INSTITUTEOFACCOUNTACYARUSHA (INCOLLABORATIONWITHCOVENTRYUNIVERSITY)

OPENHAPPINESSCAMPAIGNCASESTUDYOFCOCACOLA

COURSE:MBAINIT&MANAGEMENT MODULECODE:ARUM85EKM MODULENAME:MARKETINGMANAGEMENT SUBMITEDBY:EMMANUELMNZAVA SUBMITEDDATE:9thNovember2012

INTRODUCTION Proper implementation and execution of a strategic marketing plan is essential to the success of any company. A company may have an ideal product, but without proper positioning,identificationofatargetmarket,andapropermarketingplanacompanywould notbeabletosuccessfullymarketitsproductstoconsumers. ThiscasediscusOpenHappinesscampaignslaunchedin2009toreviveSalesofCocaCola, whichwasacontinuationofCokesideoflifecampaignstartedin2006.Theobjectivewas to increase sales in time of global recession, therefore CocaCola had to come up with an appeal multi cultural platform in markets across the world so that they can penetrate any culturalsocietyacrosstheworld.Also,duetoriseofhealthconcernsamongtheconsumers, cokesawitsmarketsdropsbecausepeoplewereshiftingtononcarbonateddrinks. This case discusses in detail the relevance of theories of buyer behavior to different marketingsituations,contributionofmarketingtobusinessorganizationsandevaluatesthe changing nature of marketing, particularly the role of emarketing, and assessing the contribution of these changes to marketing practice. In order to attain a better understandingofthemarketsituationfacingCocaCola,SWOTanalysiswillhelptoidentify areas where the company is doing good and areas of improvement. Then, the Case will concludewithrecommendationsonhowCokecanincreaseitmarketingconsideringithasa strongbrandacceptedacrosstheworldanddealwiththreatsofnoncarbonateddrinks. ABOUTTHECOMPANY The CocaCola Company, founded and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is known for its closetiestothecityand,inparticular,itsphilanthropichistory.In1886, PharmacistJohnPembertoncreatedthesoftdrinkCocaColabycombiningsodawater,lime, cinnamon,cocaleaves,andBrazilianshrubweeds.ThedrinkwasoriginallysoldinAtlantain Jacobs Pharmacy for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink. Pembertons partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, suggested the actual CocaCola trademark. Robinson thoughtthatanamewithtwoCswouldlookniceinadvertising,andhepennedthenow famousCocaColalogoinhisownhandwriting.PembertonsrecipewaspurchasedonApril 14, 1891, for $2300 by Asa Chandler, an Atlanta pharmacist and businessman who turned CocaColaintotheinternationallyrecognizedbranditistoday.By1892,Chandlerstalentfor merchandisinghadboostedsalesofCocaColanearlytenfold. Today CocaColas reach spreads far beyond Georgia and even the United States; the companyhasbecomeoneoftheworldsmostrecognizablecorporations. OnJanuary21,2009,CocaColaCompanycameoutwithanewglobalintegratedmarketing campaigncalledtheOpenHappinesscampaign.BuiltonthelinesoftheCocaColasearlier campaign, Coke Side of Life, the Open Happiness campaign invited people around the worldtorefreshthemselveswithacokeandcontinuetoenjoythesimplepleasuresoflife. Talking about the essence of the campaign, Bayne said, Central to Open Happiness is the simple notion of enjoying an ice cold CocaCola and taking small break from the day to connectwithothers.Withthisnewcampaign,thatsexactlywhatweareinvitingpeopleto domoreoftenopenaCokeandsharealittlehappiness.

 Diagram:Image of CocaCola from the first design (on the left) to the latest design(On the right) Source:http://www.thecocacolacompany.com SWOTANALYSISOFCOCACOLA SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the strength, weakness, OpportunitiesandThreatsinsideacompany.Itinvolvesidentifyingtheinternalandexternal factorsthatarefavorable/unfavorableforbusinesstosucceed. 1.Strength CocaColahasbeenenjoyinggrowthovertheyearsbothinvolumesandvalue.Throughits strongbrand,CocaColahasmanagetomarketitscarbonateddrinkaswellasmaintainits standard to provide consumers with high quality carbonated drinks. This led to increased popularityofCocaCola. Also, CocaCola has financial muscles to invest on any area that can increase sales consideringcustomerloyaltyishigh. 2.Weakness Liquidconcentratesareseasonalcategoriesinthemarket.Usually,salespeakinsummerin the US than winter times. Therefore during winter CocaCola consumption is not as high comparedtosummer. Also, Most CocaCola brands are unknown and rarely seen on the market. Only CocaCola hasmanagedtoraiseabovetheresttoagreaterextent. 3.Opportunities. TheUSgovernmenttaxbeveragesindustryoncapacityofproductionratherthanonactual productionandthishelpsthecompanytosaleCocaColaataffordableprices.Byacquisition ofBottlerCompany,nowCocaColacanmakeitsownbottlers. 4.Threats Increasing health concern among the population has caused many to shift to alternatives such as juice. There is campaign, which says drinking of carbonated drinks is not good to human health. This has caused the sales of CocaCola to drop. This has noticed increased salesofbottledwater. CompetitionfromalternativedrinkssuchasPepsiColaposesathreattothecompany.

THEORIESOFBUYERBEHAVIORSINRELEVANCETODIFFERENTMARKETINGSITUATIONS. In order to maximize their brand awareness and establish themselves as the most recognized and respected brand in the world and within their target market, CocaCola implemented a wellintegrated marketing program that would utilize a marketing mix (product,price,place,andpromotion)thatwouldsatisfytheneedsandwantsofitstarget market. And through this, CocaCola has managed to identify key areas of buyer behaviors. ThefourelementsofmarketingmixthatCocaColautilizedareasfollows: Product: CocaCola over the years has been producing high quality products and has introducedover200productsalongwithCocaCola. Price: Priceoftheproductiscriticalformarketinganditisoneofthefourvariablesinthe marketingmixthatbusinesspeopleusetodevelopamarketingplan.Alwaysbuyers look at the price of the product to see if they can afford regardless they like the productornot.Thepriceoftheproductisdecidedbykeepingmanythingsinmind like cost incurred on the product, target market, competitors, consumer buying capacityetc.CocaColahasalwaysbeencarefulonpricingofitsproductandthishas made it affordable to various level of the society. Since price is decided based on the competition, CocaCola has decided to produce same product at different packagestomeetdifferentdemandoftheconsumers.Thepackagesincludeforthe familyandforindividualpurchases. Place Everywhere you go you will find CocaCola, you can find in a small shop or in big Malls.Thismadeitavailabletoallconsumersatanytime. Promotion CocaCola is very famous in promotion. They use all sorts of option to reach the targetedmarket.Andtheiradvertsareofhighquality.TheyuseTV,Billboardetc. Also, through corporate social responsibilities CocaCola has helped lots of people over the years. For Example, Since 1987 CocaCola has invested more than $20 million dollars in support of Hispanic organization and initiatives like Hispanic ScholarshipFund(HSF)andLULACNationalEducationalServiceCenters,Inc.(LNESC), whichimpactthelivesofmanyHispanicsincludingLatinoyouth.Now,throughthis society contribution, CocaCola has manage to build trust among Hispanic people hencecontributetoitssales. BuyersBehavior With the understanding of 4ps of marketing which act as stimuli, over the years the company has managed to identify buyers behavior in different environment among Hispanic Communities and US as a whole. Though, it is the fact that this is very complex procedure, because of many variables involved and their tendency to interact with and influence each other. Buyers behaviors can be divided into two: Consumer Behavior and BusinessBuyerBehavior.Intodaysworld,technologyisveryadvancedsuchasbuyershave deep knowledge of the products at their fingertips, thus customers have a greater deal of choices and options. By understanding consumer behavior CocaCola managed to make bettermarketingdecisionforprofitmaking.Consumerscandecidebasedon: Productattributes,i.ePackage,Test,(1stPProduct) Bylookingatthecostascomparedtootheralternatives(2ndpPrice) Availabilityoftheproduct.Isiteverywhere(Easilyavailable),canIorderforhome delivery(3rdpPlace) Advertising of the product. By keep hearing every time it sticks to their mind. Billboardeverywhereandothersstarttouseinfluencethebuyer(4thpPromotion)

 By understanding consumer behavior, CocaCola has managed to penetrate different marketing environment by using buyers behaviors to create good appeal of their product. Thiscanbeseenasfollows: i. NeedsandWants CocaCola appeals to various group of people because they satisfy different needs and wants of consumers. This ranges fro physiological to personal. CocaCola throughOpenHappinesshavetriedtoshowtothecustomersthatdrinkingcoke canbringhappinessevenindifficulttimesbyenjoyingsimplepleasures.CocaCola linkedtheproductwithhappiness. ii. ByattractingAttention With increasing competition from companies like Pepsi and others, it is better to attractattentionofconsumerstobuyyourproduct.CocaColahasadoptedseveral means to attract consumers. For example, within Hispanic communities,CocaCola through its open happiness campaign introduced a program called CocaCola TelenovelaClubwherebywithitsfifthpromotioncalledAlDiabloconlosGuapos winnerswillgetachancetomeetwiththeirdreamstars. iii. CultureandSubCulture CocaCola has tried to appeal to different culture by tuning their marketing to particularculture.ThishasbeendonebystressingvaluessuchasFriendship,Family, Happinessandbeingcool.Bydoingso,theymanagetocutacrossvariousgroupof theparticularsociety.Beingabletointegratemarketingwithparticularcultureisan effectivetooltoincreasesales.CocaColaappealsmoretoyouthbetween1525 though it includes other ages as well. For example, CocaCola penetrates into Hispanic American community by introducing Family Food Bundles, where as it understoodthatforHispanicpeople,mealsareoneofthemostimportanttimesof the day. So, CocaCola partnered with authentic food brands to bring Hispanic families taste, refreshment and value in their important daily events. By using SpanishlanguageonadvertsforHispaniccommunitiesCocaColamanagedtocreate goodimpressionamongHispaniccommunitiesthusinfluencetheirbuyingbehaviors iv. ByPersuasion In order to increase sales different techniques has to be used to persuade consumers to buy CocaCola. My making use of famous Teams or Popular Sports Individuals and associate them with CocaCola helps to boost sales. Those individuals help to show Happiness they enjoy by drinking CocaCola to consumers. For example; Through Open Happiness campaign CocaCola introduced a tour of Mexican National Team to US which will offer several memorableopportunitiesforfootballfans. v. Motivationandinvolvement InorderforpeopletobemotivatedtobuyCocaCola,thecompanyhastoappealto themtomakethemfeelthattheirneedsandwantsaresatisfied.Thiswillpositively influence peoples involvement with the product. Through Open Happiness Campaignmusicplayedcentralrolebyreleasingnewmusictrackfeaturedinoneof the ads that will be released as single. The music collaboration featured Gnarls Barkleys Cee Lo, Patrick Stump from Fall out Boy, Grammy nominated Janelle Monaeandothers.Also,AmericanIdolonFOXTVinUSaswellasSuperBowlon NBCgivesCocaColaagoodimageasapartnerinrefreshingmomentswithCoke.

vi.

Helpstoremindconsumers(Memory) Byadvertisingfrequentlythroughdifferentmedia.TheadvertsmakestheBrandto stickintopeoplesmindsuchthatnexttimetheygotothestore,theyaremorelikely tothinkofCocaCola.ItcreatesBrandawarenessandLoyalty.

CONTRIBUTIONOFMARKETINGTOORGANIZATIONS Marketingtheorieshavecontributedextensivelytomarketingstrategiesoforganization.By identifyingtheproperstrategytouse. Looking at the Michael Porters Five forces of competition. CocaCola along with other big brands like General Electric (GE) and IBM has managed to stand the taste of time. Porters claimsthat,competitionisatthecoreofsuccessorfailureofthefirm.Andthatasuccessful competitivestrategycanestablishaprofitableandsustainableindustrialposition.Heclaims thattherearetwofundamentalquestionsunderlyingthechoiceofacompetitivestrategy: firstly,howattractiveistheindustrywithregardtoprofitabilityandsecondary,whatarethe determinants of competitive position within an industry. According to Porter there are 5 forcesthatwillgoverntheruleofcompetition,andthisrulewillprevailinanyindustryboth domesticandinternationalmarkets.TheFiveforcesare: a) Theentryofnewcompetitionenteringthemarket b) Threatsofsubstitutes c) Bargainingpowerofthebuyers d) Bargainingpowerofsuppliers e) Rivalrybetweenfirmsofthesamesector Now,basedonthisFourForces,ItisevidentthatCocaCola,GEandIBMaslegendarybrands have analyzed their strategic position and decided to venture into areas of Innovation, DiversityandResiliency. ByusingtheSWOTanalysismentionedaboveacompanycanidentifyitsareaofstrengths and explorer opportunities that are available in order to put a company in a strategic positiontoitscompetitorsandoffsetthreats. Rumelt (1980) states that competitive advantage can normally be found in superior resources,superiorskillsorasuperiorposition.Itsevidentthatresourcesandskillshelpan organizationtodobetterinareastheychoosetoventure. Wecanseefromthecasethatdespitethefactthattheyresideinverydifferentareas.All companies have financial muscles and have decided to invest in Innovation. By studying changeofconsumerpreference,changingbusinesspreferencetheymanagetoadapttothe changingnatureoftheindustryovertheyears. WithDiversity,Allcompanieshavedecidedtoventureintootherareasandnotonlysingle product that they started with. With example of CocaCola, due to bargaining power of customers they had to introduce different products to meet different taste of the buyers. ThesameappliestoIBMandGE,whereasforIBMtheyhaveacquiredproductcompanies suchasLotus,Tivolietc.Itmakesproductioneasybecauseonecompanycomplementsthe otherwithinthesameumbrella. To add up to that, internally these companies have acquired individuals from different geographicconditionwhichhelpsthecompanyinstudyingdifferentcultureeasilyinorder tomeettheirdemands. With Resiliency, these companies have been able to quickly identify areas of weakness or threats and adapt to them. For example, CocaCola introduced New Coke in 1985. With thisnewproduct,themanagementdecidedtotemperwiththesecretformula.Thisledto negative publicity and public outcry, which caused CocaCola to admit its error and after three months they brought back the original Coke. This shows that big companies do blundersattimesbuttheyrealizetheirmistakesandcorrectquicklybeforethingsgetworse.

AllthisadaptationcanbeseenfromthePortersfiveforcesasfollowswithexampleofCoca Cola.
CocaColahas astrongbrand inMarketing

Entry Barriers

Duetosizeof CocaCola, Suppliers bargaining poweris small

Supplier Bargaining Power

Rivalry Among Firms

Buyers Burgaining Powers

Baseon quality, Priceetc Buyers bargaining poweris low.

CocaColahasmanyproducts underitsbrandandcontinueto investoninnovation.

Substitutes

Competitionisbasedonsmall numberofCompanies

Figure1:PortersFiveForcesofCompetition

ROLEOFEMARKETING Withover54millionusersonFacebook,and600thousandsplusfollowersontwitter.Itis quiteevidentCocaColahastransformeditselfintoonlinepresence.Whiletodayscustomers aremoreknowledgeableabouttheproductgeneraladvertisingonTVarenotsufficientto reachdifferentgroupofcustomers. MorepeoplearelikelytousemobiledevicestogetnewsthanstayingathomewatchingTV. With the use of online media like Facebook CocaCola can gather information about consumer preference and use that information on delivering quality products to its consumers. Since emarketing involves interaction, CocaCola in a case introduced a website www.mycokerewards.com where by visitors will be able to preview two new CocaCola spots that will air during the broadcast of the super bowl on NBC. Also they use mobile phonesasatoolforadvertising.ThisisbecauseTabletsandSmartphonesarebecomingfirst screenforusersonthego. CONCLUSIONANDRECOMMENDATION With SWOT analysis, it shows that a company can easily identify its strength, weakness, opportunitiesandthreatsofwhichhelpthecompanytoformulatestrategiestostaystrong in the business. Therefore by analyzing the 4ps of marketing mix, CocaCola managed to understand buying behaviors of its consumers in different marketing situation by critically understanding their needs and wants, ways to persuade them, understanding consumers culturethataffecttheirbuyingbehavior,andbeingabletoattractbuyersthroughdifferent meanslikeaprogramcalledCocaColaTelenovela. Also, with the changes of marketing environments over they years, Companies like Coca Cola,GE,andIBMhasmanagedtoadapttochangeswithdifferentmarketingstrategiesby analyzing their competitive strategy that can be demonstrated by Porters Five Forces of

competition.Throughthis,companiedreliedonInnovation,DiversityandResiliencyinorder tostayontopofbusiness. Furthermore,theuseofemarketinghashelpedthecompanytointeractwithitscustomers inordertogatherinformationthathelpstostrengtheningtheirproductaswellascreatea strong personalized link with it customers who vary in tastes of the products with the purpose of achieving the most important element of marketing, which is Customer Satisfaction Torecommend,CocaColashouldaddresstheincreasingconcernofcustomersoverhealth issuesrelatedtocarbonateddrinks.Customersnowareknowledgeableabouttheirhealth, andthereisasmallshiftofdrinkinghabit,whereaspeoplestarttopreferbottledwaterand juicesinsteadofcarbonateddrinks. REFERENCES www.thecocacolacompany.com/ourcompany/ar(4thNovember2012) Rumelt,R.(1980),TheEvaluationofBusinessStrategy,BusinessPolicyand StrategicManagement,EditedbyW.F.Glueck Kotler,P.andKeller,K.L.(2009).MarketingManagement,12thed.NewJersey: PearsonEducation