The Coca-Cola Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is known as the 4 P’s or the product, price, place and promotion of Marketing. It is a marketing strategy that company’s use to estimate the value and determine the methods of advertising and distributing its products. Coca-Cola has been long admired for its approach to marketing. Over its 127 year history, Coca-Cola’s efforts to refine and perfect its marketing mix has allowed the company to become the number 1 beverage company in the world. Coca-Cola is one of the longest surviving brands and among the most successful companies ever.

No one would dispute that Coca-Cola has a very successful marketing strategy. The Coca-Cola Marketing Mix The marketing mix is known as the 4 P’s or the product, price, place and promotion of Marketing. It is a marketing strategy that company’s use to estimate the value and determine the methods of advertising and distributing its products. In other words, the marketing mix consist of getting the right product to the right place, at the right time, at the right price and with the most suitable promotional activity (Wilson, 2013).

Get quality help now

Marrie pro writer

Verified writer

Proficient in: Coca Cola

5 (204)

“ She followed all my directions. It was really easy to contact her and respond very fast as well. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

According to Arandilla, “Coca-Cola is one of the longest surviving brands and among the most successful companies ever”. The reason in part is their understanding and execution of the marketing mix (Arandilla, 2011, para. 1). Coca-Cola has been long admired for its approach to marketing. They understand that the various elements of the marketing mix must work harmoniously together (Mitchel, 2013). The first “P” of the marketing mix is the Product. The product is the single most important component of the marketing mix.

Without a product, there is nothing to distribute, nothing to promote and nothing to price.

If the product fails to satisfy consumer demand, no additional cost on any of the other ingredients of the marketing mix will improve the products performance in the market place (Hundekar, Appannaiah &, Reddy, 2010). Headquartered in Atlanta Georgia, Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 3,500 products worldwide. It is the number one maker of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink juices and ready-to-drink coffees. The company’s products are based on their core strength of enduring quality.

The Coca-Cola Company has a large number of soft drinks products, but the most well-known are Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite and Fanta (Wilson, 2013). The second “P” of the marketing mix is Price. The price that a consumer pays for a product involves its purchase price in monetary units (Eades, Laseter & Skurnik, 2010). In other words, the price of a product or service is what the seller feels its worth in terms of money, when offered to the buyer (Sherlekar, Prasad, Victor & Salvadore, 2010). Coca Cola has remained tremendously fluent and consistent with its pricing strategy (Dimanche, 2012).

In existing markets, Coca-Cola products are priced around the same level as its competitors to be perceived different but still affordable. In new markets, Coca Cola uses lower price point to penetrate the market, raise brand awareness and to face the competition. Once it products are strongly implemented, Coca-Cola reposition its products as “premium” compared the competition (Dimanche, 2012). The third “P” of the marketing mix is the Place. The place or distribution is the delivery of the product and right to use or consume it (Sherlekar et al. , 2010).

While many view CocaCola as a single entity, their system operates through multiple local distribution channels. CocaCola manufactures and sells its concentrates and syrups to bottling operations. The bottling operations then packages and distributes the final products to their vending partners. The vending partners then sell the products to consumers. It’s through the world’s largest beverage distribution system that consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy beverages at a rate of more than 1. 8 billion servings a day (“The coca-cola system”, para. 3). The final “P” of the marketing mix is Promotion.

Promotion is the persuasive communication about the product to the prospect or consumer (Sherlekar et al. , 2010). Rachel Arandilla,in her article, Coca-Cola Advertising Through the Years states, “Coca-Cola is one of the most persistent and well-loved brands in history. It is one of the longest surviving brands, and thus considered among the most successful companies ever. The reason in part of this, is their strong advertising and marketing. Coca-Cola has always relied on advertising to promote and market their brand, and this is why they are always on top of their game, after having been in the market for more than a century!

Coca-Cola advertising has indeed greatly affected American pop culture, and even the whole world. (Arandilla, 2013, para. 1). THE COCA-COLA MARKETING MIX In 2012 Coca-Cola was ranked the “World’s Most Valuable Brand” and accumulated over 48 billion dollars in operating revenue and 9 billion dollars in net income. (“The coca-cola system”). No one would dispute that Coca-Cola has a very successful marketing strategy. After more than a century of success, what does the future look like for Coca-Cola? Social networks like Facebook and Twitter is the destination for millions of consumers daily.

Increasingly, social networks offer targeted advertising according to specific demographics, social connections, interests, and habits. Forecasts call for over $10 billion in annual social media ad spend globally by 2017. Social network advertising is a young and growing market and, so far, it only represents 10% of advertising budget for a wide majority of advertisers (“Why social media,” 2013). I believe social media has changed how companies advertise their products to consumers. I recommend Coca-Cola continues to explore ways to use social network advertising to expand product promotion and increase market share.

There is no doubt that social network advertising will be a key ingredient to the future success of Coca-Cola. THE COCA-COLA MARKETING MIX References Dimanche. (2012, Novermber 18). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://softdrinkcolawar. blogspot. com/2012/12/coca-cola-pricing-strategy. html Arandilla, R. (2011, October). Coca-cola advertising through the years. Retrieved from http://www. 1stwebdesigner. com/inspiration/coca-cola-advertising-history/ Hundekar, S. G. , Appannaiah, H. R. &, Reddy, P. N. , (2010). Principles of marketing. Mumbai, IND : Global Media Retrieved from http://site. ebrary.

com/lib/newcharteru/docDetail. action? docID=10415387&p00=”marketi ng mix” Mitchel, D. (2013, February 14). Why centralized marketing control benefits a brand. Retrieved from http://www. penetrating. net/marketing-mix. html Sherlekar. , Prasad, S. A. , Victor, K. N. , & Salvadore , S. J. (2010). Principles of marketing. Mumbai, IND : Global Media. Retrieved from http://site. ebrary. com/lib/newcharteru/docDetail. action? docID=10415164&p00=”marketi ng mix” The coca-cola system. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. coca-colacompany. com/ourcompany/the-coca-cola-system Wilson. (2013). Within an arm’s reach of desire.

Retrieved from http://businesscasestudies. co. uk/coca-cola-great-britain/within-an-arms-reach-ofdesire/marketing-strategy. html Wilson. (2013). Who dares wins – Success through intelligent risk. Retrieved from http://businesscasestudies. co. uk/coca-cola-great-britain/who-dares-wins-success-throughintelligent-risk/a-story-of-global-success. html#ixzz2gzLpgEEJ Why social media advertising is set to explode read more: http://www. businessinsider. com/social-media-advertising-set-to-explode. (2013, August 8). Retrieved from http://www. businessinsider. com/social-media-advertising-set-toexplode-2013-7