Promotional Campaign of Coca Cola

Question: How Coca Cola can improve their promotional campaign. Answer: Introduction Coco Cola is a leading international company in the soft drinks market with including more than 500 brands and around 3500 beverages in 200 countries around the world. The company started in 1986 when approximately nine beverages used to be sold in one day, however, the company evolved in to the recent time where around 1.7 billion beverages are sold in one single day. The company has a refreshed mission and optimism that involves addressing several elements of business. With the goal of being the sole brand of choice and the increasing market share and improved profitability, the proposed objectives and promotional campaign of the company is outlines on the basis of SMART objectives criteria. Objectives While planning the six months promotional campaign of Coca Cola, the first step of the plan is to decide on the objectives of the plan. The proposed objective would be, Informing the target market about the benefits of the products Providing the consistent focus on keeping the brand image high in the market, and maintaining the First In Mind position of Coca Cola Increasing the sales of the selected products The objectives of the plan are planned following the SMART principle, which means it is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed. The objectives are specified, because the company is trying to endorse two of their products Diet Coke and PowerAde. The objectives are prcised and the company has specific plans for the endorsement. Six Month Promotional Campaign For making any marketing plan, the market research and development is the most important factor. Here, a six month long promotional plan has been discussed of the soft drink company Coca Cola, after a critical examination. In the next six months the company will choose a specific market and promote the brand value there. The target market segment of the brand has a varied segmentation. In the next six months the company will target the market with their comparatively new product Diet Coke and the sports drink PowerAde. The Diet Coke is targeted to the aged group of consumers and PowerAde will target the active youth section that needs energy in their daily life. The segmentation reveals the requirements of the contents of the brand, also influences the promotional methods such as advertizing and other events appropriate for the target market segment. The promotional plan is a short term one, so the company is not considering any long term result out of it. Pricing Strategy The chief tool of any marketing plan is the pricing strategies. Factors like having a high market share of Coco Cola and pressure of the competitors in the market environment have forced the price to be low and the sales volume will increase in an obvious way, and the company will keep a low margin. This penetration strategy is quite achievable in the next six months as the setting of lower price than higher will help the company to achieve a potentially dominating market share. This strategy needs a good market research as that will define whether the demand of the product is flexible in the market or not. Also, keeping the pricing a little low will not affect the profit margin of the brand, but enhance the sales of the products. This penetration strategy might lead to a large amount of sales and more market shares. The products are purposely priced low, which is a realistic plan because this plan is for six months. There are instances in the past which shows that the product achiev ing a high market penetration, might become the industry standard. Market Communication The market communication will consider several areas of the strengths and the weaknesses in this specific plan. The market communication will be appropriate to the target market, as the products are targeting both the youth segment and the aged group at the same time. The designed strategy is specific and timed for the brand endorsement. There will be paid form of advertizing in forms of billboards, TV advertisements, and magazine and newspaper ads. There will be personal selling as well for the reason of marking the sales at a higher level and building a good consumer relationship. There will also be short term incentives offered to the sales force of Coca Cola to encourage the sale of the targeted products. There will also be online advertizing of the products targeting specified websites, which is a realistic and achievable strategy, because this will not cost much to the company and social media marketing is very much effective nowadays. Action Plan Action Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Deciding the pricing Strategy and the promotional Strategy Starting of the promotional events Starting of online promotions Launching of the products to the target market Budget Action Investment [6 months] (Approximate) Promotional events $ 1000-1500 Advertizing, PR events $1000 Incentives for the sales employees $2000 Product Launch Event $1000 Control The marketing plan needs to be well controlled since any failure of the proposed plan may lead to utter disappointment. The pricing strategy should be decided at the starting of the plan within two months as this is the foremost issue of the promotional campaign. After deciding the exact pricing strategy the management should inform the sales managers and the employees about the strategies. The proposed share of the sales force should also be conveyed to the employees. Within the time frame of two months the Public Relations and marketing team of Coca Cola should also decide the required promotional strategies for the endorsement of Diet Coke and PowerAde. From the second month the promotional events should start without any failure and it will continue till fourth month. From fourth month onwards the online promotions will start through specific websites, social networking sites and direct marketing policies. Though these months the sales force will take the entire control of the ev ents and direct sales of the products. There might be sponsored events as well. At the end of the six month the products will be launched with a new brand image to the target market.