Introduction
Marketing communications refers to the activities involved in the transmission of a message touching on a service, product or organisation with the aim of making it more attractive to its target audience (Chaston 2002). In most cases, it is aimed at creating awareness on the service, product, or organisation.
It can however also be used for the purpose of persuading potential customers to try what is being offered. As such, it is important in sales promotion. Coca-Cola is one of the world’s largest beverage retailer and manufacturers.
Today, the company operates in over 200 countries spread across the globe. The company’s major brands include Coke, Coca Cola Zero, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Powerade, Minute Maid, as well as Schweppers (Ignatius 2015).
The company is responsible for the marketing of these brands. During last summer, the company launched one of its most successful campaigns dabbed ‘Share a Coke’. The campaign was launched in Britain. Its target audience was loyal Coke customers. It was also aimed at promoting the sharing of Coke products.
The campaign was carried out over a wide range of media. More emphasis was put on the broadcast media and the internet with the aim of reaching a wider audience. Instead of sharing the beverage in normal Coca-Cola bottles, customers can now purchase bottles branded with actual human names.
The company achieved this by replacing their labels on the bottles with 250 of Britain’s most popular names. The campaign’s first phase was a success. The second phase of the campaign is expected to be rolled out anytime this year with over 1000 popular names already in book.
Millions of Coca-Cola loyal customers are hopeful to find their names branded on the Coca-Cola bottles. More generic names, such as bro, mum, and dad are also expected.
Examining the Communication Process
It is evident that the recent campaign launched by the Coca-Cola Company has resulted in a significant rise in the sales volumes recorded for Coke products. The campaign’s marketing communications have been effective. The campaign targeted at loyal customers achieved more success than was expected.
In fact, the campaign was seen to catch the attention of virtually all members of the public. The reason behind this is that the Coca-Cola Company’s products are marketed all over the world (Senker & Foy 2012).
The company has also over the years earned its position as one of the most respected non alcoholic beverage manufacturer, marketer, and distributor across the world. It has been in a position to perform fairly well compared to some of its most fierce rivals, such as Pepsi (Senker & Foy 2012).
As such, it has gained widespread recognition across the world. Coke has been one of the company’s most coveted brands. It has over the years recorded more sales compared to other Coca-Cola brands. As a result, most marketing efforts by the company have focused on the brand.
In the process, most of the world’s population has become familiar with it. The brand popularity made it easier for the company to reach its target audience.
Effectiveness of the Marketing Communications in Reaching its Target Audience
The ‘Share a Coke’ campaign carried with it a very clear message. The campaign was aimed at enabling loyal coke customers to share their favourite beverage with others. The marketing communications used in the campaign saw the beverage’s sales rise considerably. The brand was no longer viewed as any other beverage.
Customers could now use it as a gift especially to persons who had their names branded on the bottles. Those who were lucky to have their names branded on the bottle were also in a position to share the beverage with others.
The Coke’s marketing communications was effective in that it was successful in making customers feel valued. In order to determine the effectiveness of the marketing communications strategies applied by Coca-Cola, we will conduct a DRIP analysis (Kitchen & Pelsmacker 2004).
The framework seeks to assess the effectiveness of a marketing communications based on its intended uses which include differentiating, reminding, informing, and persuading.
The idea used in the marketing communications was new. No other beverage manufacturer or marketer had attempted to brand their products with the names of their consumers.
As such, the marketing communications had succeeded in differentiating the Coke brand from other non-alcoholic beverages retailed across the world (Senker & Foy 2012).
The campaign made Coke unique and to stand out not only from other brands manufactured by competitors but also those owned by the Coca-Cola company itself. Uniqueness is one of the qualities that are important when it comes to promoting the competitiveness of a product (Baker 2003).
Through unique branding, customers are attracted to a particular product especially when it comes to exhibitions. Adverts over the broadcast media, such as television channels also work best for unique brands.
The Coke marketing communications has also been vital in reminding the general public of the product’s existence (Senker & Foy 2012). Through the new campaign, the Coca-Cola Company will keep customers all over the world aware of the continued existence of their Coke brand.
The marketing communications will also make the world aware of the existence of the new ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. Through the use of the broadcast and the social media, the company will be in a position to convey the message to the world more easily.
Already, the campaign has been a success with the company reporting an increase in sales of Coke products. Persons whose names have been branded on the Coke bottles have also been vital in informing the rest of the world of the fairly new development.
They have been in a position to achieve this by sharing the beverage with others especially friends and family members.
Marketing communications strategies employed by the Coca-Cola Company for the Coke brand have also helped in customer persuasion. Through branding of Coke products with popular English names, many persons across the world have been in a position to personally associate with the product.
The move by the company has been viewed by many across the world as a show of appreciation to the brands loyal customer base.
As such, the campaign was readily welcomed even outside the United Kingdom where it had initially been launched. It is expected that higher sales volumes will be recorded with the implementation of the second phase of the campaign (Tanne 2013).
Significance of Coke’s Marketing Communications to Buying Behavior
The marketing communications used in the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign was a complete success. Many have described the move by the Coca-Cola Company as a pure marketing genius. The company felt that people find personalised commodities totally irresistible.
Their assumption came true when the campaign was rolled out across the world. People were seen to identify with the beverages whose bottles were branded their names or those of persons closely related to them. The brand’s campaign initially hit a snag.
It was slowly adopted and only through integrated marketing techniques did it turn out to be a success. In order to get customers to buy, the company soon took the campaign to the social media (Senker & Foy 2012). Soon, virtually every person in the social media was talking about the brand.
The brand was also allocated retail spaces which allowed the Coca-Cola Company to showcase the personalised Coke products. The company was also keen to brand a variety of packaging materials in order to increase the sales of their product. The brand’s beverage is usually packaged in glass bottles, cans, and plastic bottles.
All this packaging materials were branded in order to match consumer preference. Outdoor advertising was also a key aspect of the brand’s marketing communications. Bill boards were elected in strategic places across the world, such as along highways to catch the attention of potential customers.
Initially, the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign started with 250 most popular names. Soon, the marketing communications went beyond names to accommodate some of the most commonly used Jargons. Two of the most popular jargons that have been branded on Coke products include ‘Wingman’ and ‘Bestie’.
Thanks to the innovative personalisation branding, a wider range of persons could be in a position to share the non-alcoholic beverage. Coke’s marketing communications resulted into a gift-giving culture across the world.
Thousands of people visited resorts and retail locations in search of Coke bottles either branded with their names or those of their spouses, friends, or even family members. Some of the loyal customers also took the search to eBay.
Persons were less likely to buy Coke products that had been branded with names that they could not associate closely to (Kotler, Kartajaya & Setiawan 2010).
The availability of the jargon brand names on the Coke product packages however offers those persons who miss the names of persons they want to gift with a variety to choose from.
Significance of Coke’s Marketing Communications in the Development of the Brand and Brand strategy
Coca-Cola has for many years dominated the world’s soft drink market in terms of sales. It is considered to be the most popular brand across the globe. It is also one of the most recognisable global brands. The brand was conceived in 1886. The Coca-Cola brand often goes by the name ‘Coke’.
The first brand was associated with high sugar and calorie levels. Over the years, customer tastes and preference have changed. There have a high demand for soft drinks with low or no sugar. Coke too has evolved over the years.
The company has developed a number of Coke brands with low calorie levels (Senker & Foy 2012). They include Diet Coke, Coke Zero, as well as Coke Light. Prior to the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, a great proportion of the world’s population was not aware of the different Coke brands that existed in the market.
However, the marketing communications strategies used for the campaign has seen the personalised packages containing beverages from the different Coke brands advertised over a wide variety of media. As a result, many people across the world have become aware of the wide variety of Coke products that exist.
The personalisation aspect of the campaign has also persuaded many customers across the world to try the wide range of Coke products with their names or those of their friends branded on them. In the process, the Coke brand will be in a position to maintain its dominance on the world soft drinks market.
The Coke marketing communication has also been vital in the development of the brand strategy, promoting the sales of Coke products. Over the past few years, there has been a decline in the demand and popularity of Coke products. As such, the sales volumes have also been on the decline.
The Coca-Cola brand has been the most affected (Tanne 2013). The declining popularity of the brand has been as a result of the emergence of many companies involved in the manufacture of bottled water and sports drinks that contain low calorie levels.
The launch of the ‘Share a Coke’ program has had various benefits. For example, it helped to deal with the problem of low sales volumes. In Australia, the success of the campaign’s marketing communications was associated with a 7 percent increase in Coke sales.
High sales levels were also recorded in Canada, Britain, and the United States of America. Across the world, the marketing communications strategies employed saw a 2.5 percent increase in total sales of Coke products.
It was evident that people are excited having their names on branded products. Through the use of effective marketing communications, Coke was able to achieve its brand strategy.
Elements of Marketing Communication
Promotional and Advertising mix
The ‘Share a Coke’ campaign used a wide range of promotional and advertising mix in order to reach the target audience effectively. The campaign used an integrated promotional and marketing mix. No single element can be said to have lead to the success of the marketing communications alone (Kotler & Keller 2006).
Among the most used elements in the campaign include advertising, public relations, publicity and exhibitions. The four were integrated together in a creative manner. Advertising activities have mainly been carried out on the broadcast media.
The ‘Share a Coke’ campaign was taken to virtually all television channels in the world. The move was instrumental in creating awareness around the Coke brand across the world within a short duration.
Advertisements involving the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign have also been carried out through other media, such as the use of billboards. The billboards are elected in strategic areas especially in urban areas.
The billboards used for campaign have been placed strategically with the aim of catching the attention of as many people as possible. The billboards used for the campaign were also often very colorful and catchy to the public’s eye.
Public relations have also been a key element of the promotional and advertising mix used in the ‘Share a Coke campaign’. Through the personalised bottles and cans, Coke was able to appeal to a large number of consumers across the world.
Persons who had their names branded on the Coke products felt valued by the brand. The campaign strengthened the relationship between the company and its customer base. As a result, brand loyalty was promoted.
Through the campaign, the Coke brand has also managed to convince the world that its products can be used for the purpose of gifting. The Coca-Cola Company also used the element of publicity to promote the campaign.
The company has taken advantage of its popularity across the world, as well as vast resources to publicise the campaign (Koppe 2012). The campaign was carried out on a large-scale across the world. The company was found to have invested more on television commercials with the aim of reaching a wider audience.
The use of exhibitions was also a major element of the promotional and advertisement mix used in the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. The personalised beverages were placed strategically in stores with the aim of catching the attention of the customers.
Face to Face Communication Techniques
Marketing communications revolving around the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign also involved the use of face to face advertising. Opinion leaders played a major role in promoting the campaign (Ballantyne 2004). They were also vital in influencing the decisions of opinion formers.
Persons whose names had been branded on the Coke packaging materials formed the greatest bulk of opinion leaders. They were mainly young individuals most of whom were computer literate. They were among the first individuals to be aware of the campaign’s presence.
They were also instrumental in making most of their friends and family members aware of the campaign. They took pride in enlightening those around them of the new developments. Most of them are also Coke’s loyal customers and would be pleased to see the brand succeed.
E-Based Interactive Marketing Techniques
Marketing communications used by the Coca-Cola Company also involved the use of electronic communications. The use of the social media and websites was the most common. The social media has played a major role in ensuring the success of the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign.
Consumers who find their names on the packs are convinced to share the joy. They can do this via Twitter hashtag #ShareaCoke. By encouraging the sharing culture, Coke was in a position to spread brand awareness. People are likely to embrace the target product due to peer influence.
The brand also has a number of interactive websites where customers can share about their experiences after using the wide range of Coke products. Compared to traditional channels, such as television adverts, the use of E-based marketing techniques allowed customers to give feedback (Hastings, Angus & Bryant 2011).
Components of the Marketing Communication Plan
The marketing communications plan used in the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign consist of four major components. The components can be collectively referred to as context elements. They include customer context, business context, internal context, and external context (Cranfield School of Management 2000).
In terms of the customer context, the marketing communications used were aimed at targeting loyal Coca-Cola customers. The campaign especially targeted the young population, mostly in the developed countries. The group consisted of early adopters. They readily welcomed innovations.
They were also well informed of the trending issues in the social media. They would serve as opinion leaders in the campaign.
The Coca-Cola Company was worried that the group would not readily welcome the marketing communications. The company would incur losses following failure by the population to purchase the already personalised Coke bottles.
In the business context, the marketing communications were aimed at driving up the sales of Coke products. The Coca-Cola Company had for many years been experiencing a decline in the sales volume across all brands. The ‘Share a Coke’ campaign was aimed at changing this downward trend.
The company had attributed the decline in sales was as a result of competition from other low sugar and low calorie soft drink brands (Ignatius 2015). The popularity of these brands had resulted in a decline in the consumption of Coca-Cola brands among them Coke.
The ‘Share a Coke’ campaign was expected to reverse this downward trend by attracting customers through personalisation of packaging materials.
In terms of the internal context, the Coca-Cola Company incurred a lot of cost in the personalisation of the Coke bottles and cans. The personalisation of the packaging of the material also had an adverse effect on the organisations identity (Fill 2011). The name of the brand, Coca-Cola was replaced by peoples’ names.
However, the marketing communications were successful in catching the public’s attention. As intended, the campaigns lead to a gift-sharing culture which resulted in an increase in the sales volume of Coke products.
It was one of the most successful marketing communications ever used by the company. However, the campaign is not sustainable in the long-run since it is difficult for the company to determine which personalised brands are selling more than others (Holm 2013).
In the external content, we will seek to evaluate the major stakeholders, their importance and communication needs. Major stakeholders in the campaign are the customers, the Coca-Cola Company, and competitors (Ignatius 2015). Customers are a source of revenue to the Coca-Cola Company.
The marketing communications are framed in a manner that best suits the needs of the customers, the need to have their names on Coke’s packaging materials. The Coca-Cola Company funds the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. They are interested in a marketing communication that will result to an increase in sales.
Recommendations for a Future Marketing Communications Campaign for Coke
The major shortcoming of the campaign was that the company was at risk of losing millions of dollars following failure of some personalised brands to be purchased (Jenkins 2006).
The use of 250 most popular names in did not necessarily mean that all customers across the world would be having some sought of association with them (Kotler & Armstrong 2006). Those names that were popular in one region were also not necessarily popular in another.
In order to deal with the shortcoming, I recommend that the Coca-Cola Company should personalise coke brands based on the demographic factors identified in a particular region. For example, some jargons are popular in some countries and not in others.
The company will also be in a position to market the various Coke products based on their demand (Hollensen 2010). As such, personalised cans and bottles would not sit on the shelves of stores and supermarkets for long durations without being purchased.
Agency Brief for the Future ‘Share a Coke’ Campaign
Some of the personalised brands have had a great demand that they were out of market as soon as the campaign was launched.
As such, there was a shortage in some of the personalised brands. Some of the Coke customers were also dissatisfied that their names were missing in the list selected for the personalisation campaign (Keller 2012).
The shortage and unavailability of many names also had a negative effect on the gift-sharing culture that the Coca-Cola Company had attempted to create. I feel that generic names, such as dad, mum, bro, wingman, and bestie among others would be the most effective.
Every customer would be in a position to associate with at least one of this names thus driving up sales (Rosenbaum-Elliot, Percy & Pervan 2011).
The marketing communications used for the initial phase of the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign paid much attention to E-based marketing platforms (Rosenbaum-Elliot et al. 2011). Little attention was given to traditional advertising platforms, such as radio broadcasting.
As a result, a particular customer base was locked out by the marketing communications used (Jennings 2007). In future, even the traditional marketing channels should be included in the promotional and advertisement mix (Jennings 2007).
Conclusion
The Coca-Cola has over the past years been in a position to dominate the world market for non-alcoholic beverages. The company’s market share has however being on the decline in the past decade.
The main reason behind this is that the company has been facing stiff competition from a number of low sugar and calorie sports drink marketers and manufactures. In order to curb the decline in sales, the Coca-Cola Company initiated the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign.
The company had resulted to personalising the package material. The marketing communications used for the campaign were highly successful. There was a sharp rise in sales volumes across the world. The social media was the most widely used marketing tool.
Despite the success, more can be done to improve the results of the marketing communication. To begin with, the use of generic names would be expected to produce better results since more people could associate with them.
The promotion and advertisement mix should also compose of both E-based and traditional channels to reach a wider audience.
References
Baker, S 2003, New consumer marketing: managing a living demand system, John Wiley, London.
Ballantyne, D 2004, ‘Dialogue and its role in the development of relationship specific knowledge’, Journal of Business and Industrial marketing, vol. 19 no. 2, pp. 114-123.
Chaston, I 2002, Small business marketing management, Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Cranfield School of Management 2000, Marketing management: a relationship marketing perspective, MacMillan Business, London.
Fill, C 2011, Essentials of marketing communications, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, London.
Hastings, G, Angus, K & Bryant, C 2011, The SAGE handbook of social marketing, SAGE, Los Angeles.
Hollensen, S 2010, Marketing management: a relationship approach, 2nd edn, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, London.
Holm, A 2013, Philosophy of science: an introduction for future knowledge workers, Samfundslitteratur, Frederiksberg.
Ignatius, A 2015, Shaking things up at Coca-Cola. Web.
Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence culture: where old and new media collide, New York University Press, New York.
Jennings, D 2007, Net, blogs, and rock “n” roll: how digital discovery works and what it means for consumers, creators and culture, Nicholas Brealey Publications, Boston.
Keller, K 2012, Strategic brand management: building, measuring, and managing brand equity, 4th edn, Prentice Hall, London.
Kitchen, P & Pelsmacker, P 2004, Integrated marketing communications: a primer, Routledge, New York.
Koppe, S 2012, ‘A moderate eclecticism: ontological and epistemological issues’, Integrative Psychological and Behavioural Science, vol. 46 no. 1, pp. 1-19.
Kotler, P & Keller, K 2006, A framework for marketing management, 3rd edn, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Kotler, P & Armstrong, G 2006, Principles of marketing, 11th edn, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Kotler, P, Kartajaya, H & Setiawan, I 2010, Marketing 3.0: from products to customers to the human spirit, Hoboken, New Jersey.
Rosenbaum-Elliot, R, Percy, L & Pervan, S 2011, Strategic brand management, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Senker, C & Foy, D 2012, Coca Cola: the story behind the iconic business, Wayland, London.
Tanne, J 2013, Coca-Cola launches antiobesity advertisements, The British Medical Journal, vol. 346, p. 494.
Appendices
Appendix 1: Agency Brief Outline
The agency to be used for future marketing communications should be furnished with the following information.
Project Management
The campaign is to be rolled out at the beginning of summer in 2015. It will continue until the end of the year. It will forces on customers of all demographics. It will be rolled out in five bottling plants across the United States of America.
Where are we now?
The Coke brand has dominated the world soft drink market over the years. However, there has been a decline in sales of Coke products in the past decade. The drop in sales has been as a result of stiff competition from other manufactures of low sugar and calorie beverages.
Where do we want to be?
The aim of the campaign will be to promote sales. The campaign is intended at helping Coke dominate the world market for soft drinks once more. As such, there will be an increase in revenue generated. At the same time, the share price for the Coca-Cola Company will be raised.
What are we doing to get there?
The next phase of the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign will involve the use of generic names, such as dad, mum, bro, wingman, and bestie to brand the Coke packaging materials.
Who do we need to talk to?
The campaign will target virtually everyone. However, more attention will be paid to the young generation who are keen to follow the trending issues in the social media.
How will we know we have arrived?
The success of the campaign will be judged based on sales volumes. The popularity of the brand in the social media will also be used as a measure of success.
Practicalities
Timing Plan
The timing plan for the campaign will be divided into five phases. The phases will be based on the process of diffusion of the new campaign. Customers will be divided into innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
Budget for the Future Campaign
The campaign will commence with the branding of 2million bottles and cans. In the budget, we will assume that at least half of the customers who will share their experience in the social media.