Coca Cola Brand Analysis

Codru Bordeanu Media Communication 1st year

The Coca-Cola Company

-Brand analysis-

The brand is one of the most valuable assets for any company. Not only because because

it creates a deep insight into consumers minds but also because it helps the company to outlive

the competition on the long run. The brand touches every part of the business and it also helps

the internal communication while engaging the employees by giving them a better image to

identify with.

Companies invest money in creating materials such as logos, ads, product packaging and

so on, but sometimes the wanted results just dont appear as expected and the mistaken theory of

we cant get better results tends to appear. However, investing in brand research along the way

it is crucial for the evolution of a company identity, and everybody in the industry knows that

identity provides long-term results.

Brand research isnt just a one time thing, it must be an ongoing process which ensures

that the companies values and identity are well communicated through the desired strategies.

Keeping up with the continuous changing environments in which the company is present and

meeting the constant needs of the consumers will ease the recognition of the brand and improve

the emotional connection with the targeted consumer while increasing the brand awareness.

Throughout the history, one of the good case practices that brought a medicine, invented

over one century ago ,by accident, to one of the easiest brands to recognize in the 21st century is

Coca-Cola.

The origins of the core-drink of this company, Coca-Cola (also known as Coke), are

found in first sales of the Coke medicine, in 1886. By 1888, three versions of Coca-Cola, sold

by three separate businesses, were on the market. In 1892, The Coca-Cola Company was born

and had to use coupons that offered free drinks in order to attract customers and to raise interest

for the product on the market. In the same year, marketer Asa Candler finalized the purchase of

Coca-Cola from its inventor Dr. John Pemberton.

The initial advertising budget of the company was around $11,000, and by using items

such as calendars, soda fountain urns, painted wall signs, napkins, pencils and clocks, the owner


of the company tried to make easier for the customer to identify the product that the company

was selling. Starting the beginning of the 20th century, several celebrities started endorsing the

product. And in 1904, for the first time, Coca-Cola purchased advertising space in national

magazines.

A good branding strategy, done correctly throughout the first two decades of the

company, paid off and by 1911 the budget of The Coca-Cola Company first reached $1,000,000.

Starting the third decade of the 20th century, the company added to its marketing mix outdoor

billboards and radio sponsorships.

Because of a good connection to its customers, Coca-Cola became well-known and

appreciated at family reunions, private parties, daily family lunches and in the daily life of the

consumer, not only by approaching the target group through all the available media platforms but

because it approached effectively the consumer and perfectly generated emotions in his brain.

This first started, in 1931, when an illustration of Saint-Nicholas drinking Coca-Cola appeared

for the first time in the advertising community. The first television commercial had its debut in

1950 on a Thanksgiving day, while one of the most memorable TV commercials, called

Northern Lights had its debut at the beginning of the 90s in the winter season. A good

timing and waking emotions in the consumers mind are the ingredients for a lot of their

successful marketing strategies.

Also adapting to each season and adding innovation throughout the years, helped the

company to engage more and more with the consumers, as the medias adapted. Calling to action

the consumers, involving them in the promo campaigns, isnt something unusual these days for

the Coca-Cola brand, and that is why this company and the brains behind it, not only used

efficiently the medias where its campaigns were exposed, but also touched the hearts of the

customers.

In 2011, the budget for marketing was over $4 billion and it paid off , because The Coca-

Cola Company was named Marketer of the Year, at the AdAge Gala.

The packaging of the Coca-Cola bottle it was designed in order to become easy to

distinguish from its imitators. And because the word adapt was always in the companys

marketers vocabulary, starting 2009 the packaging of the product was made from fully recyclable


materials. By listening to the new trends in the economical approach of todays corporations, the

company became involved in the protection of the worlds environment.

At the moment, The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) is the worlds largest non-alcoholic

drinks company, controlling over 21% of soft-drinks off-trade RTD (ready-to-drink) volumes.

Soft-drinks are The Coca-Cola Companys core business, that is why the company can be

located in the food and beverages sector.

In order to stay at the top, a very important rule of the brand building strategies must be

respected, and that is consistency. And TCCC took care of their Logo consistency, which is the

fundamental part of a brands identity, since it is the first thing that creates awareness in the

consumers mind. The trademark logo for Coca-Cola was first created in 1886 and in 1970 has

suffered a small change by having added a Dynamic Ribbon Device. In 127 years of existence,

the logo remained the same and very little modifications were added, making it constant and easy

to recognize.

Coca-Cola finds its place in the customers hearts, first by creating an emotional

connection with the consumer and secondly by the excellent quality that its products offer. The

brand image of Coca-Cola is widely known for its creativity, hopefulness and fun. Inspiring and

calling-to-action the normal consumers by involving them in the social campaigns shows the

ability of the brand to make room in peoples hearts by being present and each and every

occasion. By helping people to share Coca-Cola stories with each other, the brand offers people

the chance to improve also their social lives while enjoy quality beverages.

By adapting to new media, TCCC, gains a spot in the hearts of the young generation.

Applying, with the right timing, various marketing strategies that are well defined for the

targeted groups, the brand shows that even if the products are for all types of consumers, the

company knows how to properly target and win the right demographics at the right periods of the

year. By being present in countries all over the world, the world-wide segments of the refreshing

drink are still using the same recipe for the product and the same marketing techniques to target

the consumers.

By being one of the best brands around the Globe, Coca-Cola finds its strength in the

world-wide notoriety, financial power and strong acquisition capability. By allowing a lot of


funds for the marketing campaigns, which are always crucial for expansion or maintaining a

good image and consumer loyalty, the company has the advantage to maintain a strong

geographic sales volume, which is also developed outside its core markets (e.g. USA, UK,

China, etc).

One of the strongest weaknesses that TCCC had to fight over the last decades, is the

high-sugar image for its products. As the latest market trends raised the consumer awareness

regarding the high sugar diet, the regular sugar dosage found in the product portfolio might

represent a risk since the now generation of consumers is constantly looking for healthier food

and drink options.

A lot of opportunities might arise for the company, since the wellness sector became a

growing trend and soft-drinks are needed. Not only for the post-workout and pre-workout drinks,

but also low-calorie soft-drinks, the chances for the company to enlarge its product portfolio in

this sector are very big. Also, new markets, in the Eastern part of the world are developing and

could become opportunities for TCCC, since a lot of western habits are becoming trends in the

eastern part of the world.

The main competition of the company is being represented by PepsiCo and it can be

considered the biggest threat for TCCC, not only because of the similarity of the products in the

soft-drinks segment, but also because of the strong marketing mixes that are used by the rival

company. By using world-wide known stars to endorse them and also by sponsoring a lot of

events they can be the only strong competition at the moment for Coca-Cola. Also, by having a

very big portfolio of products, if they are too similar, the oversaturation of products might

become a lose in terms of finance, especially in the low calorie sector since it still is a testing

ground for the soft-drinks companies.

Coca-Cola is one of the most profitable companies in the world, but all of this could have

not been possible without a strong connection between an excellent product quality and a deep

emotional connection which helps the targeted audience to interact with the products.

Throughout the history Coca-Cola made very wise decisions regarding the marketing strategies

and also maintained a line of consistency in terms of branding.


By expanding its low-calorie segment, the company will adapt to the new trends and will

have chances to extend in other market segments, such as wellness. Capitalizing on the health

and wellness department, could become a long-term solution, since the new generations

preferences are different than the previous ones, and since the high-sugar diets are becoming part

of the past. Continuing with the current approach to the same consumers will help maintain

consumer loyalty but for widening the horizons new products should be tested constantly.

Bibliography

1. The Coca-Cola Co in Soft Drinks, article from Mar. 2013 http://www.euromonitor.com/

2. What Does It Mean To Be Green?

http://www.investopedia.com/

3. http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/

4. http://aytm.com/blog/research-junction/brand-research-fundamentals-brand-development/

5. http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/food-and-beverages/2806-coca-cola-

company.html

6. www.wikipedia.com

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Coca Cola Brand Analysis