Valentina Pichler

Computer Science Project

04/24/2014

Professor Scaramastra

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Index:

1. History

2. The Origin of Coca Cola

3. The Brand

4. Advertisinga. New marketing strategies to convince consumers

b. Coca-Cola is for everyone

c. Polar Bears and Coca-Cola

d. I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke

e. Spokesperson marketing strategies

5. Consumption

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History

John Stith Pemberton was the inventor of the Coca-Cola

beverage. In his day Pemberton was a most respected

member of the state's medical establishment, but his gift

was for medical chemistry rather than regular medicine.

He was a practical pharmacist and chemist of great skill,

active all his life in medical reform, and a respected

businessman. His most enduring accomplishments

involve his laboratories, which are still in operation more

than 125 years later as part of the Georgia Department of

Agriculture. Converted into the state's first testing labs and staffed with Pemberton's hand-

picked employees, these labs almost single-handedly eliminated the sale of fraudulent

agricultural chemicals in the state and ensured successful prosecution of those who tried to

sell them.

Pemberton grew up and attended the local schools in Rome, where his family lived for almost

thirty years. He studied medicine and pharmacy at the Reform Medical College of Georgia in

Macon, and in 1850, at the age of nineteen, he was licensed to practice on Thomsonian or

botanic principles (such practitioners relied heavily on herbal remedies and on purifying the

body of toxins, and they were viewed with suspicion by the general public). He practiced

medicine and surgery first in Rome and its environs and then in Columbus, where in 1855 he

established a wholesale-retail drug business specializing in materia medica (substances used

in the composition of medical remedies). Sometime before the Civil War (1861-65), he

acquired a graduate degree in pharmacy, but the exact date and place are unknown.

The analytical and manufacturing laboratories of J. S. Pemberton and Company of Columbus

were unique in the South. "We are direct importers," the company claimed, "manufacturing

all the pharmaceutical and chemical preparations used in the arts and sciences." Established in

1860 and outfitted with some $35,000 worth of the newest and most improved equipment—

some of it designed and patented by the company—it was "a magnificent establishment," an

enthusiastic reporter from the Atlanta Constitution proclaimed in 1869 when the labs were

moved to Atlanta, "one of the most splendid Chemical Laboratories that there is in the

country."

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Pemberton served with distinction as a lieutenant colonel in the Third Georgia Cavalry

Battalion during the Civil War and was almost killed in the fighting at Columbus in

April 1865. In 1869 he became a principal partner in the firm of Pemberton, Wilson,

Taylor and Company, which was based in Atlanta, where he moved in 1870. Two

years later he became a trustee of the Atlanta Medical College (later Emory University

School of Medicine) and established a business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where

his own brands of pharmaceuticals were manufactured on a large scale. He also served

for six years (1881-87) on the first state examining board that licensed pharmacists in

Georgia.Pemberton was "the most noted physician Atlanta ever had," according to the

Atlanta newspapers, but he is best known for his expertise in the laboratory, where he

perfected the formula for Coca-Cola.

1. The Origin of Coca-Cola

A few years before Coca-Cola began its spectacular rise to international acclaim, a

drink known as Pemberton's French Wine Coca was extremely popular in Atlanta. Its

fame spread throughout the Southeast, and the demand for the tasty beverage was

high.

In 1885 a reporter from the Atlanta

Journal approached the creator of

French Wine Coca and asked him for

a detailed analysis of the new drink.

Pemberton replied, "It is composed

of an extract from the leaf of

Peruvian Coca, the purest wine, and

the Kola nut. It is the most excellent of all tonics, assisting digestion, imparting energy

to the organs of respiration, and strengthening the muscular and nervous systems." He

explained that South American Indians considered the coca plant a sacred herb and

praised its beneficial effects on the mind and body. With the aid of the coca plant, the

Indians had performed "astonishing" feats, he said, "without fatigue." Pemberton then

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admitted that his coca and kola beverage was based on Vin Mariani, a French formula

perfected by Mariani and Company of Paris, which since 1863 had been the world's

only standard preparation of erythroxylon coca.

2. The Brand

Coke has stand out and left all its competitors wondering

regarding the exceptional marketing and branding strategy

of the Coca Cola. Began in 1866, constant development in

the brand packaging and positioning leads in the great

success of the Coca Cola Company. In view of the fact that

it’s beginning Coca Cola is aligning it closely with the

self-motivated client sophistication as well as acceptability

of modernization. The Company doesn’t miss any chance

to relate its product with huge global commemorations and

other global events. For instance in FIFA 2010 World Cup, the Company launched a

latest edition of Somali-Canadian K’Naan’a Waving Flag Song. An occasion what was

based onhe the International Association of Football Association, watched

cumulatively by more than 26,000,000,000 people. That’s the biggest activation in the

history of the Coca Cola Company ever. The song was part of the branding strategy of

Coca Cola that become viral in social media, television commercials, and also was

linked in the general thread of event. General factors in branding strategy of Coca Cola

Company have forever been related with the sense of joy, unity and togetherness. Coca

Cola Company targets on occasions such which connect people largely in the

following ways:

Family

Happiness

Culture

Music

Sports

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Since the principle of the company is to sustain the degree of cleverness of its clients,

Coke has been viral on various social media. It has more than 35 millions fanatics on

Facebook compared to Pepsi with only 6 million enthusiasts and has more than

405,000 followers on Twitter (Pepsi 150,000 Twitter followers). In accordance to

current statistics, Coca Cola videos or commercials have been seen more than 34

million times. Concerning engaging with the community of social media, according to

Wendy Clark, the company’s Senior Vice President for Integrated Marketing

responsible or supervised the social media part of business states that having fans react

to the brand is meaningful since they are the ones who will purchase and consume the

product.

3. Advertising

Customers who viewed the happy beautiful women behind the 1886 theme of “Drink

Coca-Cola” or 1904 “Delicious and Refreshing” enjoyed the refreshing new beverage

which would soon see record growth and expansion. The beautiful girls in Coca-Cola

marketing campaigns became so popular that they are featured in the book, “Coca-

Cola Girls: An Advertising Art History by Chris H. Beyer.”

The first company president, Asa Griggs Candler, acquired rights to Coca-Cola for a mere

$2,300 and was the “first to bring real vision to the business and the brand.” By 1895, Coca-

Cola was made in plants located in Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Although Candler realized the profitability of selling Coca-Cola in glasses in various

establishments, he failed to recognize the potential success that could be had if Coca-Cola was

bottled. For the price of only one-dollar per bottle, two lawyers from Tennessee acquired

exclusive bottling rights from Candler and as “they” say, “the rest is history.”

a) New marketing strategies to convince consumers

Even at the turn of the century, consumers wanted ways to make things easier and their

families happier and healthier. A 1905 advertisement proclaimed that “Coca-Cola Revives

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and Refreshes,” while a 1924 advertisement tells customers not only “Refresh Yourself,” but

that they should carry home a 6-pack, which is “easy to carry.” It was the successful

marketing by Woodruff that really catapulted the idea of the Coca-Cola six-pack into

marketing fame and fortune.

By the mid-1920s, convincing customers that everyone knew just how good Coca-Cola is was

easy with campaigns that proclaimed “Six Million A Day” were sold and that “It had to be

good to get where it is” and that Coca-Cola is “around the corner from everywhere.”

One of the issues after initial success of Coca-Cola was copycats who manufactured similar

products. The company then told consumers to “Demand the genuine,” and to “Accept no

substitute."

In 1928, Coca-Cola appeared at the Olympics in Amsterdam, the first of many Olympic

marketing campaigns. But one of the most successful marketing techniques used by Coca-

Cola may have been the erection of the first large Coca-Cola neon sign in Times Square, New

York.

b) Coca-Cola is for everyone

Even Santa Claus enjoys Coca-Cola,

according to a 1931 advertisement,

where Santa has taken off his cap and

proclaims that “My hat’s off to the

pause that refreshes.” Norman

Rockwell was just one of several

illustrators responsible for illustrations of

several Coca-Cola advertising

campaigns.

One of the most successful early marketing strategies had to be one that told consumers that

Coca-Cola was for people just like them. In fact, Coca-Cola was “Friends For Life.”

Certainly, consumers would want to be associated with a company who considered them a

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“friend.” Realizing that the “friend” strategy apparently worked, the Coca-Cola Company

expanded, when in 1948, it became known that “Where There’s Coke There’s Hospitality.”

c) Polar Bears and Coca-Cola

While the use of polar bears are well known for marketing by Coca-Cola, what may not be

well known is that the use of a polar bear was not original to USA marketing, but first

appeared in an advertisement in France in 1922, according to “The Enduring History of Coca-

Cola’s Polar Bears.”

Initially, the use of polar bears was only sporadic, but the Northern Lights campaign

skyrocketed the popularity of the Coca-Cola polar bear. It soon became synonymous that

polar bears and Coca-Cola appeared together. Ads featuring polar bears were marketed to

target audiences worldwide, expanding both the popularity of Coke and the polar bear.

Branding included stuffed polar bears with a bottle of Coke, posters and many other retail

products.

d) I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke

In 1971, Coca-Cola launched the “I’d Like to Buy the World A Coke” campaign, featuring

people from various cultures, all of whom enjoy Coca-Cola. Not only was the commercial

video successful, there were requests to record the jingle “like it was a hit record.” After a

song was recorded, Coca-Cola donated proceeds to UNICEF.

e) Spokesperson marketing strategies

The use of marketing by spokesperson goes back to the very early years of Coca-Cola. In

1904, well-known Music Hall performer Hilda Clark appeared in advertisements. Over the

decades, the company has experienced numerous successful marketing campaigns through the

use of a spokesperson in advertising.

While a wide variety of performers endorsed Coca-Cola over the years, such as Penelope

Cruz and Courtney Cox, some of the most successful marketing strategies came about with

the endorsement by numerous sports stars and legends. Michelle Kwan and NBA stars such as

LeBron James are most likely partially responsible for continuing to propel Coke ahead of

Pepsi in the cola war.

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Through the use of strategically successful marketing techniques since Coca-Cola was first

put on the market, the company has succeeded in soaring above the competition over time and

remaining in the number one spot in the cola wars even today, more than a century after being

created.

Consumption

From a recent, Coca-Cola corporate presentation. The average human drinks 92 Coke

products a year.In the US, that number is 403.

Coca-Cola has reigned for years as the world’s No. 1 brand, but last year both Apple and

Google overtook it in Interbrand’s annual ranking. The first lady, Michelle Obama, is on a

campaign against obesity, urging Americans to drink more water. Former Mayor Michael R.

Bloomberg tried to ban sales of giant-size high-sugar soft drinks in New York City. And this

week, the Food and Drug Administration proposed new food labels that would more

prominently display grams of added sugar, including the high-fructose corn syrup used in

Coca-Cola.

With the longstanding backing of the legendary investor Warren Buffett, Coca-Cola has been

seen as the ultimate value stock, delivering steady returns in good times and bad. But last

week, the company reported declining sales of soda in the critical North American market

along with disappointing sales growth globally, alarming investors. Shares fell over 4 percent

on the news, the most in seven months. So far this year, Coke shares have dropped nearly 7

percent, which is cataclysmic by Coca-Cola standards.“Carbonated beverages are in

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precipitous decline,” said John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest. “The obesity and health

headwinds are difficult and are getting stronger.”It’s not just Coke that’s affected. By some

measures, the Pepsi brand faces even bigger problems. But Coca-Cola is uniquely vulnerable,

given that about 60 percent of its revenue comes from the sale of soft drinks, the bulk of it

from Coke and Diet Coke.

“Coca-Cola is the mother brand,” Martin

Lindstrom, a brand and marketing consultant and

the author of six books, including “Buyology” and

“Brandwashed,” told me this week in a visit to

New York from his home base in Denmark. “The

whole company is affected. Coke has to stop the

erosion in the United States or it will cascade

elsewhere.”This week, I consulted several prominent branding and marketing experts for

insights into Coke’s problems and what the company could do. The very idea that the Coke

brand may be in trouble is startling, given that Coca-Cola has thrived for 127 years and has

survived countless passing health fads, in part because its flagship product contains both

caffeine and sugar, which can be addictive.And it’s not as if Coke isn’t moving product. Its

chairman and chief executive, Muhtar Kent, told analysts meeting last week in Boca Raton,

Fla., that while he “wasn’t satisfied” with Coke’s performance in 2013, “Brand Coca-Cola is

growing and is very healthy globally.” He continued: “Since 2010, we’ve added 1.1 billion

unit cases, bringing volume to 11 billion unit cases in 2013.  This is the equivalent of adding

another Brazil from a brand Coca-Cola perspective.” And a Coca-Cola spokesman said the

company would increase media spending by up to $1 billion by 2016 to support its brands.But

every expert I contacted agreed that Coke was at a critical juncture. “The big soft drink

companies, and Coke included, are at the most important crossroads in their long lives,” Mr.

Sicher said.

No one felt there were any easy solutions, and even an acclaimed ad campaign like Coke’s

“It’s Beautiful” on the Super Bowl can only do so much. Coca-Cola faces deep-seated

problems that have been brewing for at least a decade. (Sales in North America of carbonated

beverage by volume have been declining for nine straight years, Mr. Sicher said.)

The reasons are varied and complex. Mr. Lindstrom noted that his research indicated that the

average age of a Coke drinker was 56. “They think they’re young when they drink it,” he said.

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But “young people themselves are turning to alternatives like energy drinks.” Mr. Lindstrom

said surveys indicated that young people did not like highly carbonated drinks. Coke is more

heavily carbonated than Pepsi, and roughly twice as carbonated as the energy drinks Red Bull

and Monster, which are rapidly gaining market share, especially among the young.

The growing appeal of coffee and dark chocolate-infused beverages, especially in Japan and

Europe, has shifted the flavor preference toward bitter and away from sweet, Mr. Lindstrom

said.

And parents, who in previous generations often introduced their children to Coke, typically

when they were ages 6 to 8, have been holding back, largely because of health concerns.

“Having your first Coke was a milestone. It was embedded in society,” Mr. Lindstrom said.

“Those childhood memories stick for a lifetime. But that generational handoff is breaking

down. Parents have become uncomfortable with it.”

Ravi Dhar, professor of management and marketing and director of the Center for Customer

Insights at the Yale School of Management, agreed that Coke’s challenge was especially

difficult because it was tied to the broader consumer shift from carbonated beverages, and not

the Coke brand per se. “This is not unlike canned soup and Campbell’s challenge,” he said.

“People are still consuming a lot of beverages and soup. It’s just not of the carbonated cola or

canned soup type.” He said he noticed, while walking through a room where several dozen

undergraduate students were sitting and working in groups, “They had beverages like I did in

college or grad school, but none was drinking a Coke or a Pepsi.”

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He and others stressed the importance of Coke’s continuing efforts to develop a natural,

healthy, low-calorie sweetener. “For Coke to regain brand relevance, it has to try and meet

changing consumer goals,” Professor Dhar said. “Innovation is one way. A different way may

be to try to identify relevant goals that can be tied to moments which are made for carbonated

beverages. This requires deep consumer insights and being on the offense rather than defense

about the category.”

Tim Halloran, founder of the Atlanta consulting firm Brand Illumination and author of

“Romancing the Brand,” who spent 10 years working for Coca-Cola, agreed that “Coke must

use innovation and make news” to “make sure that a 125-plus-year-old brand keeps a modern

perception and to offset health concerns that have been voiced by everyone from health

advisers to the first lady.”

Mr. Sicher of Beverage Digest added: “Calorie and sweetener innovations are critical. We’ll

know within the next two to three years if they succeed.”

Last year, Coca-Cola introduced Coca-Cola Life, which it describes as a naturally sweetened,

reduced-calorie sparkling beverage, in Argentina and Chile. “It’s another example of how we

are working to be part of the solution to the obesity problem, giving consumers a blend of

sugar and natural zero-calorie sweeteners,” the company told analysts this month.

Coca-Cola may also need to take more radical steps. Seth Godin, founder of the popular

website Squidoo and author of the book “Purple Cow,” which argues that brands need to

stand out, said Coke “has a priceless brand.” But, he went on: “They’re not in the sugary-

water business. They’re in the storytelling business. They think their assets are bottlers, shelf

space and futures contracts on sugar. But the real asset is trust, share of mind and a story. So

they should obsess about making something new, creating services and experiences and

interactions that people will happily pay for that have zero to do with beverages that make

people obese.”