Brand communication policy and strategy: Coca-Cola

Each year, nearly 547.5 billion bottles of Coca-Cola are sold worldwide. This brand alone has a 50% share of the global soft drink market. It owes its notoriety to its marketing communication strategy.

Explanations.

Who are the customers of Coca-Cola? ?

The Coca-Cola figures today among the most consumed drinks in the world, with water, tea and coffee. Its original recipe contained alcohol. In 1886, this ingredient was nevertheless removed from the formula which has since remained unchanged and kept secret.

The history of Coca-Cola began more than 130 years ago.

Currently, the American giant offers all kinds of non-alcoholic drinks. Coca-Cola’s offer includes fruit juices, iced teas, hot drinks and energy drinks. Given this diversity, Coca-Cola reaches a wide range of consumers wide range of consumers.

The profile of its customers varies according to the type of product marketed by the company.

As an illustration, the Coca-Cola Light is associated with diets. This product attracts more the women. For its part, the Coca-Cola Zero is rather addressed to a male audience, its packaging having been designed to appeal to this category of consumers.

Another example is the Coca-Cola Black was designed to give a person the energy to get through the day. As a result, this product is mainly aimed at assets. In a global way, the consumers of Coca-Cola’s products are young people.

On the other hand, the distributors constitute another large category of customers of the company. This includes, for example, supermarkets, restaurant chains, gas stations, sports centers and schools. The group’s distribution network is so extensive that it has eclipsed most small and medium-sized beverage companies.

Today, Coca-Cola can be found in countries all over the world, even in the most remote areas.

How Coca-Cola communicates ?

The communication policy of Coca-Cola relies heavily on the advertising. In this regard, the company has always been one step ahead of its competitors. Always full of color and energy, its advertisements are known to be in phase with their time of publication, and this, since 1890. Showing that Coca-Cola promotes the share and wants to make everyone happy, they make a lasting impression every time.

Classic communication strategy: from pin-up posters to Santa Claus

During the first half of the 20th century, Coca-Cola’s communication policy of Coca-Cola has focused on a number of advertising campaigns with pin-up girls. At the time, these were adored, because they embodied a canon of beauty. It is therefore not by chance that Coca-Cola has chosen to put them on stage on communication supports such as posters. Indeed, the brand intended to appeal to men, seduced by the charm of pin-ups, as well as to women, for whom they represented a source of inspiration.

From the 1930s, Coca-Cola has also developed advertisements in which the Santa Claus. While the company did not create this character, it did manage to anchor it in the collective imagination. Today, Santa Claus seems to be inseparable from the brand image of Coca-Cola.

Every winter, it becomes the ambassador.

In order to be as close as possible to consumers, the American group strives toto be present in their daily life. Thus, since 1928, he has taken part in the sponsoring of sporting events large-scale products. It also supports several music festivals. In addition, Coca-Cola strives to be omnipresent in the media to promote the company’s image and reach the maximum number of consumers.

In particular, it has invested in the mass media such as television and cinema.

It should also be noted that Coca-Cola’s marketing strategy relies heavily on social media influencers. In detail, the company has already worked with :

• Singers like Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, etc. ;
• Soccer players, notably Pelé during the 2014 World Cup;
• Fashion designers such as Karl Lagerfeld or Marc Jacobs ;
• Players such as Nicolas Coster.

Digital communication strategy: how Coca-Cola uses social networks ?

With the digitalization, companies are required toadapt their content to social media. Coca-Cola is no exception to the rule. The world’s number one soft drink company therefore had to define a digital strategy based on social networks. It has understood that launching itself on communication channels that are popular with young people is essential to continue attracting them. As an illustration, a significant part of Coca-Cola France’s digital media investments are dedicated to social networks.

The subsidiary has also established a strategic partnership with Facebook.

It is also important to know that Coca-Cola also uses social networks to study prospects and identify its targets. It is indeed crucial to know consumers and determine what they accept or appreciate as well as what they reject. Also, to anticipate trends to gain in intensity is essential. Social networks allow Coca-Cola to collect a maximum of information on consumers.

Thanks to them, the firm becomes able to offer a better customer experience.

The American giant did not rest on its initial notoriety. It now integrates social media among its communication tools to allow his brand to keep its appeal and to be present in their daily lifeoffering a tailor-made experience.

How Coca-Cola builds customer loyalty ?

The communication policy of Coca-Cola Coca-Cola quickly built its brand around the pleasure of consuming its products. The brand has segmented them not only to reach different audiences, but also to build consumer loyalty by providing them with exactly what they need. If the taste remains practically the same for the different variations of the initial drink, each one of them has however a specificity precise target, as previously mentioned.

For Coca-Cola, the customer loyalty also necessarily involves the personalization. In France, the firm started with the semi-customization of their bottles by including the 150 most given names in the country. Consumers with a common first name could then browse the shelves of a supermarket in the hope of finding a personalized bottle of Coca-Cola.

As a result of the success of the brand’s communication campaign, the company added 100 new names to put on your bottles. Each week, it also selected several customers on social networks whose first names would appear on a bottle. Thanks to this branding strategy, the company was able to federate a large community and create a strong bond of intimacy with consumers.

Translating its positioning, its slogans are also part of the means of communication promoting customer loyalty for Coca-Cola. Here are some of them:

• This feeling is called Coca-Cola (1987) ;
• Only a Coca-Cola is a Coca-Cola (2005);
• Open a Coca-Cola, open happiness (2009).

The latest, “Taste the feeling” or “Savor the moment” (2016), is an invitation to live in the moment. Decidedly, the iconic brand masters the art of setting up a coherent communication to attract consumers and retain them.