Impact of Consumer Behavior on Marketing Strategy
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Introduction
Coca Cola Company is among the most famous companies in the world. With more a century in the global market, Coca Cola has been part of the world history from being the default soft drink in thousands of restaurants around the globe to being the main sponsor for the soccer world cup. It could be almost impossible to know of a person who has never tasted this soft drink before or even seen the name in a commercial or billboard. As it is famously said, Coca Cola has never been in the drink industry; Coca Cola is in the memory sharing industry. The company has ventured across every corner of the globe. With a regional management system, the company can market its products at every small niche, including minor local channels of Africa. Cock’s main competitor is Pepsi. With the evaluation of consumer behavior, the company has been able to strategize on marketing to effectively retain and acquire more consumers while maintaining a competitive advantage.
How Coca Cola Company Figured Out What the Target Market Wanted
A consumer’s experience would not do only by an excellent service or expertise. This experience must be accompanied by a great product as well, and this is what Coca Cola is all about. Coca Cola has a great product that is sold all around the world; people like and, more importantly, people are loyal to the brand. There could be said that there are only two parties in the soft drink industry, Pepsi and Coca Cola. People are usually very loyal to what their soft drink taste is.
Coca Cola does not have a target market in specific. They believe in aiming for all audiences at once. “The beverage has no age bar and ‘that,’ the beverage company keeps in mind! Coca-cola creates ads that cater to a broad segment of the population, ensuring it yields justice to them one at a time” (Sonthalia, 2017). It does not take long to see a Coca Cola commercial or billboard where a very diverse audience is portrayed. It is possible to see people from different cultural backgrounds and ages. Coca Cola is not aiming to the young audiences or the most mature people, or a specific cultural background audience.
Coca Cola’s target market is anybody who can drink a soft drink. That means almost every person on Earth. Coca Cola realized early on the way that Coca Cola was more than just a soft drink; Coca Cola became part of the whole eating, family, sharing memories experience. I come from a Hispanic background. And I have seen Coca Cola in every single family reunion. This soft drink brand is no longer just part of what we drink with our food; Coca Cola is now part of the family reunion experience. We as a family don’t consume any other soft drinks brands because we are faithful to the family tradition of having Coca Cola in the table when we eat.
When Coca Cola realized that they were part of the daily family table experience, they started aiming the “sharing memories” slogan (De Mooij, 2019).
How Coca Cola’s Marketing Strategy has Impacted Consumer Behavior
Coca Cola has not changed the formula or the product ever since the day they started in the market. The product can be said that it is significant because, after a century of releasing the product, people are still buying it. However, more than the product, people want to consume the brand. A different company could come up with the same product and concept and cheaper, but people would still buy Coca Cola because it is no longer about the product. It is about consuming the brand and portraying the consumer as a brand consumer. Coca Cola is not selling a product, but the experience of sharing a soft drink with those the consumer loves the most, family, friend, significant other, etc.
Coca Cola uses the 4ps mix formula for marketing. The 4Ps are product, place, price, and promotion. The four have been well-strategized by the company to influence buyers. Pricing is different depending on what country the consumer is. However, Coca Cola is not the cheapest brand for soft drinks. The pricing is very tight to the Coca Cola’s main competition, which is Pepsi. Operating in over 200 countries, Coca Cola has an immense network of distribution (De Mooij, 2019).
Coca Cola is never shy when it comes to advertising and promoting its brand. Coca Cola will never waste an opportunity to put its name in big letters out there. Ever since I can remember, I have seen the big Coca Cola trucks deliver the product to all these little stores (Lane, 2016). Coca Cola provides its products in these huge red trucks, which are easy to see from a mile away. The vehicle that delivers the product is part of the iconic brand by itself. The delivery to the stores is part of the experience. Every time I see these trucks on the move, I think of them as part of the Coca Cola mission to complete the experience.
The company uses two strategies to impact on consumers choosing their brand. The first approach is psychological. Psychological influence is achieved through the company logo of white writing on a red background, which gives Coca Cola a strong brand identity. The other factor is the sociological influence. Coca Cola faces a great deal of socio-cultural opposition for the carbonated drinks, which are not favorable to children and the elderly. Other cultures, such as Asians, are not familiar with fast foods and those in high sugars and fats, making Coca Cola unfavorable (Sharman et al., 2019). However, the company was able to influence these groups and culture through processing different products which are favorable to the broad market categories. The company produces zero Coke, a calorie-free product. Other products include juices, tea, water, which all have different flavors and favorable calorie, counts. Dasani, for instance, is pure mineral water that supplies the body with a wide variety of minerals.
Conclusion
Coca Cola is more than just a soft drinks company. Coca Cola is an American icon of happiness. Coca Cola is a company that has studied the consumer more than any other brand. They know what consumers want and consume. Coca Cola is a company that is in constant renewal because they understand that the consumer is continuously changing as well. Coca Cola is a brand that understands that the consumer experience is directly correlated with a great product and an excellent service, and this is what makes the best consumer experience.
References
De Mooij, M. (2019). Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing and advertising. SAGE Publications Limited.
Lane, T. A. S. D. M. ( 2016). Mpk732 Marketing Management (Cluster B).
Sharman, A., Larkin, J., Fernandez, I., & Esteves, G. (2019). The Diversification of Coca-Cola: Globalization & Strategic Fit. Journal for Global Business and Community, 10(1).
Sonthalia, N. (2017). “An Insight into Coca Cola’s Visual Branding Strategy.” Medium,
Augmenting Humanity, 18.