Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan

BBPM2103

Group: Nguyen van A

Nguyen van C
Nguyen van D
Nguyen van E
Class :
Lecturer:

HO CHI MINH CITY, October 26, 2014.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Page

I.

Executive summary

II.

Introduction

1. Background

2. Objectives

3. Vision

III.

Targeting market

IV.

Marketing-mix Strategy Implementation

1. Product planning

2. Pricing strategy

3. Distribution channel & Collaborators

4. Promotional mix

5. Communication channel

V.

Competition analysis

11

VI.

Budgeting & Timeline

12

VII. Evaluation & Conclusion

13

VIII. References

14

I.

Executive Summary:
Coca Cola Company is the worlds leading soft drink maker, operates
in more than 200 countries around the world and owns or licenses
more than 500 brands of nonalcoholic beverages.
This paper is a marketing plan recommended for Coca Cola Company,
especially to help increasing product demand for the upcoming
Christmas season in December. The following marketing plan forms
the basis for the introduction of an innovative new product by our
team. The analysis allows us to outline the best strategies to follow for
the achievement of the companys strategic goals. Bubble Buzz
Christmas will be marketed as a unique functional drink. The
marketing strategies will enable to reach a market size of an estimated
5,688,300 people (targeted) with a forecasted sales growth prospect of
5.3% over the upcoming Christmas ($243,029.47 profits), while
satisfying the needs of the still-unnerved market for ready-to-drink
bubble tea. Success will be reflected by a sizeable capture of market
shares within this market, while strategically carrying the company up
to the top spot as the market leader in the functional drinks segment of
soft drinks.

II. Introduction:
Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

1. Background:
Bubble Buzz, a special product for upcoming Christmas in
December will be a bottled beverage and will be positioned as the
only ready-to-drink Bubble Tea product available on the market. The
beverage will have a green tea base with enhanced fruit flavors
(passion fruit, strawberry and lime) as well as tapioca pearls. It will
bring an entirely unique drinking experience to its consumers,
especially Vietnamese. It will present itself as a funky and unusual
alternative to traditional tea while providing the great taste of
authentic fruit juice that suit the taste of Vietnamese, in an attractive
and convenient packaging.
2. Objectives:
The objectives for upcoming Christmas the first three years of
operation include:
o to create a strong consumer awareness towards a completely
new bubble Buzz Christmas product from Coca-Cola.
o to establish a wide brand recognition through the capture of
market shares in the functional drinks segment.
o to help increasing product demand for the upcoming Christmas
season in December, and to become the top market leader in
that particular segment within the forecasted sales figures.
o To become the market leader in the functional drinks segment
with increased market
o To stay at the forefront as the market leader in innovative
product introductions and successful product launches

Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

3. Vision:
To achieve above objectives, our team has developed a set of goals,
which Coca-cola will work with their bottlers to deliver:
o Profit: Maximising return to shareholders, while being mindful
of our overall responsibilities
o People: Being a great place to work, where people are inspired
to be the best they can be
o Portfolio: Bringing to the world a portfolio of beverage brands
that anticipate and satisfy people's desires and needs
o Partners: Nurturing a winning network of partners and
building mutual loyalty
o Planet: Being a responsible global citizen that makes a
difference
o Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving
organization

III. The Targeting Market:

When it comes to the consumer market, Coca-Cola has a very broad
market base. The company focuses its efforts on many different
Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

people. Cokes core business, which has been carbonated beverages,

has been targeting a large audience of soft drink consumers.
Throughout history, the company has targeted many generations of
people. The ages of these people has ranged from young to old. Coke
has always been known as a classic, which has appealed to the older
audience. Lately the company has tried a fresher new image to reach
to the younger generation.
For the Coke Company, there is a need for them to focus on certain
demographic characteristics of the population. The characteristics they
must consider include: age, income, and family. The other
demographic considerations such as, education and ethnicity are not as
large of a concern. When we look at age, the company tries to keep
their image hip and cool to appeal to younger generation, but also
target the older generations by keeping the classic coca-cola image.
Since age has a large impact on income, it would be expected that this
would be an issue for the company. This is not necessarily true. The
products they offer are affordable for most people, even young teens
without a job relying on parents. This brings us to the idea of targeting
different family types. Since age is not necessarily prohibiting, family
differences should not hurt the sales of their products, but only help it
because of the appeal to most people. It does not matter if you are

Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

single, married with no children, or even married with children. Their

products are suited for all people.
More importantly, this marketing plan will be trying to make people
consider Coke as something special such as gift for Christmas.

IV.

Marketing-mix Strategy Implementation:

1/ Product Strategy
The Core: Bubble Tea beverage in a pre-bottled, ready-to-drink
format.
Branding: Colorful, aspect of play, round shaped, prominent
Bubble Buzz logo written in modern font, catch phrases such as
Think outside the Bubble and Get Your Buzz.
Trade name: Bubble Buzz, a Coca-Cola product.
Brand personality: energy, funky, cool, functional, original, funny,
healthy, etc.
Brand equity: Coca-Cola provides a quality, consistent, innovative
and accessible soft drink reputation.
Augmented product: Nutritional information, Status (social drink),
Features promoting the website, Health benefit of a green tea base.

2/ Price Strategy

Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

The price strategy that will be undertaken should consider the

following aspects:
1. Consumer demand
2. The product lifecycle
1. Customer demand
Customer demand is a crucial factor which is driven by tastes,
income and availability of others similar products at a different
price (mentioned later in the potential substitutes section). For a lot
of consumers, value and price are highly related: the higher the
price, the higher the value. Consequently, Coca-Colas intention
to position Bubble Buzz as a unique, innovative and attractive
product gives it a certain control over Bubble Buzz price. To be
able to implement higher pricing though, the minimization of the
non-monetary costs to customers should also be include along with
awareness of the product (notably by advertising) and value
(benefits).
2. The product life-cycle
The company should take advantage also to the fact that the newer
the product and the earlier in its lifecycle the higher the price can
usually be. It ensures a high profit margin as the early adopters buy
the product and the firm seeks to recoup development costs quickly
and it also brings a certain prestige to the product.

Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

3/ Distribution channel & Collaborators

The Coca-Cola Company sells its products to bottling and canning
operations, distributors, fountain wholesalers and some fountain retailers.
These then distributes them to retail outlets, milk bar and corner stores,
restaurants, petrol stations and newsagents.
+ Wholesalers/distributors
+ Retail/corner stores
+ Restaurants, petrol stations
+ Consumers
Place strategies Explanation of place strategy
Indirect distribution The Coca-Cola Company uses intermediaries in its
distribution. That is, the company does not sell its products directly to its
consumers.
Intensive distribution The Coca-Cola Company uses the intensive
distribution strategy. The business's products are sold in almost every
outlet including:
Retail outlets

Small shops

Restaurants

Petrol stations

Schools

Newsagents

Sports and entertainment venues

From vending machines.

4/ Promotional Mix:
Consumer oriented:
Contests: Win another Bubble Buzz flavor, Uncover a secret
code underneath the bottle cap and win sporting goods and
electronics by logging on the website, Win a trip for the 2008
Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

Olympics in Beijing. (Arguments: It will increase consumer

purchases and encourage consumer involvement with the product).
Samples: distributed in supermarkets, school/universities. Samples
are a way to avoid product resistance since people are not used to
find bubbles in their drinks.
Arguments: It will encourage new product purchases and it
represents low risk for consumers since they get it for free. They
have nothing to lose by trying it.
Point-of-purchase: in supermarkets (to reach the parents of
younger generation).
Arguments: It is also a mean to increase product trial and provides
a good product visibility.
Others: In subsequent years, engage in product placement in TV
shows or movies.
Trade oriented:
Allowances and discounts: case allowance (Arguments: The free
goods approach will be used so it can encourage retailers to buy
more of the product to get a certain amount for free).

Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

Cooperative advertising: to encourage retailers to buy our

product and to maintain our high level of advertisement that
consumers expect from Coca-Cola.
Place: Bubble Buzz will be distributed through these channels:
supermarkets, convenience stores, independent food stores,
discount stores, multiple grocers, vending machines, direct sales.

5/ Communication channels

Before choosing the appropriate Medias, it is important to note that

younger generation consumers only give partial attention to media.
However, they can be reached through integrated programs. They are
typically using more than onecommunication media at a time; a
behavior that is often called multitasking. This group of consumers
doesnt give its full attention to one single message, but rather uses
continuous partial attention to scan the media. Marketers can still
communicate with Younger Generation by using a variety of targeted
promotional tools.
Another important tactic to reach our target market is through Viral
or Buzz marketing, which Coca-Cola will heavily use in this
campaign (campus, contests).
Television:

MTV, Much Music, Yeah1 TV, Yan TV

Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

Radio:

MIX96, CKOI 96.9, 94.7 FM, Universities

Magazines for girls: Cosmo, Elle, Ph N

Magazines for boys: Sports Illustrated (or Kids edition)
Internet: Banners on select websites (gaming, sports, etc.)
Official promotional website: www.BubbleBuzz.ca
Outdoors:Billboards and prints in select areas including:
Campuses, transportation (bus, metro, stations)
Tourist areas in high seasonal periods
Outskirts of key cities in geographical reach

V.

Competition analysis
Coca-Colas main competitors are PepsiCo, Inc and Dr. Pepper
Snapple Group, Inc.PepsiCo, Inc. manufactures, markets, and sells

Coca-Cola Company Marketing Plan | BBPM2103

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various snacks, carbonated and non-carbonated beverages, and foods

worldwide.
PepsiCos mission is to be the world's premier consumer Products
Company focused on convenient foods and beverages. They seek to
produce financial rewards to investors as they provide opportunities
for growth and enrichment to employees, business partners and the
communities in which they operate. "PepsiCo's responsibility is to
continually improve all aspects of the world in which they operate environment, social, economic - creating a better tomorrow than today.
Their vision is put into action through programs and a focus on
environmental stewardship, activities to benefit society, and a
commitment to build shareholder value by making PepsiCo a truly
sustainable company. They are also committed to achieving business
and financial success while leaving a positive imprint on society.
(PepsiCo, Inc 2010)
Our competitors market through the same channels as Coca-Cola.
Through commercials, print ads, billboards, sporting events, Face
Book, MySpace, and various other networking groups. Some of our
strengths as a company are we have brand strength, effective stride in
new markets, results of operations, and strong existing distribution
channels. Some of our weaknesses are we are reliant upon line
extensions, reliant upon particular carbonated drinks, brand dilution,
and saturation of carbonated soft drink segments.

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VI. Budgeting & Timeline

In 2012, Coca Cola gained US$48 billion in revenue equal to the 70th
largest economy in the world. When Coca Cola penetrated in Vietnam
market, they invested US$163 million on building infrastructures and
distributors. Annual revenue in Vietnam market is approximate
US$38,500 million. In 2012, Coca Cola announced a new investment
worth US$300 million in Vietnam In the next three years, and the total
investment during the period from 2010 to 2015 up to US$500
million. This new investments will be used to build new
infrastructures, branding, create more new jobs, and implement
sustainable development programs in order to catch the opportunities,
enhance cooperation with domestic customers and support community.

Strong finance background is an advantage helps Coca Cola to invest

and develop more infrastructures and distributors.

VII. Conclusion
The marketing strategy for Coca-Colas new product will come into
place the upcoming Christmas in December, based on trends emerging
now this plan has identified the carbonated drinks market has probably
peeked and likely to be overtaken by healthier drinks as the market
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leader in the soft drinks market. Researching Coca-Colas product

range has identified the Diet Coke range as the most likely, with
marketing pull to still succeed in the future. The diet coke range has
combats health concerns which are found in the Coca-Cola flagship
product.
Coca-Cola is all about buying into a lifestyle and the new lifestyle in
the upcoming Christmas will much more health conscious. In this
paper our team has shown reason for Coke to tie them up with sports
sponsorship to promote a brand image of health and fitness. The new
beverage vessel is refillable in the hope of reducing pressure on
landfill and showing coke as being a global and socially responsible
company. The beverage container is styled to appear an essential for
an active, fit lifestyle. Finally, we may come to the final conclusion
that with this marketing strategy plan, we hope increasing product
demand for the upcoming Christmas season in December.

VIII. References
1. The Coca-Cola Co. (Company Profile). Global Market Information Database
(Euromonitor). Jul 20, 2009. Accessed Jan 08, 2010.
2. Functional Drinks Off-trade Sales in Canada (Country Report). Global Market
Information Database (Euromonitor). Oct 03, 2005. Accessed Feb 25, 2010.
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3. Functional Drinks, Canada, Retail Volume (Statistics). Global Market

Information Database (Euromonitor). Oct 03, 2005. Accessed Feb 25, 2010.
4. Soft Drinks in Canada (Industry Report). Global Market Information Database
(Euromonitor). Oct 03, 2005. Accessed Jan 08, 2010.
5. Functional Drinks in the United States. Datamonitor. Dec 2008. Accessed
Feb 02, 2010.
6. COSGROVE, Joanna. The 2008 Soft Drink Report. Beverage Industry. Mar
2008; 96; 3; p.22. Accessed via ABI/INFORM Global. Feb 02, 2010..
7. THEODORE, Sarah. RTD coffee, tea creates a buzz. Beverage Industry. Feb
2005; 96; 2; p.16. Accessed via ABI/INFORM Global. Jan 08, 2010.
8. The Coca-Cola Company. (Company Profile). Datamonitor. Jun 2005.
Accessed Jan 08, 2010.
9. HANNAFORD, Steve. Industry Brief, Beverages I. Oligopolywatch.
http://www.oligopolywatch.com/2003/04/21.html. Accessed Feb 07, 2010.
10. POPP, Jamie. Leading in a healthy direction. Beverage Industry. Dec 2007;
95; 12; p.22. Accessed via ABI/INFORM Global. Feb 01, 2010.
11. BERKOWITZ, Eric N. CRANE, Frederick G. KERIN Roger A. HARTLEY, Steven
W. RUDELIUS, William. Marketing, 5th Canadian Edition. McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
2003.
12. Consumer Lifestyles in Canada. Global Market Information Database
(Euromonitor). Feb 01, 2007. Accessed Feb 08, 2010.
13. Top 20 Global Brands, Ranked by Brand Value, 2004 & 2005 (in billions and
as a % increase/decrease vs. prior year). Business Week; Interbrand. Jul 22,
2006. Accessed via eMarketer. Feb 28, 2010.
14. THEODORE, Sarah. Surprising suggestions from teens. Beverage Industry.
Vol.96, no 7. Jul 2005. p.4.
15. Canadian Statistics Population by Sex and Age Group. Statistics Canada.
http://www40.statcan.ca/101/cst01/demo10a.htm. Modified Oct 27, 2005.
Accessed Feb 28, 2010.

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