PROMOTIONAL MIX

Promotional Mix of Coca Cola



Promotional Mix of Coca Cola

Introduction

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries goods were relatively scarce with little competition and products did not need promotion support. Manufacturers of goods could easily sell what was produced. As markets and technology developed, competition became more serious and companies began to produce more than they could sell. In the 1950s and 1960s we saw the rise of the sales era in which organizations developed more aggressive and forceful ways of advertising their products to customers (Valette-Florence, Guizani & Merunka, 2011).

The 1970s saw the rise of the promotion concept through which organisations began to move away from the emphasis on heavy selling and advertising and the attitude of sell what we can make, to the promotion focus of find out what the customer wants and we will make it for them (Goswami & Goswami, 2010). Promotion gradually became a key element in corporate strategy and customers became the centre of the organisation's universe. In the 1980s promotion was widely accepted as a strategic business concept and remains at the heart of business strategy. Understanding customer need, of course, is only the starting point as the organisation then needs to act on that information in order to develop and implement promotion activities.

These activities are turned into reality by utilising the promotion mix. Borden defined the promotion mix as the combination of four major tools of promotion; otherwise known as 'the 4Ps' (Shaffer & Zhang, 2002). The four Ps refers to: product, price, promotion and place. It is described as a mix as successful promotion relies on a balance between all four elements as part of any campaign. For success you need the right product at the right price with strong promotion and in a place where customers can buy it easily. Häagen Dazs ice cream offers one illustrative exemplar. A perfectly good product but it is only ice cream. Its huge success came after a daring advertising campaign emphasising the raunchy side of the product (Mitra, Thomakos & Ulubasoglu, 2004). A good product with bad communication will not work, and similarly a bad product with good communication will not work as the elements of the promotion mix all rely on each other.

However, exchange is not the endpoint — it is undertaken to satisfy individual and organizational goals. This requires a thorough understanding of consumers and customers, their goals, needs, wants, motives, habits, thoughts and feelings, etc (Pearson & Henryks, 2008). In addition to drawing upon economic theory, marketers seeking to learn more about consumers draw from theories in psychology and sociology. consumer behaviour. Here, the emphasis is on business functions and management processes. competencies. In order to bring about meaningful exchange, marketers spend time developing new products and services, thinking about price levels, deciding how to promote, publicize and distribute products and considering ways to ensure customers are satisfied. This is rather inadequately described as the promotion mix of4Ps — 'product', 'price', 'place' and ...