AMITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS UTTAR PRADESH

DISSERTATION REPORT MARKETING STRATEGIES OF THE COCA COLA COMPANY.

Submitted To : Ms.Veena Tripathi

Submitted By : Jagrit Nahata A3906409105 BBA General(2009-12)

AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH AMITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Jagrit Nahata student of Bachelor of Business Administration at Amity School of Business, has completed dissertation on MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COCA COLA, under my guidance.

DATE:

Ms. Veena Tripathi

(Faculty guide)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my mentor Ms. Veena Tripathi, who has helped me immensely throughout this project and without whom I would have not been able to complete my dissertation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SYNOPSIS OBJECTIVES METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION THE COCA COLA COMPANY PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING COCA COLA AND PEPSI IN INDIAN MARKET SPONSORSHIP COCA COLA THE BRAND

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SYNOPSIS
The work was undertaken to find out how the selected brand was the No. 1 brand in its respective product category in the world. The other brands are close competitors of the No. 1 brands. Data was collected from secondary as well as primary sources. Structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH
Research Question: Evaluating the factors for success of CocaCola Co. Objectives: Evaluating Marketing Strategy for Coca Cola Co. Studying Coca Cola The Brand Coca Cola operations in India Swot analysis of the Coca Cola co.

METHODOLOGY
PRIMARY DATA:
A questionnaire was used to find out the brand image of the Coca-Cola brand and also about Brand Loyalty and other aspects of Brand Strength. A sample size of 20 people was taken in the age group of 17-23 yrs. were used.

SECONDARY DATA:
Data about Coca-Cola Company was collected using The internet Articles and news items in newspapers

INTRODUCTION
On May 8, 1886, Atlanta druggist Dr. John Styth Pemberton invented Coca Cola syrup using melted sugar, water and other ingredients. It was mixed in a 30-gal. Brass kettle hung over a backyard file. It was marketed as a brain and nerve tonic in drugstores. Sales averaged nine drinks per day. Frank M Robinson, Pembertons bookkeeper, was the person who

suggested the name Coca-Cola, which was chosen because both words actually named two ingredients found in the syrup. They were the coca leaf and the Kola nut. Robinson spelled Kola with a C to make it look better in advertising. The original formula included extracts of African Kola nut and Coca leaves both strong stimulants. Coca-Cola was one of the thousands of exotic patent medicines sold in the 1800s that actually contained traces of cocaine. One summer, in 1886, a customer walked into a drugstore complaining of a headache and requested a bottle of Coca-Cola syrup. To get instant relief, he asked the soda jerk to mix up a
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glass on the spot. Rather than walk to the other end of the counter in order to mix it with cold tap water, the clerk suggested using soda water. The man remarked it really tasted great, and soon after Coca-Cola was in fizzy, carbonated form. In 1888, Mr. Candler bought the company from Dr. Pemberton, later the same year, Dr. Pemberton died. By 1914, Candler had acquired a fortune of some $50 million. Baseball hall of Famer Ty Cobb, a Georgian native, was another early investor in the company. In 1894, Joseph A. Biedenharn, owner of the Biedenharn Candy Company in Vicksburg, Mississippi, first bottled Coca-Cola. By 1903, the use of cocaine was controversial and Coca-Cola decided to use only spent coca leaves. It also stopped advertising Coca-Cola as a cure for headaches and other ills. In 1919, after his death, Griggs Candlers family sold the interest in Coca-Cola to a group of businessmen led by Earnest Woodruff for $25 million. Woodruff was appointed president of Coca-Cola on April 28, 1923 and stayed on the job until 1955.

In his more than six decades of leadership took the business to unrivaled heights of commercial success, making Coca-Cola an institution the world over.

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THE COCA-COLA COMPANY

Strategy and mission The strategy of The Coca-Cola Company has for a long time been best characterized as follows: global marketing and local

manufacturing. However, the global marketing approach has been changed to local marketing because of the differences in consumer demands and experiences.

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 Communities local offices around the world ensure that the company is a respectful corporate citizen and participates as an integral part of each community. Customer the company provides value of customers through every consumer purchase, through superior customer service and though great value creation programs. Coca-Cola system- the Coca-Cola system business model delivers value to the company and to its bottling partners. By working together, the Coca-Cola system focuses on growing the overall profits from the beverage category in order to provide strong returns for all parties involved. Coca-Cola people the company recognizes the value of its associates and remains focused on ensuring it has the most talented, creative and motivated people throughout the world.

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Mission The mission was to create value for all the constituents we serve, including our consumers, our customers, our bottlers and our communities. The Coca-Cola Company creates value by executing a comprehensive business strategy guided by six key beliefs: 1. Consumer demand drives everything we do. 2. Brand Coca-Cola is the core of our business. 3. We will serve consumer a broad selection of the non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages they want to drink throughout the day. 4. We will be the best marketers in the world. 5. We will think and act locally. 6. We will lead as a model corporate citizen.

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THE COCA-COLA PROMISE

The Coca-Cola Company exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches

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THE ENDURING STORY OF COCA-COLA

For more than a century, consistently delivering the simple promise of Coca-Cola has enabled us to sustain a long track record of growth. Amidst all the years of success, the most pivotal moments in our history have come when we had to change our business dramatically to meet new challenges of the evolving world. But each time, our predecessors sustained growth momentum because of three consistent factors: The company remained focused on the basic promise of CocaCola, which has not only endured, but indeed carried us. That promise has been our consistent theme throughout our 115year history. Our people kept that basic promise by working with strong ideals, always striving to behave in ways consistent with the brand itself.

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 Our leaders had the vision, foresight and the courage to innovate and adapt the mechanics of our business to allow us to thrive within the business conditions of each particular day. So, in the century ahead, the leadership of Coca-Cola will successfully author the next chapter by making sure we stay focused on the promise and ideals of Coca-Cola, while continually adapting our ability to deliver on that promise as business conditions change.

MARKETPLACE

More than a billion times every day, thirsty people around the world reach for Coca-Cola products for refreshment. They deserve the highest qualityevery time. Our promise to deliver that quality is the most important promise we make. And it involves a worldwide, yet distinctively local, network of bottling partners, suppliers, distributors and retailers whose success is paramount to our own. Our investment in local communities in over 200 countries totals billions of dollars in jobs, facilities, marketing, the
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purchase of local goods and services, and local business partnerships. Always and everywhere, we pursue continuous innovation in the products we offer the processes we use to make them, the packages we develop and the ways we bring them to market.

WORKPLACE

The Coca-Cola system is one of the most diverse organizations on earth, with a rich mosaic of talented colleagues who bring a variety of intellectual, professional, ethnic and cultural

perspectives to our enterprise. They reflect the nations, cultures and languages of the world. Our policy is to foster an inclusive environment that encourages all employees to develop and perform to their fullest potential.

Our workplace must be a place where everyone's ideas and contributions are valued. Our employees deserve equal treatment under our policies governing compensation, advancement, health,
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safety and other aspects of workplace life. We understand that fairness in the workplace, coupled with the opportunity to develop individual capabilities, fosters our collective success.

ENVIRONMENT

Responsible stewardship of the environment is a top priority for The Coca-Cola Company. By preserving and enhancing our natural world, we brighten the future for our planet and for each other. We put this principle into practice through The Coca-Cola Environmental Management System, known as ecosystem. We operate our business as stewards of the environment, with a commitment to continually move our business toward

sustainability, striving to consume fewer natural resources, and to recover and reuse resources more extensively. Our commitment to protect the environment extends throughout our organization, involving officers, managers and employees at all levels.

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PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION

One of the most important factors contributing to the success of Coca Cola is a production and distribution system that ensures the product reaches the consumer in perfect condition wherever they may be in the world some 2000 associates and almost 1 million men and women help to make Coca Cola production and distribution system work. Coke thinks of its business and its market share in terms of Share of human liquid consumption. This makes water a competitor, Coca Colas mantra is within an arms reach of desire.

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Coca-Cola is distributed mainly in two ways: The Foundation: Here the soft drinks are purchased either for on premises or takeout consumption. They are mostly through fast food and restaurant business. Only one brand is sold per fountain in any establishment. Consumers can select between four selections of that one brand. Which mostly include traditional cola, diet cola and two other products for the same brand. Some fast foods, which have agreement with Coca-Cola Co. fountains, are: McDonalds Burger King (switched from Pepsi Co. to Coca Cola Co. in 1990) Dominos To appeal to the niche fountain markets (such as small offices, stores and factories), Coca Cola developed break Mate, a vending machine that can dispense eight different soft drink products using one-litre syrup dispensers.

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Can/Bottle: Here a single outlet sells a wide variety of brands. The competition is high in all distribution channels. Supermarkets. Part of Coca-Colas strategy is to bring out brand extensions of its popular products in an attempt to dominate supermarket shelf space. To encourage supermarket and large retailers to stock new product, Coca-Cola provides cash fees for functions performed and grants these retailers special promotional discounts. Bottles and cans also sold at clubs, warehouse stores, mass merchandisers and convenience stores. Vender machines: about 15 percent of domestic soft drinks are sold through vending machines. It designed a vending machine that will dispense cold soft drinks as well as magazines and candy in conjunction with Mead Merchandising. There are also niche markets such as colleges and universities, hotels, food service operations, airlines and mobile lunch coaches.

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ADVERTISING
Advertising is a measure of the growth of civilization and an indication of the striving of the roe for betterment and perfection. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation of idea, goods or service by an identified sponsor

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ADVERTISING ENVIRONMENT

It is noteworthy that the expectations of consumers and of distribution also influence the advertising function. This would apply to advertising aimed at getting new buyers, including brand switching as well as maintaining brand loyalty. Availability of advertising agencies, and ancillary facilities and services creates favorable conditions for use of advertising and other forms of promotion. In this respect considerable advance has been made in India. Not only the number of advertising agencies increased substantially in recent years but qualitative improvements in techniques and creative approves have become noticeable. Considerable development of the mass media has also taken place. Increased moiling of people has raised the chance of exposure to the various media and also increased receptivity to promotional menage. This as well as other factors have also affected social and cultural valves. Consequently, the markets have become more responsive to advertising. Thus, advertises

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have greater need to advertise in order to exploit the market potential to thus advantage. Advertising is a way of communicating information to the consumer. Information which enables him or her to compare and choose from the products and services available. Advertising enables consumers to exercise their right of free choice.

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COCA COLA vs. PEPSI IN INDIAN MARKET

The Coke Market in India is dominated by two global players Coca- Cola and Pepsi. Pepsi entered the Indian market in 1989 while coke re-launched its products in the year 1992. Worldwide beverage business is bright and Cokes life, its only business. Deep blue Pepsi, is broad based food and beverage company deriving more than 60% of its sales and operating profits from its snacks food and restaurants business. Both Coca-Cola India and Pepsi foods hit upon same strategy create awareness by increasing noise levels, reduce prices to include trials and later increase prices once consumer trails have begun. Coke is mainly franchisee driven operation with the company supplying its soft drink concentrate (that sector portion) to its bottles around tCohe world (franchisee Operated / owned bottling Operation or FOBO).

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Pepsi has taken the more capital-intensive route of owning and running its own bottling factories (company operated bottling operations or COBO) alongside those of franchisees.

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SPONSORSHIPS
Coca Cola Sponsorship Coca-Colas has been sponsoring with many global events. Sponsorship involves providing financial support, creative input, media support and experience to an imports event or activity organized by another party. In return the company receives a public opportunity to be seen to support and be associated with an event. Coca-Cola is one of the top global sponsors of sport. By matching the brand with world standard events Coca-Cola benefits from the exposure and the associations made between it and the event and the event being sponsored. Local offices around the world ensure that the company participates and supports local communities. Coca Cola is aware of what it relevant in the lives of its target market such as sport, music and fashion.

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COCA COLA THE BRAND

Brand promise Coca-Cola promises Quality, value and propriety in the local context. In economic terms they promises, jobs, favorable economics proper retailer margins and also promise people that they can make a living selling Coca Cola. So there is both a brand promise as well as a Business Promise. There is an intrinsic connection between the name of the company and their main product blends the promise made to the consumer with that made at the corporate level. Brand logo The color red stands for excitement, fun and passion. It is an eye-catching color and cannot to ignored easily. The font used is also very stylish there is nothing serious about this logo. The Coca Cola Contour bottle The shape of the bottle is unique. Even a blind folded person can feel the bottle and identify it as a Coca-Cola bottle.

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Brand positioning Coca-Cola is positioned to contribute to fund time, to making life better, a little lighter, a little more enjoyable. Coca-Cola uses a combination of emotion and personality to position itself. Many people see Coca-Cola as a part of their daily life. There is that emotional connection of having Coca-Cola while enjoying with friends and when they were young. Many people see Coca-Cola as a part of their daily life This affinity between the brand and the consumer leads to a high degree of loyalty and makes the purchasing decision easier. Brand positioning guides what will be communicated in the companys advertising, while the character statement guides how a message should be delivered or put across. The font memories of childhood and refreshment that people have when they drink Coke is often more important than a little bit better cola taste. It is this emotional relationship with brands that make them so powerful.

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Brand personality Coca-Cola if personified would be someone with following characteristics 1. Freedom 2. Fun-loving 3. Experienced 4. Genuine 5. Successful 6. Trustworthy 7. Reliable

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COCA COLA IN INDIA

After leaving India in the year 1977 Coca Cola re-launched its drink in the sub continent in 1993 by taking over Parle for Rs. 150 crore. The company took over all brands of Parle including Thums Up. Coca Cola had tried to acquire an equity stake in its 53 bottlers that had backfired, when the bottlers retailers strongly. The company channelized $700 million in expanding bottling

operations to create an integrated bottling system. Coca Cola was the first in the country to launch cans, plastic cap leak proof bottles and full-length delivery crates. Most of the bottlers for Coca-Cola are franchises as compared to Pepsi who use to own almost half of its bottlers. Now Pepsi has almost all its bottlers as franchises. The rural initiatives for CSDs, driving affordability through lower price points and strengthening distribution to make their products available in new markets, proved to be a great success, thus substantially expanding the consumer base.
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Coca-Cola India and its bottling partners are about to invest $2 billion over five years, starting 2012, to tap the growth potential in the non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverage market. Coca-Cola plans to double its global revenues in the next decade, as part of Vision 2020 and feels India will play a crucial role in achieving its target.

The company, which has invested $2 billion in the past 18 years of its presence in India, is doubling its investments in a period of five years to enhance its growth rate in the country.

The investment will be a part of the total $30 billion that the company will invest globally and will include new infrastructure, partnerships, brand-building and sustainability programmes. "India has reached a scale where we want to see it in the top five countries.

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PROBLEMS FOR COCA COLA

The Belgium Scare In June 1999 nearly 200 school children in Belgium complained of headaches, nausea, fatigue and sickness after drinking Coke. The result was recall of 65 million bottles and cans of Coke across four European countries. It was believed to be caused by unpleasant odor. This cost Coca-Cola as estimated loss of $ 200 million. But the greater damage was done to the Brand Image as the company was rather slow and unconcerned to react, it was as if the Belgian Crisis was begin treated as a little local difficulty. The explanation was that substandard carbon dioxide had been used in the manufacture of Coca-Cola in Belgium, whilst the outside of the cans had been contaminated with fungicides used to treat the pallets on which the cans were transported. A major advertising campaign was launched apologizing to the Belgium consumers. A special consumer hotline was established and 50 officials from Atlanta were shifted to Brussels. Free 1.5

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liters bottle was distributed all over the country. Coke trucks displayed messages of Your Coke is coming back. The action taken in Belgium is a lesson for all global companies. Coca-Cola had taken a long time to react to the situation. This had adverse effects on the Brand Image, which had taken so long to be built. Allegations from Pepsi & Virgin Pepsi & Virgin had accused Coca Cola of taking advantage of its position within Europe be encouraging retailers to stop stocking other cola products by offering loyalty bonuses and exclusively agreements. Such allegations carry potential fine of 10% of turnover. This lead to dawn raids in several bottling factories including UK & Belgium. Cadbury Schweppes and Orangina Coca-Cola faced another commercial setback when $1.85 billion takeover of Cadbury Schweppes was intercepted by European regulators.

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The French competition authorities to take over French soft drink Orangina inspite of an $840 million agreed bid also turned them down. Coca Cola & Racial Discrimination The first emergence of this issue was in 1995 related to a memo, which said how black employees felt, Blacks are not going to move any higher than low paying jobs. In December 1999 all 200 of Coca Colas black employees joined an action to put stop to the discrimination of being passed for promotions and being paid less than their white counterparts. It was settles in Nov. 2000 at the record cost of $ 192.5 million. Thus we see that problems like health scares, antitrust and allegations of racial discrimination had quite an impact on the brand image of Coca-Cola. The image of the open relaxed, youthful fun lifestyle had become distant and insensitive.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths Coca-Cola is over a 100 years old company. It has a very strong brand equity. Today if the company goes bankrupt it can build back purely on its brand equity. The production & distribution system of Coca-Cola Co. is its very strong asset. Another strength is their strong advertising campaign. The catchy slogans that they roll out every few years consistently become a household commonality. When the average American hears the phrase its the real thing they automatically think Coca-Cola. Also during the Christmas season Cokes clever ads with the polar bears need not even be identified specifically as a Coke commercial in order for the viewer to recognize the product.

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Weaknesses The growing health consciousness of people may prevent them from consuming carbonated drinks like Coca-Cola. Although Coca-Colas decentralized management structure can be strength, it can also be a weakness. The company currently does not set common set corporate it owns goals. goals. Instead, In the each more

management

region

economically developed countries this system works very well. In economically challenged regions where Coke is not

established as a daily staple, Coca-Cola needs to change its internal management structure in order to deal with this problem. There is also a problem in the relationship Coca-Cola has with its independent bottlers. The contract with the bottlers is under constant negotiations. This had led to some tension in the past.

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Opportunities Coca-Cola is capable of expanding into other markets besides that of the soft drink. It has done so with Sunfill in India. This is a very good opportunity for Coke to introduce health drinks as they move into the next millennium where consumers are becoming more health conscious. European markets also offer tremendous potential for growth. China and the Far East also show a very large potential for growth. China is currently the worlds most populous country. By default China is also the largest consumer of food and beverage.

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Threats One of the largest threats that is facing Coca-Cola today is the regional economy is some of the geographic area in which the company operates. People today are attempting to live a healthier life style than their parents did in the past. One of the first things that people tend to cut out of their diet are complex sugars such as those found in the high fructose corn syrup. In order for Coke to say viable they are again going to need to develop a new product that would both address the health concerns of the people and also maintain the taste and texture of the original Coke.

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SPONSORSHIPS

The company has long been associated with global events such as The Olympic games, The FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and Special Olympics. Coke has also been linked to World fairs and national exhibitions since 1905. Olympics Coca-Cola was the official sponsor of the Olympics 2000 games held in Sydney maintaining an unbroken presence at the games since 1928. With the Olympics blossoming in popularity, increased attention has been turned to serving the growing crowds and to supplying the needs of the athletes and organizing committees. In many countries where Olympic associations lack full government

sponsorship local bottlers of Coca-Cola donate funds to aid potential Olympians as the partnership of Coca-Cola and the Olympics continues to grow.

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Football Coca-Cola also sets out to support football at every level of the sport. On a global basis Coca-Cola has been a sponsor of the World Cup since the 1978 tournament in Argentina through to Finance in 1998 and into the new millennium. In Europe, Coca Cola is involved with the European Championship and plays a prominent part in making the event such a success. The global popularity of football makes it an ideal sport for Coca-Cola to build on the life experiences of their target group. At these events Coca Cola has exclusive product availability in the non-alcoholic beverage category. To support Coca-Colas association with football, Coca cola created the very successful East football, sleep football, drink Coca-Cola campaign and the World Cup for fans campaign. These campaigns highlight the natural link between having a Coca-Cola and enjoying the experience of watching a football game.

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RECOMMENDATION & CONCLUSION

The susceptible teenager- youth generative views Coke as a companion or friendly brand. Therefore it has very good opportunity to enter more into the soft drink market. What more ifs has to do can be summarized on follow: 1. It has to improve its distribution channel a little more to get more shelf place especially in the non-metropolitan cities. 2. It must set up more bottling plants to get edge over its competitors. It must think more about Fountain Coca Cola where Pepsi is already a market leader.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE
Questionnaire Name Age ______________________________ ______________________________

Occupation ______________________________ 1. Which soft drink do you prefer? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Pepsi Coca Cola Fanta Sprite

Any other -----------------

2. Which brand is high in quality according to you? (a) (b) Coca Cola Pepsi

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3. Would you change your current brand of soft drink on basis of price reduction? (a) (b) Yes No

4. Would you switch to another brand if you preferred brand was unavailable? (a) (b) Yes No

5. Does Coca-Cola being an American brand effect your decision to buy it? (a) (b) Yes No

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6. If Coca Cola was a person which of the following terms would you use to describe its personality? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) Caring Modern Innovative Warm Independent Strong Honest Experienced Fun loving Genuine Sophisticated Successful

7. Does Coca cola need celebrity endorsements? (a) Yes (b) No

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.coca-cola.com/en/index.html www.wikipedia.org www.managementparadise.com www.thecoca-colacompany.com/

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