six Flags' amusement park on cans of Coca Cola during the summer which is obtained upon purchasing.

Creating Advertisements is  another promotional strategy that coke uses, in their advertisements they attempt show people why they should choose Coca Cola as well as putting the brand 'out there' to become well known. Coca Cola sponsors shows like american Idol to attract the fans of the show to choose their products instead of their competitor Pepsi. The company plans to promote their products worldwide by expanding to different countries. Currently, Coca Cola is sold in many big cities around the world and are trying to expand further to smaller and  underdeveloped countries and cities.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Coca Cola has a very diverse product line. they carry different types of carbonbated beverages such as Fanta, diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite and many more. they also have a product mix, which means that they carry other products aside from carbonated beverages such as Dasani water, Minute Maid fruit juice, and Nestea ice tea. Coca Cola products are sold locally in the United States which classifies it as a convenience item. Convenience products are sold at low prices and are generally sold locally.


Typically, Coca Cola  has packaging uniformity which means that the packages have a common look but individual image. Coca Cola products have an hourglass bottle shape that is similar to the original Coca Cola shape. The bottles are Shaped the Same however, their designs are different. The uniform bottle Shape is used to distinguish Coca Cola Products from other products as well as making it known that the other Beverages are from the Coca Cola company as well.

Ch. 18 - Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

In order to promote sales, Coca Cola advertises everywhere from billboards to magazines to television commercials. Another way that Coca Cola promotes sales is through sponsoring television shows such as American idol and also by creating "mycoke rewards". "mycoke rewards" allows customers to have a point system in which they can win prizes after accumulating a certain number of points. The company uses the rewards as a way to get people to drink more coke and stay loyal to the company. Sales promotions have proven to be effective due to Coca Cola being the number one company selling company of carbonated beverages.



Recently, Coca Cola has been using a soda fountain that gives customers a larger selection of beverages to choose from called "Coca Cola Freestyle". The different selections are other beverages that the Coca Cola company makes.
 The soda fountain promotes sales because it is convenient for customers to get what they want, when they want. Many fast food chains such as McDonald's and Checkers have replaced traditional soda fountains for the new ones which also makes it easier for the company to reach their target market.

Ch. 17 - Advertising and Public relations

Coca Cola is known for its heavy advertising. Coca Cola is advertised in newspapers, magazines, television and the Internet. Heavy advertising has proven to be effective in increasing the sale of products  Which will ultimately yield bigger profits. A major factor in advertising is making sure that. You reach your target market. Coca Cola targets mostly young people. The company reaches out                                                                                             to their target market by featuring celebrities in their advertisements that young people look up to.

To attract sports fans Coca Cola used basketball legend Michael Jordan in magazines to advertise For them.  Channels such as Fox 5 is a major advertising station for Coca Cola. American Idol promotes Coca Cola rigorously throughout the show, this is beneficial to Coca Cola being that American Idol has over 20 Million viewers. The more people see a product, the more likely they are to buy the product because they think its good.

ch.15 - Retailing

Coca Cola is sold in most stores across the USA. You can find the beverage at a local convenient store or at fancy restaurants. At a convenient store you can find Coca Cola displayed more abundantly than other beverages. It is also displayed along side related products such as Diet coke and other drinks that are made by Coca Cola such as Fanta and Dr.Pepper.

In super markets,  Coca Cola also has a bigger Section of  beverages than other soft drinks. It is displayed at the front of the store as well as in the soda aisle. Coca Cola is also displayed at a higher level on the shelves than less popular Brands. Coca Cola has a better advantage  Over other drinks because it catches the customer at an eye level.

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

Coca Cola has many qualities that allow them to attract customers. Qualities include the availability of products, familiarity of the product and the quality of the product. Coca Cola is available in over 200 countries worldwide. Easy access to the products allows consumers to not only become familiar with the product but to also choose it because it is easy to find.

 

Another factor that contributes to consumer decision making is excessive promoting. From commercials to billboards, Coca Cola makes sure that their products are put "out there". When people constantly see Coca Cola everywhere, they are lead to believe that the product is good and are willing to try it. Often time’s celebrities will help to promote the products as well. When people see that a famous person that they look up to drink Coca Cola, they themselves will want to drink the product.Currently, the show American Idol promotes Coca Cola by showing famous musician judges drinking it, displaying it all over the stage and by putting it in their commercials. In return, Coca Cola sponsors American Idol.

 Finally, Coca Cola drives people to buy their products because it is refreshing and quenches thirst. The quality of Coca Cola drives customers to buy more. Coca Cola also offers a wide variety of different carbonated drinks and juices for consumers to choose from. In case customers get tired of one product they will have other products available to them, therefore keeping them as a customer. Having a wide variety of products allows the company to give people what they want and more of it. Customers are driven to buy products that satisfy their needs.

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

Coca Cola began operating in other countries in 1906. The first countries they expanded to were Canada, Cuba, and Panama; however, after Fidel Castro’s government began seizing private assets from cuba in the 1960s, Coca Cola has not been sold there ever since.

In 1912 the company expanded to the Philippines. Since then coca cola has been operating in many countries around the world. Today coca cola gets 25% of sales from Latin America, 22% from Europe and the Middle East, 6% from Africa, 18% from Asia and 29% from North America. The company has remained successful in these countries due to the global availability, having bottlers in the country cut costs for importation and makes it easier to access the product.

Coca Cola is known for having ongoing innovation; they continuously promote and create new products to satisfy consumers. Coca cola plans to invest 30 billion dollars in markets around the world within the next five years. Infrastructure is a major factor in building Coca Cola into more cities. It is difficult to expand due to the lack of roads and electricity. Without infrastructure, it will be difficult to make coke available to lower class people living in places like China, India and Africa. Coca Cola currently has 53.1% of the international carbonated beverage market share, which makes them the leading carbonated beverage company. International marketing has created a lot of difficulties for Coca Cola over water sources.

In 2004, India blamed Coca Cola for depleting water wells for poor farmers in one of the bottling plants. The bottling plant was later shut down which negatively affected profits for the company. In 2011, Coca Cola purchased half of one of the biggest bottling companies in the United Arab Emirates and opened up its 42^nd bottling plant in china months later. The expansion into the UAE and china will yield huge profits and new customers for the company. Coca Cola is currently working on expanding to Cuba and North Korea where its products are not sold; however, they will face difficulties finding partners for production and distribution.

Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Coca Cola has different drinks targeted at different groups. For example, Coca Cola drinks appear to be targeted at young people around the age of 29 and under. It appears so due to the advertisements and the way they promote their drinks. In television commercials we generally see a young musician or sports player promoting the drinks. These commercials tell young people to buy Coca Cola because their idol or favorite celebrity drinks it. Through commercials, we also see teens having parties and choosing Coca Cola as their drink of choice. Coca Cola also has drinks targeted at people who are big such as diet coke which is allegedly healthier and contains no sugar. Diet Coke serves as a healthier alternative to regular coke so that people can enjoy the same taste of Coca Cola. Finally, Coca Cola makes Dasani Water. In order to get people thirstier and buy more water Coca Cola adds salt to the water mildly so that people won’t taste it but will make them more thirsty.

There are many different factors that affect the marketing environment of Coca Cola which includes economic factors, social factors, technological factors and natural factors. Economic factors affect Coca Cola due to inflation which is a rise in prices but a decrease in value. Rising prices can lead to costumers going to cheaper competitors. Social Factors include making cost efficient products that are recyclable and environmentally friendly to conserve resources. Technological factors include adapting to new technology which includes ways to fill bottles and refrigeration methods. Finally, natural factors affect the marketing environment because there is a need to make sure that the water is safe and pure before giving beverages to consumers.       

Today, Coca Cola operates in more than 20 countries worldwide and sells 3000 beverage products. Some beverages include, sparkling drinks, carbonated drinks, coffee, juices and energy drinks. The Coca Cola Company also employs over 90000 people. Coca Cola has a marketing department which creates advertisements and promoting their products. There is a finance department which does book keeping for the company and gives the company budgets. The sales department deals with the distribution of Coca Cola products and working at finding low cost transportation routes to deliver Coca Cola. The packaging department deals with packaging the products and making sure that the bottles catch the eyes of consumers either with the unique shape or with the bold colors used on the labels. Finally, Coca Cola also has a research and development department which is responsible for creating and developing new products to attract new/more consumers and yield more profits for the company. These departments affect the Marketing environment of Coca Cola because it affects people who buy the products. The different departments helps the company to grow by keeping the company organized, finding ways to adapt to consumer preferences and providing budgets to ensure that the company is gaining more profits than it loses.