Letter of Transmittal

Date:14th May, 2012.

To:Pip Nagy (National Sponsorship Manager at Coca-Cola Company)

From:

Subject:Report on Marketing Strategies of Coca-Cola

Enclosed is the report you requested on the marketing mix of Coca-Cola. This report covers the marketing strategies implemented by the company. It highlights the significance of marketing mix and communication strategies that the company has implemented in the local market. Various records and data have been described in detail on this topic. In the end the report is concluded with a few action statements, recommendations and suggestions.

I would first like to express my gratitude for my research supervisor, colleagues, peers and family whose immense and constant support has been a source of continuous guidance and inspiration for me in this study. I would like to especially thank Pip Nagy, for her participation and support in this study.

Sincerely,

[Name of the Supervisor]

Marketing Strategies of Coca-Cola

Executive Summary

This paper discusses the implication of marketing strategies, which includes the marketing mix and communication strategies, incorporated by the Coca-Cola Company. As a global strategy, Coca-Cola is using the differentiation strategy. According to this strategy, Coca-Cola has only a single product in their Smart phone portfolio. Due to this strategy Coca-Cola, in 2010, increased its market share to 16.1 %. As a global strategy, Coca-Cola is focussing on its R&D. R&D helps Coca-Cola to know the trends, culture, and tastes of different countries.

Coca-Cola has adopts unique cost and differentiation strategy for its global business. The definition of the concept of competitive strategy applied to a particular business or business group has been fluctuating since the beginning of the study of strategic direction between two variables or key action lines, the cost strategy and differentiation strategy. These both tools are the bases used to achieve a competitive advantage over competitors in any economic sector, and there was a presumption that the choice of either option was exclusionary because of the tension between cost reduction and product differentiation (Bucklin, pp. 387-405).

Several traditional “stage models” have been proposed to conceptualize firms' globalization. The most prominent ones include the Product Life Cycle model, the Innovation-related Models, and the “Uppsala Model”. These models suggest that globalization is a gradual process as firms tend to enter culturally distant countries successively. The rationale is that firms tend to operate in domains close to their existing knowledge while “foreign organizing knowledge” can only be gradually accumulated through direct experience. Coca-Cola's marketing behaviour, however, may differ from the traditional models of globalization in several ways.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Product Description and Target Market4

Strategy of Product4

Strategy of Price5

Strategy of Placement5

Strategy of Promotion6

Marketing Mix Adjustment Strategies6

Recommendations for Improvement7

Introduction

Marketing and concepts related to the field have evolved dramatically in the past two decades. Globalisation and technology has had a tremendous impact on product marketing and launching schemes. The beverage industry is currently feeling the heat of robust competition due to the fact that all the major players have opted for new marketing strategies in order to gain competitive advantage. This dissertation highlights the importance and application of marketing strategies being implemented ...