Message Strategy
Message strategy is used by an organization to deliver an appealing idea to the masses in a creative manner that not only defines their brand but also captures the attention and interest of the target market. For Coca Cola the target market consists of both; youth and mature adults. The diverse nature of their target market has made it quite a challenge to develop a message that is equally appealing to the consumers all over the world.
The advertisement of coke has mainly focused on using the soft sell strategy to appeal to the consumer. The soft sell strategy is based on creating a positive image for the product in the mind of the consumers by linking it with something pleasant (Carducci, 2009). For example the advertisement of coke focuses on the concept of happiness and has projected the consumers of coke as happy or refreshed.
The messages used in Coke advertising have shifted their focus from delivering the message about a refreshing soft drink that provides a feeling of freshness to the people to a drink that provides happiness to the consumers. This shift of perspective from freshness to happiness has evolved over 125 years of its existence.
Lists of advertising messages have been displayed at winspiration.co.uk. The earliest advertising message for coke in 1886 was quite simple “drink coca cola” With the passage of time more developed means of communication emerged and coca cola changed its slogan to “Refresh yourself” in 1923. It carried the same message over the years in the form of “The pause that refreshes” in 1929, “What refreshment ought to be” in 1936, and “Completely Refreshing” in 1941.
As the number of competitors increased in the market, Coca Cola has tried to differentiate itself from the other soft drinks by rival competitors with the help of advertising messages. For example the message “Refreshment that can’t be duplicated” in 1942 indicates that even though the competitors may present the consumers with other similar soft drinks, coca cola still is the best amongst them. It retained the idea of refreshing drink and used it as a basis to differentiate from other soft drinks.
In 1958 Coca Cola has tried to bring an advertisement message that reflects that it is a global brand. Therefore the message “Refreshment the whole world prefers” was designed to let the masses know that it is a global product. By providing this message, coke was aiming to gain more consumers on the basis of global preference.
In 1990 the competition in the soft drink industry had become much fiercer than in previous years. With rival competitors such as PepsiCo, Cadbury Schweppes, Danone, Nestle etc Coca Cola decided to emphasize its originality through the advertising message of “Can’t beat the real thing”. This message indicates that the other colas are an imitation of the original coke and despite their efforts they can’t beat the original one that is the best.
An analysis of the advertising messages of Coca Cola shows that it has put in efforts to make its brand stand apart from other similar brands. Secondly, it has used the idea of refreshment which is found appealing by many people.
Open Happiness
The latest advertising message of open happiness focuses on its consumers especially youth enjoying their lives and experiencing the moments of joy while consuming coke at the same time. Thus they have tried to establish a link between coke and happiness.
Diet coke
When diet coke was introduced in US in 1982, the advertising message was “Just for the taste of it”. This slogan carries a message that consumer should try it out to taste the new diet coke. The advertising message for diet coke has changed from just for the taste of it to “Stay Extraordinary” in 2010. This message conveys the idea that if a consuming diet coke can help a person in achieving individual identity and claim his uniqueness in the form of being different from others.
Coke Zero
Coke zero appeals to those people who link consumption of coke with high intake of sugar. So as an alternative coke zero has been introduced with the advertising message of “Real Coca Cola taste & zero calories” and “wild expectations meet coke zero”. This message has been designed to let the consumers associate the taste of new coke zero with coke. It was suggested that no matter how high expectations people have, coke is likely to fulfill them. People concerned with the issue of obesity, or calorie intake were targeted for coke zero.
Failure of New Coke
Even though coke had been successful in launching diet coke, and coke zero, but there was a mishap in the history of marketing of coke in the form of new coke. It was assumed to bring new customers, but the results were quite damaging for the company. People were familiar with the taste and originality, and the idea of something new didn’t appeal to them. This is one instance where the message strategy of new coke has failed resulting in loss (Streetdirectory.com).
Media Strategy
In order to compete effectively with its number one contender PepsiCo, Coca Cola heavily invests in advertising and other promotional activities for its brand. The most preferred tool of advertising for coke is T.V which can reach its consumers all over the world. T.V advertisements are repeatedly played on air during commercial breaks to leave an impression on the minds of the people.
Advertising Budget
The overall advertising budget for coke in 2009 has been reported to be approximately $2.44 billion. The main focus of advertising of coke is to differentiate it from other colas available in the market. Therefore the advertisements shown on T.V or other means of communication convey the same message.
In late 1990s Coca Cola had spent more than $1.6 billion for the purpose of advertising in all the countries of the world. For advertising of coke only Coca Cola had spent $ 174.4 million in United States in 1999. The cost of global marketing and advertising for coke is estimated to be a lot more than this.
As reported by Stratmann (2011) Coca Cola has decreased its advertising budget by 6.6% for the purpose of increasing the investment in social media. This change in advertising medium has occurred in 2010 with the rise of social media and its effectiveness in advertising. To connect with the youth who are the prime target market of coke, they have effectively utilized the online channels such as Facebook and YouTube (Stratmann, 2011).
Coke Zero
Diet coke has been quite a success for Coca Cola as within two years since its launch it was able to hold 1.3% market share of the soft drink market in North America alone. The advertising budget for the marketing of coke zero in 2006 was estimated to be $75 million (Theresa, 2007).
Effectiveness of different media strategies
Each media strategy has its own degree of effectiveness in marketing. There are certain factors which have an impact on the effectiveness of the chose strategy. Global brands that are available in different countries across the world carefully analyze the characteristics of their target audience. On the basis of this analysis they select media strategies to reach them.
For many companies in the early years of their development print advertising was the main marketing strategy. With the passage of time technological developments have provided soft drink companies a variety of media tools on the basis of which they can develop their marketing strategy.
If the target audience is global then the most suitable and effective form of media strategy would focus on television advertisement. If the target population mainly consists of youth, then the media strategy would not focus on television alone. Recently companies have started using online marketing tools in the form of linking to consumers through social media such as Facebook, YouTube etc.
Media Strategy Choice of coke
The choice of media strategy is not only determined by the availability of resources, but is also dependent on the nature of the market and the characteristics of the target customers. Differences in geographic, demographic, psychographic or behavioral factors require different blend of media strategies. The success of media strategy depends on creating the right fit between target market and media strategy.
Coke has started its media strategy using print advertisements in 1886. With the introduction of television coke was advertised through the new medium of communication. The advertisements of coke developed for television are focusing on portraying a culture of fun and enjoyment. Multicultural youth have also been shown in the ads to provide a feeling of unity to the global world. The main focus of advertising is television as it is regarded as an effective audio visual tool of communication.
Another aspect of media strategy for coke focuses on the usage of social events as a marketing opportunity. Famous television shows such as American Idol which is mostly viewed by youth portrays the judges having coke.
In case of online marketing coke has started coke zone which provides the consumers a chance to score points and win coke rewards. Another usage of online marketing can be seen in the form of social media advertising such as facebook. Regardless of the cultural or ethnic background, these social media places provide a brilliant opportunity for marketing. Facebook is being used by not only teenagers but people from all age groups belonging to different income groups are its users.
IMC at Coca Cola
[large]The integrated marketing communications approach being used at Coca Cola for the marketing of coke has been effective as they have been able to hold a greater market share than their competitors. Coke and diet coke have been able to hold the market share of 17 % and 9.9% which is greater than the market share of Pepsi which was 9.3%.
These results have been achieved on the basis of the marketing strategy adopted by Coca Cola. Coca Cola has used a variety of marketing tools to reach the consumers all over the world. Starting from the print ads in 1886 to the television ads in 2011 coke has been portrayed as the soft drink of people in all cultures, of all age groups and socio economic statuses. The emotional appeal of the ads has been based on the soft sell approach which attracted the attention of a large number of people across the world. The recent change in the psychographic nature of the target audience has also been managed effectively by launching diet coke and coke zero.
Billboards have also been effectively utilized for advertising coke. The theme of the advertisements shown on T.V is also displayed through billboards to reach the masses. Sponsorship of sporting events such as FIFA World cup, Olympics, and famous T.V shows such as American Idol provide them excellent opportunity to reach the youth.
Coca Cola has also realized the importance of use of social media in advertising; therefore they have used the medium of online marketing as well. Facebook and YouTube are the major source of social media marketing which have been used for the promotion of coke, diet coke and coke zero as well. Promotional offers such as discounted prices, coupons, coke rewards etc have also been used to attract the consumers.
Since the consumers of coke have different demographic characteristics the cultural and religious values of the people have also been taken into consideration. The advertisement developed for an Asian country would represent their culture and their people. Diet coke and coke zero would represent the people who are health conscious and care for their well being. These themes address the issue of obesity, health and fitness.
The underlying theme of all advertisement and marketing of coke has been focusing on the idea of a drink that refreshes a person and provides happiness too. All of the advertising has been revolving around the concept of happy people, of different cultures and ethnic background, different age groups, genders and income groups. The consumer of coke has been linked with the feeling of happiness.
Overall the integrated marketing approach of Coca Cola had been quite successful as it has been able to gain a large market share as compared to its rivals, and continues to be a preferred soft drink of the consumers.
Recommendations
Even though the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) approach has been successful so far, it can be further enhanced by considering the following recommendations:
• Focusing on people of older age groups in the advertisements. It has been observed that the main theme of the T.V advertisements revolve around youth consuming coke. The older people are a part of the advertisement, but they seem to be in the background. It suggests the idea that older people are not so enthusiastic about having coke, but youth will definitely consume it.
• Promotional and discounted prices are offered to people on special occasions, such as during Ramadan coke reduces its prices. The discounted prices can be offered in other cases as well apart from the special occasions.
• The launch of New Coke had been quite unsuccessful. The basic problem occurred was that previously the marketing of coke had been exclusively focusing on the concept of its originality. By bringing in the new coke, coca cola had indirectly challenged that concept. People rejected the idea of change in the familiar soft drink. In future, launching a new product needs to be carefully evaluated. It needs to be understood that the consumers of coke perceive it as the real thing, and this idea should not be challenged.
References
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Carducci, J. Bernardo. (2009). The Psychology of Personality. Wiley-Blackwell. USA. http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=1gJPXv5wQbIC&pg=PA474&dq=hard+and+soft+sell+advertising&hl=en&ei=Qr_MTYeGD4O8vQP8qeybCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CF0Q6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=hard%20and%20soft%20sell%20advertising&f=false
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