Marketing for Coca Cola
1.
Cultural, environmental, social, technological, political and legal forces were the main drivers of the changing marketing environment of Coca Cola.
Before Neville Isdell was brought out of retirement in 2004, Coca Cola’s main product focus was single mindedly devoted to the traditional cola, producing ‘syrupy concentrate for bottlers, under license, to transform into the world’s favourite drink.’(Jobber, 2010) But in the face of changing consumer’s attitudes towards soft drinks and the pushing of healthier choices by the state governments, (Fresh! Healthy Vending, 2010) Coca Cola was slowly losing out to PepsiCo, which diversified their product line to include diet and non sugar options (NSW Government, 6 May 2010). PepsiCo also initiated the acquisition of Tropicana for $3.3Billion in 1998 (CNN Money, 1998), setting itself up as the largest producer of branded juices for the health conscious in the USA. Subsequent acquisitions of Quaker Oats, Gatorade, Lay’s and Aquafina positioned itself as the world’s 4th largest Food & Beverage (F&B) company with sales of US$22000Million; as compared to Coca Cola, which was ranked 13th, with sales of US$8191Million, solely from sales of Beverages.( Top 100 Food & Beverage Company 2010, 2010)
PepsiCo advanced with technology, with investments in upgrading its internal structure with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems from SAP (Cnet News, 2004), to cut cost and streamline operations. Coca Cola, on the other hand, continued licensing bottlers to bottle the drinks, each with their own system of ERP (Computer World.com, 2004) (ERP-BI, 2010). This not only causes the synchronization and delivery of information to be slow, it also shows the lack of investment Coca Cola has on technological advancements and marketing solutions.
Coca Cola has been generally apathetic to the environment with a lack of social conscience towards the people of India. Coca Cola’s bottling plant has been accused of irresponsible chemical
Cultural, environmental, social, technological, political and legal forces were the main drivers of the changing marketing environment of Coca Cola.
Before Neville Isdell was brought out of retirement in 2004, Coca Cola’s main product focus was single mindedly devoted to the traditional cola, producing ‘syrupy concentrate for bottlers, under license, to transform into the world’s favourite drink.’(Jobber, 2010) But in the face of changing consumer’s attitudes towards soft drinks and the pushing of healthier choices by the state governments, (Fresh! Healthy Vending, 2010) Coca Cola was slowly losing out to PepsiCo, which diversified their product line to include diet and non sugar options (NSW Government, 6 May 2010). PepsiCo also initiated the acquisition of Tropicana for $3.3Billion in 1998 (CNN Money, 1998), setting itself up as the largest producer of branded juices for the health conscious in the USA. Subsequent acquisitions of Quaker Oats, Gatorade, Lay’s and Aquafina positioned itself as the world’s 4th largest Food & Beverage (F&B) company with sales of US$22000Million; as compared to Coca Cola, which was ranked 13th, with sales of US$8191Million, solely from sales of Beverages.( Top 100 Food & Beverage Company 2010, 2010)
PepsiCo advanced with technology, with investments in upgrading its internal structure with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems from SAP (Cnet News, 2004), to cut cost and streamline operations. Coca Cola, on the other hand, continued licensing bottlers to bottle the drinks, each with their own system of ERP (Computer World.com, 2004) (ERP-BI, 2010). This not only causes the synchronization and delivery of information to be slow, it also shows the lack of investment Coca Cola has on technological advancements and marketing solutions.
Coca Cola has been generally apathetic to the environment with a lack of social conscience towards the people of India. Coca Cola’s bottling plant has been accused of irresponsible chemical
References: 1. David Jobber, Principles and Practice of Marketing (2010), retrieved 14 Dec 2010. 2. Fresh! Healthy Vending (2010), State to ban soft drinks in vending machine, retrieved 13 Dec 2010, 3 4. CNN Money (1998), PepsiCo buys Tropicana, retrieved 14 Dec 2010, 5 6. Cnet News (2004), SAP Siphons Pepsi away from Oracle, retrieved 15 Dec 2010, 7 8. ERP-BI (2010), Coca Cola Bottling Co. Testimonial, retrieved 15 Dec 2010, 9 10. About.com (2010), Coca-Cola Charged with Groundwater Depletion and Pollution in India, retrieved 16 Dec 2010 11 12. Investment U (2010), Coke Vs. Pepsi… are the Cola Wars finally over?, retrieved 19 Dec 2010 13 14. Searchlores.org (2007), Aquafina and Dasani : Consumers are morons - Misleading marketing practices, retrieved 18 Dec 2010 15 16. Wall Street Journal (2009), Soda tax Weighted to pay for Health care, retrieved 21 Dec 2010 17 18. Martinne Geller ,Reuters (2010), Coca-Cola sales disappoint, investors eye pricing, retrieved 21 Dec 2010 19 20. BBC News(2003), Mecca Cola Challenges US Rival, retrieved 21 Dec 2010 21 22. Just Food (2010), On the money: PepsiCo pledges “aggressive” investment in Quaker Foods, retrieved 22 Dec 2010