coca-cola in costa rica!!

During spring break my boyfriend and i decided to escape the unstable New-York weather to the sunny beaches of Costa-rica. During our vacation i was surprised to see that coca-cola was EVERYWHERE! and my boyfriend was surprised that i couldnt escape my marketing class tasks. They even have 1 liter glass bottles! here are some pics !  

Chapter 11- developing and managing products

Developing a new product is a team effort that goes through many stages of development until the product is finalized and ready to be distributed to the potential consumers.

It is a long and hard process but the history and statistics do show that it is highly profitable as long as you do it on a well constructed way:

 One of the recent new products introduced by coca-cola is cola zero, the first stage for introducing a new product is called new product strategy, in this stage the new product strategy was  a dual objective of reaching a different target market and creating  a healthier product  that will serve the companies approach of social responsibility.

In the next step of the process- the idea generations

Coca cola concluded many different ideas the one that pass the screening was the coca cola zero

The new product targets young males (ages 25-35) and has an amazing sugar and caffeine values of zero!! (Hence the name) 

Business analysis – is another stage of screening through determining the profitability after cost. Coca-cola does thorough research of the market, competition and the projected revenue before putting a new product on the market, the company does not publicly display this research but it is understood that by holding many surveys it becomes easy to project the demand for the product.

Development- coca-colas main interest when developing a prototype is the taste of their product without losing its texture and color, and also that the product will relate to the company and still maintain a certain uniqueness, when coca-cola develop a prototype they supply samples to their projected target market in order to understand what to change and improve in the product this is known as the test marketing stage.

Commercialization- after passing all the stages it is then decided to start the production, build inventories and building the infrastructure of sales and distribution. When making a new product coca-cola has it relatively easier in these aspects because the company already has most of the infrastructure, space and ability to produce in any quantity demanded by the market. Coca-cola has an experienced team that trains new employees and inject belief and commitment to their sales teams.

    

  

Chapter 16- Integrating market cummunications

 Coca-cola has become what it is today because the company puts an emphasis on its promotional strategy. As any individual knows, having a great product or number of products is many times not enough for a company to expand make profit or even to survive.

When discussing a company’s promotional strategy the elements included are the elements that communicate the company with its targeted market. Advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion make up a company’s promotional strategy. Coca cola spends a lot of time money and human resources in order to stay superior to the competition in the field of promotional strategy, thanks to the understanding of the importance of this communication to its target market coca-cola has always been very innovative with its use of advertising and through public relations have connected with their consumers and have created a feeling of togetherness.

Advertising-

Coca-cola spends millions of dollars a year on advertising, the company has its name and logo on many billboards around the world in the most prime locations, an example of this type of advertising can be found in the famous Picadili square in London, coca-cola have been on a billboard in Picadili since 1955 and it is seen by the many tourists and local which flock Picadili all year round. Coca-cola also has very unique commercials on television and has always connected to their consumers through strong story telling.

Public relations-

coca-cola project an iconic image, the company makes commitments to make a positive difference in the world, the social responsibility of coca-cola is shown by their pursue to provide clean drinking water to communities in Africa, coca-cola also have evolved their commitment to recycle and have transformed all their factories to be able to recycle all of their waste water and return it to the environment in order to support aquatic life. Coca-cola also encourage exercise and calorie burn in western societies through school programs, because of this commitment 25% of coca-cola products are low calorie and the content is increasing. Because of its controversial health benefits coca-cola have also committed not to advertise to children.

Sales promotion-

Through involvement in many events in which coca-cola provides samples and prizes of their product coca-cola may increase the immediate demand in their products, an example of a sales promotion that occurred recently is when coca cola teamed up with the rock band Maroon 5 in a 24 hour live session in order to create a song for the band, in this event coca-cola advertised provided funding and also its products, another sales promotion occurred when coca-cola zero partnered with the film Avatar in order to promote the brand and also the film, this partnership led to events special merchandise and very innovative ads.

Personal selling-

Through its advertising and public relations coke has formed a personal connection with its consumers, consumers whom recognize coca-cola commitment to society for example may feel they should buy the company’s products and help the society because if they provide coca-cola with their business others will benefit because coca-cola will continue contributing to others.   

Chapter 10 - Product concept

The coca cola brand is recognizable by its name and its logo all around the globe. Coca cola is a global brand: 37% of the company’s earnings are from Brazil, Mexico, India, Japan and china, another 20% of the revenue is also global and its spread through the other countries coca-cola is marketed and only 43% of its income is in the U.S.A.

Coca-colas brand equity is valuable, coca cola earned the benefits of it brand throughout the years, these benefits lead to advantages such as brand loyalty when consumers prefer  coca-colas products over a different less known brand because they may trust coca-cola and believe the product sold is better than a similar product offered by different brands. The brand loyalty eventually led to consumers returning and continuing to patronize the brand and gain a huge advantage over competitors.

All of coca-colas products are consumer’s products, as coca-cola declares in their mission statement they are meant to “refresh the body mind and soul” of their consumers.

Coca-cola is a convenience product, their most profitable product line are carbonated soft drinks and they are available to almost everyone almost everywhere, from gas stations to restaurants delis and convenience stores, you have to put literally close to zero shopping effort in order to purchase a coca-cola beverage.  

Coca-colas product line has a depth to it, this is another advantage coca-cola has because a consumer has a variety of beverages to choose from, so even if individuals want to change their beverage they can still purchase one from the coca-cola company. As well as a variety of beverages to choose from the company provides the same beverage in different packages, individuals can choose between fountains, cans and different sizes of glass and plastic bottles depending on their needs, the bottles still have the shape uniqueness that has made coca cola bottles known by every eye.

Coca-cola does research and stays in touch with what consumers want, with this research the product line extensions of coca-cola grows globally and suits itself to customer needs and technological  development and still stays loyal to their original products that have brought the brand to where it is today.