Marketing Mix
Product Portfolio
- Over 500 still and sparkling brands, (Team, )
- Providing over 4300 beverage options,
- Most popular and valuable Coca-Cola globally.
- Introduce a new product to increase profit – Coca-Cola Electrolyte.
Price – Discrimination approach
- Make price lower than competitors until the position is solidified
- Sell more to an existing customer
Place
- Use existing authorized bottlers for packaging, merchandise and distribute beverages to existing vending partners and customers
Promotion
- Utilize social media channels (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram)
- Promote both externally and internally (Give aways in all its 200 locations worldwide)
The microenvironment most influential actors for this product would be the consumer because the aim is to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers, “a healthy drink that tastes good”, while generating a profit and building a strong relationship.
Macroenvironment’s most influential force would be the demographic and cultural environment because demands and culture differ by country, society belief, and perception of the value of the product.
Buyer Behavior
According to James Quincey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coca Cola, “Our Goal is to converge on disruptive innovations that are going to move the needle – not just in the marketplace, but at a scale that’s relevant to The Coca-Cola Company” (Team,)
Purchase Process
Coca-Cola focuses on providing consumer goods to the general population for personal use, so it utilizes B2C purchasing process for its products.
Buying Influences
According to, Sideqik.com, the strongest buying influence on the purchaser of Coca Cola brand is the social influencers. (Here’s what Coca-Cola has to say about influencer marketing — case study. 2018) Look to the future; these influencers are gamers, YouTubers, and vloggers.
- Use these mediums for advertising
- Use real life scenarios to get the message out about the health directives of the new drink.
- Use athletes, singers, and actors to get the influencers to believe in the product.
Diffusion of Innovation Curve
The Coca-Cola brand is already the most popular brand worldwide, adding a new product to its portfolio using the existing branding and packaging would put this product in the growth position on the curve. To move it in a positive direction, marketing is the key:
- Promote, Promote, Promote
- Engage early adopters
- Entice with giveaways
Insights and Segmentation
The Coca-Cola Company is engaged in the production and sale of beverages, and therefore the new product will fall into this category. Unlike its competitors PepsiCo, the company is not diversifying into snacks and food (Jallow, 2021). Carbonated and non-carbonated drinks juice products best represent the company; therefore, diversification is expected towards coffee and dairy products.
Primary Research Methods
Focus group interviews, questionnaires, and an experiment with the provision of a product on exclusive terms to restaurants or stores with a preliminary sales estimate. These methods are the most effective, as they give a deep understanding of the need for a similar product at the first stage, the possible demand for a wider audience is tested at the second stage, and at the third stage, the quality of the product is already assessed before mass production. Ethical implications may exist for the first two types of research, so agreements for processing human-provided data should be included in the preliminary activities.
Targeted Customer
Coffee and the most famous drinks of the company are often referred to as harmful drinks. In this regard, developing an ecological and healthy product with regular and familiar coffee or milk flavors is necessary. This product will interest a broad audience (Borah & Dutta, 2019). The target customer, in this case, is a person who values their health and, at the same time, prefers coffee.
Value Position
The product’s value proposition meets the modern requirements of environmental responsibility and usefulness with all the known tastes of coffee.
- The product is a healthy coffee and milk drink;
- Primary research: focus group interviews, general audience survey, spot experiment with product presentation;
- Value proposition: usefulness, environmental friendliness, taste.
Product Strategy
Considering sustainability and usefulness as the core values of this product, the entire life cycle, including packaging, should have a similar direction. Packaging must be recyclable, and consumers must know exactly where to donate it. For example, this event can be carried out by placing a QR code on a label containing information about collection points. Production should be accompanied by appropriate control, and first time the presentation of the product to the general consumer – by appropriate promotions in stores and restaurants. The product must be of the highest quality and belongs to the premium category, which can significantly increase the company’s gross profit ratio in this sector (Guo & Wen, 2021).
Differential Influence
The differential influence of the Coca-Cola Company brand over competitors lies in the usefulness and use of ecology in marketing moves: information about the product life cycle will be fully available to every buyer.
Ethical Implications
Ethical implications, consequently, are presented as a strength of the product. Environmental and social responsibility will be fully satisfied with the highest quality of the product and its environment right up to disposal.
- The highest quality product – premium class;
- Recycling of packaging, convenient disposal, QR code indicating the location of the collection point on the packaging;
Product Positioning
- The target segment is people who prefer coffee, care about their health, and support environmental responsibility.
- People in this segment value quality over price, which will make this product a premium class.
- The unmet need of the segment is the lack of healthy, tasty, and healthy coffee drinks in the general market from trusted companies.
- The product concept, as a result, includes all the qualities mentioned above that distinguish the target audience: environmentally friendly packaging with the possibility of helpful disposal; high-quality production materials; rich taste, and no harm to health.
- The points of differentiation lie in the brand’s strength: Coca-Cola exclusively produces beverages without diversifying into other products, snacks, and food. Therefore, this company leads the market and is the brand that can be trusted when choosing drinks.
Pricing Strategy
Pricing for the new product Coca-Cola, a healthy coffee and milk drink, is based on the high quality of the product. Since the product is premium due to the high cost of quality components and composition, its price will be correspondingly high. If an ordinary can of cola costs about $2-3 apiece in various stores, then in the exact dosage, the price of a new drink can reach up to $5-7 for the same volume, which is dictated by the break-even point. Such high pricing is needed to offset the fixed costs of the following activities:
- shipping high-quality coffee from regions in South America,
- paying for increased shipping rates due to pandemic restrictions, and
- producing sustainable packaging for this drink.
Initial investments will include:
- market analysis,
- Search for suppliers,
- purchase of specific equipment,
- expansion of the production area.
Such a high price relative to other drinks for a small volume allows for a high short-term ROI for the project with a high probability of sustainable profit (Haessler, 2020). Long-term profitability will also be achieved through the possible diversification of the range of flavors.
This price will not be highly elastic since Coca-Cola prefers to keep the prices of its products, making them available anywhere in the world. Even though the product is premium, the price remains low relative to the retail sale of coffee drinks to go, which will be close in quality and can generate a large amount of revenue to the company (Luo, 2019). In this regard, even with high demand, the price of products will not increase, nor will it decrease with low demand. The price is already almost at the minimum level to recoup all costs; it is impossible to regulate it even lower. The most successful pricing strategy is just to set the minimum cost of the product to make it available to everyone, which is in line with the vision and goals of the company.
Distributing Strategy
Coca-Cola typically uses wholesale distribution channels to various stores and supermarkets, but the company’s representatives can also work locally with retail customers. Initial marketing costs involve introducing products in retail supermarkets and stores in advanced economies, followed by the first iteration of demand assessment. The products can be:
- Promoted in restaurants where healthy eating is one of the essential features,
- Promoted among existing retail customers buying company drinks at minor points of sale, or
- Promoted in vending machines.
Each industry needs to be assessed separately, choosing the most profitable channel in the second iteration of the demand assessment. Finally, as a goal, the company should arrive at a multi-channel approach to distributing the beverage worldwide using the most effective strategies identified during the qualitative and quantitative assessments of the first two iterations of distribution. As a result, retailers will be the leading wholesale distribution channel for products, generating the bulk of revenue.
Marketing will emphasize a healthy coffee and milk drink with unique production technology and quality ingredients. This plan is aimed at the target audience, which will consume the drink by buying it in retail chains: supermarkets and shops. Consequently, the primary marketing campaign is aimed at wholesale buyers of products. To conquer the retail market, it is necessary to produce a more image marketing plan of action to pinpoint cooperation with organizations to increase the company’s reputation. Coca-Cola is often attacked for the harmfulness of its drinks, which is why such a plan can give the company an advantage by eliminating this threat or taking it away from attention (Chua et al., 2020). Finally, a decision must be made on a charitable event with a specific batch of drinks donated to organizations in need against the backdrop of cash assistance, so the product has associations with the social responsibility of The Coca-Cola Company.
Promotional Strategy
Nowadays, companies create numerous products in the hope of attracting more clients and becoming the best in the market. Nevertheless, many businesses fail to understand that the main objective should be not the competitive position but the usefulness of the product and how it can be different from the rest of the offers. The choice today is so broad that corporations must follow diverse promotion plans.
Promotional Mix – for the introduction of a new product line that includes organic coffee and milk drinks:
- focusing on local suppliers
- sustainability
- social justice issues
This way, the organization will not only find a new loyal client base for the products, spread the message but also have an environmental impact.
Recommended Strategy
When it comes to strategy, it can be rational to use a combination of push and pull strategies due to their coverage of the most lucrative parts.
Push Strategy: A specific packaging design can be used to encourage a purchase. In this case, glass material can be used to store the product; this will also help the client see the inside without wondering. This approach creates product exposure and consumer awareness about the given products.
Pull Strategy: The pull strategy can also be advantageous when introducing new products. In this situation, to pull a consumer, advertising and mass media promotions can be utilized. According to Coca-Cola, one of the biggest sponsors of the company is Apple iTunes (Coca-Cola sponsorships, n.d.). Thus, Apple could also be a sponsor of a new organic product line since the objectives of Coca-Cola align with the goals of Apple, meaning that both support sustainability. Moreover, it might be useful to communicate the message to the younger generations with the help of social media platforms. For example, the ones widely known and heavily used are YouTube and Tiktok. With the help of short videos or reviews, it will be possible to gain more attraction.
Competitors:
- Starbucks is known as the largest coffeehouse corporation and roastery reserve,
- Dairy Farmers of America, one of the biggest dairy-oriented companies
A few possible competitive strategies include using product and service innovations. Instead of buying raw products abroad and from large suppliers like Starbucks, the company could support the local community economy and buy from local suppliers. In the second situation, a promotion campaign can be utilized. Since the product will be sold in special glass bottles, there can be a promotion. If a person recycles three bottles of the milk drink product, they can receive another milk drink for free.
Ethical Implications
Obviously, if the product is a national success, expanding and selling the product abroad will be necessary. A strong partnership with a local partner is the most effective strategy for expanding into new markets. A strategic partnership will involve a contractual arrangement between Coca-Cola and a local business, enabling parties to work together for a set period to achieve a collective goal. Such cooperation can be very lucrative to both sides since the business in another country is aware of the local market, demand, and ways of operating. With the recognition of Coca-Cola, it will be possible to cooperate with countries from abroad and introduce a new product line.
Distribution Model
Selective distribution model so that it can be possible to track the demand and feedback of consumers (Zacharakis & Bygrave, 2019). Moreover, this distribution model can be considered less expensive if compared to other models. The biggest advantage can be the moderate presence of the product. People are known to take things for granted and having easy access to different kinds of coffee and milk drinks can be less enticing. Thus, limited access to the products can induce interest and demand, contributing to brand image.
The promotional strategy will include social media promotion. As mentioned before, such platforms as Apple iTunes, YouTube, and TikTok can be useful in this process. However, different social media platforms, such as Facebook and Google+, can be used. This way, social media can promote the product to the right audience with the help of algorithms. Individuals with similar tastes and preferences will be shown the advertisements, which can boost the client base. Furthermore, such advertisements are delivered worldwide, which means that there might be a possibility to include international shipping with higher demand.
Ethics Statement
It is evident that customers are always more likely to purchase products from companies whose beliefs and values align with the customers. In addition, as has been mentioned before, by communicating messages on environmental sustainability and social justice issues, the organization will be able to make an impact. The new product will address the given issues through packaging or introducing limited products in this situation.
For example, to support social justice issues, it will be possible to use lobbying and raising money through limited products. In this case, all the money from the sales of these products can be given to struggling people. Additionally, according to Coca-Cola, the company “is focused on helping communities address their sustainability challenges” (Our partnerships, n.d.). Environmental sustainability can be addressed through the packaging of the goods or using the services of local suppliers, as has been mentioned. Thus, in this situation, the preferred material for the products will be glass.
Glass is a recyclable, 100% sustainable option that has several benefits for the environment. The benefits include contribution to the mitigation of climate change and conserving natural resources and energy (Testa et al., 2017). Moreover, glass is the best option for coffee and milk storage. In the first situation, the coffee loses its freshness and quality when the vacuum-sealed packaging is opened; however, if a glass container is used along with the airtight gasket seal. As for milk products, they can be stored either in plastic or cardboard. However, glass is more sustainable, and milk stored in plastic can quickly expire. Additionally, the glass will be able to help keep the cold and fresh for a longer time.
Summary
Hence, milk drinks and organic coffee have always been popular and would be an excellent addition to the Coca-Cola product line. With the help of various strategies, attracting consumers’ attention and driving the demand for these organic and sustainable goods will be possible. Moreover, aside from supporting environmental issues, the products will include promotions and money-raising to help address social justice issues. As for other strategies, the
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