Coca Cola Case Study

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1. Introduction

In 1886, an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John S. Pemberton, created a flavored syrup that would revolutionize the world; his partner, Frank M. Robinson, named it and designed the trademark that would become a sign of pop culture. They gave the world Coca-Cola.

1.1 The Product

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke. The company produces concentrate, which is then sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the company, produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores, restaurants and vending machines. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for soda fountains to major restaurants and food service distributors.

The Coca-Cola Company has other cola drinks beside the Classic Coca-Cola under the Coke brand name. These are Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola Life.

1.2 Market share of coca cola

Coca-Cola is an established brand trying to maintain dominance. In 2015 the company held a market share of 48.6 percent in the carbonated beverages market worldwide. The global market was estimated at 341.6 billion U.S. dollars.  This makes Coca-Cola leader in the beverage industry. The soft drink is sold in more than 200 countries.[pic 3]

1.3 Current brand strategy

Since 2009, Coke has followed a tradition of casting itself as synonymous with happiness through its advertisements. The actual slogan is CHOOSE HAPPINESS. In this, Coca-Cola runs its new “One Brand” strategy, in which Coca-Cola is harmonizing its four distinct brands via one marketing strategy. This strategy meets the trend of consumers to be an individual and to have different lifestyles. Four lines of the “One Brand” Strategy are:

• Coca Cola advertising show full range of colas while TV ads feature all four variants in the final frame

• The branding on every Coca Cola can and bottle is in the same style, with different colors to distinguish each variant

• In 2015, they’ve doubled their marketing spend for their lower and no sugar and calorie colas

• It’s the first time their sponsorship of a major international sporting event - Rugby World Cup 2015 – will promote all four variants, and champion Coca Cola with zero calories.

2. IDEAL BRAND MAP

The main ways that a brand has to communicate nowadays are: company website, social media, and advertisement. Through an analysis of these three, we elaborate the following list of words that the brand wants to be associate with:

Social media^[1]: