MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COCA COLA

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MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COCA COLA
A Minor Project Report
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the awardof the
degree of Bachelor of Business Administration (T&TM) programme of
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi.
Submitted To: Submitted by:
Pawan S Kushwah Tanuj Singh
Roll No.:43196701715
Kamal Institute of Higher Education And Advanced Technology
K-1 Extension, Mohan Garden,
New Delhi – 110059
Batch (2015-2018)

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DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the minor project report, entitled ““MARKETING STRATEGIES
OF COCA COLA”, is based on my original study and has not been submitted earlier for
award of any degree or diploma to any institute or university.
The work of other author(s), wherever used, has been acknowledged at appropriate
place(s).
Place: New Delhi Candidate’s signature
Date: / / 2015 Name: Tanuj Singh
Enroll. No.: 43196701715
Countersigned
Name: Mr.Pawan S Kushwah Name: Prof.(Dr.) J.S. Gujral
Supervisor Director
Kamal Institute of Higher Education Kamal Institute of Higher Education
And Advanced Technology And Advanced Technology

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
An independent project is a contradiction in terms. Every project involves contribution of
many people. This project also bears the imprints of many people and it is a pleasure for
me to acknowledge and thank all of them.
I am deeply indebted to Mr. Pawan S Kushwah who acted as a mentor and guide,
providing knowledge and giving me his/her valuable time out of his/her busy schedule, at
every step throughout the project. It is only because of his/her this project came into
being.
I also thank Prof. (Dr.) J.S. Gujral, Director of Kamal Institute of Higher Education
And Advanced Technology for providing an opportunity of doing this project under his
leadership.
I also take the opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to each and every person, who
directly or indirectly helped me throughout the project and without anyone of them this
project would not have been possible.
The immense learning from this project would be indelible forever.
Tanuj Singh

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.No. Topic Page No
1 Declaration i
2 Acknowledgement ii
3 List of Tables iii
4 List of Figures iv
5 List of Symbols v
6 List of Abbreviations vi
7 Chapter-I: Introduction
 Introduction to “MARKETINGSTRATEGIES OF
COCA COLA”
 Objectives of the study
 Scope of the study
 Methodology
1-9
2
4
5
6
8 Chapter-II: Conceptual Framework 10
9 Chapter-III: Summary 66
10 Bibliography 71
11 ANNEXURE 72

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INTRODUCTION
This project is focused on studying the various marketing strategies of Coca-Cola and
the scenario of Indian soft drink industry in the 1990’s.
Coca-Cola Co., the global soft drink industry leader controlled Indian soft drink industry
till 1977. Then Janta Party beats the Congress Party and the Central Government was
changed. This change brought problems for Coca-Cola principle bottler, who was a big
supporter of Gandhi Family. Now Janta Party government demanded that Coca-Cola
should transfer its syrup formula to an India subsidiary (Chakravarty, 43). Because of this
Coca-Cola backed and withdrew from the country. In the mean time, India’s two target
soft drink producers have gotten rich. Who were controlling 80% of the Indian soft drink
industry.
In 1993, the coco-Cola company came back to India. But the scenario of Indian soft drink
industry had been changed from 1977 to 1993. The competition in the soft drink industry
had become very tough. The major competitors at that time were Pepsi and Parle. Parle’s
best known brand includes ThumsUp, Limca, Citra and others were Gold Spot and
Maaza. At that time Parle had a market share of 53% and Pepsi had a market share of
20%.
Now Coca-Cola had to make some strategies to survive in this tough competition. For
this Coca-Cola decided to take over Parle, so that the company can take the advantage of
Parle’s network. This decision was proved very beneficial for Coke as it had ready access
to over 2,00,000 retailer outlets and 60 bottlers of Parle’s network. The marketing
strategies which were made by Coca-Cola company to win the Cola war in 1990s had
been very successful as Coca-Cola company had a total market share of 48.3% in 1998.

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So, the Indian soft drink industry saw a dramatic change in the decade of 1990s. All the
companies were trying to win the battle by making good marketing strategies.
These days Coke and Pepsi are using the 4Ps of marketing mix (Price, Product, Place and
Promotion) in such a way so that a good quality can be provided to the consumers at a
reasonable price to attract the consumers towards their brands. Both the companies know
that there is so much potential in the Indian soft drink industry and the can increase their
sales by making good marketing strategies. So, they are spending a huge amount of
money on advertising and other sales promotional activities of their brands

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OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
1. To study the marketing strategies adopted by Coca-Cola
2. To study the advertising effectiveness Coca-Cola on customer
3. To analyze the awareness of consumer regarding Coca Cola.
4. To help the company for further changes in the quality, pricing, and policies.
5. This study was aimed at Market analysis of Coca Cola and find out different
factor effects the growth of Coca Cola
6. To understand the reason behind the purchase of Coca Cola product
7. Another objectives of study was to perform Competitive analysis between Coca
Coal and its competitors

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METHODOLOGY
Research design
The Research available is descriptive so as to describe the complete qualities of juices
available in market.it is overall operation pattern or frame work of the project that
stipulates what information is to be collected from which source and by what procedure
There are Three type of Marketing research project:-
1. Exploratory Research:- the objective of exploratory research is to gather preliminary
information that will help to define problem and suggest hypothesis
2. Descriptive Research:-the objective of descriptive research is to describe things, such
as market potential for a product or the demographics and attitude of consumer who buy
the product
3. Casual Research:-the objective of casual research is to test hypothesis about casual
effects and relationship
Based on the above definition it can be established that this study is Casual Research as
the attitude of the customer who buy the product has been stated
Sources of Data collection
To do a research always we use two sources of data collection. Primary and secondary

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Primary Source:-
The primary data has been collected simultaneously along with the secondary data for
meeting the established objectives to provide in solution for problem identified in the
study. It is the source which collects the primary data through Questionnaire and record
the raw data for further analysis, Primary source is used by the face-to-face survey with
the customers of the company .
Secondary Source:-
secondary data , is data collected by someone other than the user. Secondary data
analysis saves time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and, particularly in the
case of quantitative data, provides larger and higher-quality databases that would be
unfeasible for any individual researcher to collect on their own. In addition, analysts of
social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to
conduct a new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or developments.
As a researcher I have scanned a lot of sources to get an access to secondary data.
Secondary data study has provided a insight and forms an outline for the core objectives
established
The various source of secondary data used are :-
1. Internet
2. Magazines
3. Old data files of the research

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Sampling Technique
The sampling technique which has been used in this research is simple Random
sampling. This has been used in order to simplify the process of sample collection and to
use our own wisdom and parameters in relation to selection of sample.
Types of sampling techniques:
1. Random sampling
A subset of a statistical population in which each member of the subset has an equal
probability of being chosen. A simple random sample is meant to be an unbiased
representation of a group Least biased of all sampling techniques, there is no subjectivity
each member of the total population has an equal chance of being selected.
2. Systematic sampling
Statistical method involving the selection of elements from a ordered sampling frame.The
most common form of systematic sampling is an equal-probability method. In this
approach, progression through the list is treated circularly, with a return to the top once
the end of the list is passed.
3. Stratified sampling
This method is used when the parent population or sampling frame is made up of sub-sets
of known size. These sub-sets make up different proportions of the total, and therefore
sampling should be stratified to ensure that results are proportional and representative of
the whole

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4.Cluster sampling
Is a sampling technique used when "natural" but relatively homogeneous groupings are
evident in a statistical population. It is often used in marketing research. In this technique,
the total population is divided into these groups (or clusters) and a simple
random sample of the groups is selected.
Sample size: 50
Sample area-New Delhi , D block Janak puri

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CHAPTER –II
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

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SOFT DRINK INDUSTRY: AN OVERVIEW
It all began in 1886, when a tree legged brass kettle in Hohn Styth pemberton’s backyard
in Atlanta was brewing the first P of marketing leged. Unaware the pharmacist has given
birth to a caromel colored syrup, which is now the chief ingredient of the world’s favorite
drink. The syrup combined with carbonated the soft drink market. It is estimated that this
drink is served more than one thousand million times in a day.
Equally oblivious to the historic value of his actions was Frank Ix. Robinson, his partner
and book keeper. Pemberton & Robinson laid the first foundation of this beverage when
an average nine drinks per day to begin with, upping volumes as sales grew. In 1894, this
beverage got into bottle, courtesy a candy merchant from Mississippi. By the 1950’s
Colas were a daily consumption item, stored in house hold fridges. Soon were born other
non- Cola variants of this product like orange & Lemon. Now, the soft drink industry has
been dominated by three major player – (1) The New York based Pepsi co. Inc.(2) The
Atlanta based Coca Cola co. (3) The United Kingdom based Cadbury Schweppes.
Throughout the globe these major players have been battling it. Out for a bigger chunk of
the ever-growing cold drink market. Now this battle has begun in India too. Inida is now
the part of cold drink war. Gone are days of Ramesh Chauhan, India’s one time Cola king
and his bouts of pistol shooting. Expect now to hear the boon of cannons when the Coca
Cola & Pepsi co. battle it out for, as the Jordon goes a bigger share of throat. By buying
over local competition, the two American Cola giants have cleared up the arena and are
packing all their power behind building the Indian franchisee of their globe girdling
brands. The huge amount invested in fracture has never been seen before. Both players
seen an enormous potential in his country where swigging a carbonated beverage is still

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considered a treat, virtually a luxury. Consequently, by world standards India’s per capita
consumption of cold drinks as going by survey results is rock bottom, less than over
Neighbors Pakistan & Bangladesh, where it is four times as much.
Behind the hype, in an effort invisible to consumer Pepsi pumps in Rs 3000 crores (1994)
to add muscle to its infrastructure in bottling and distribution. This is apart from money
that company’s franchised bottles spend in upgrading their plants all this has contributed
to substantial gains in the market. In Colas, Pepsi is already market leader and in certain
cities like Banaras , Pepsi outlets are on one side & all the other Colas put together on the
other. While Coke executive scruff at Pepsi’s claims as well as targets, industry observers
are of the view that Pepsi has definitely stolen a lot from its competitor Coke.
Apart from numbers, Pepsi has made qualitative gains. The foremost is its image. This
image turnaround is no small achievements, considering that since it was established in
1989, taking the hardship route prior to liberalization and weighed down by export
commitments.
Now, at present as there are three major players Coke, Pepsi and Cadbury and there is
stiff competition between first two, both Pepsi and Coke have started, sponsoring local
events and staging frequent consumer promotion campaigns. As the mega event of this
century has started, and the marketers are using this event – world cup football, cricket
events and many more other events.
Like Pepsi, Coke is picking up equity in its bottles to guarantee their financial support;
one side Coke is trying to increase its popularity through.

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Eat Food, enjoy Food. Drink only Coca Cola. Eat cricket, sleep cricket. Drink only Coca
Cola. Eat movies, sleep movies. Drink only Coca Cola.
But no doubt’ that UK based Cadbury is also ecognising its presence. So there is a real
crush in the soft drink market.with launch of the carbonated organize drink Crush, few
year ago in Banaras ., the first in a series of a launches , Cadbury Schweppes beverage
India (CSBI) HAS PLANNED:- The world third largest soft drink marketers all over the
country.CSBI o wholly owned subsidiary of the London based $ 6.52billion. Cadbury
Schweppes is hoping that crush is going well and well not suffer the same fate as the Rs.
175 crore Cadbury india’s apple drink Apella. CSBI is now with orange (crush), and
Schweppes soda in the market.
As orange drinks are the smallest of non-Cola categories that is Rs. 1100 crore market
with 10% market share and Cola heaving 50% is followed by Lemon segment with 25%.
The success of soft drink industry depends upon 4 major factors viz.
1. AVAILABILITY
Availability means the presence of a particular brand at any outlet. If a product is now
available at any outlet and the competitor brand is available, the consumer will go for the
outlet because generally the consumption of any soft drink is an impulse decision and not
predetermined one.
2. VISIBILITY
Visibility is the presence felt, if any outlet has a particular brand of soft drink say- Pepsi
Cola and this brand is not displayed in the outlet, then its availability is of no use. The
soft drink must be shown off properly and attractively so as to catch the attention of the

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consumer immediately Pepsi achieves visibility by providing glow signboards, hoarding,
calendars etc. to the outlets. It also includes various stands to display Pepsi and other
flavours of the company.
3. COOLING
As the soft drinks are consumed chilled so cooling them plays a vital role in boosting up
the sales. The brand, which is available chilled, gets more sale than the one which is not,
even if it is more preferred one.
4. RANGE
This is the last but not the least factor, which affects the sale of the products of a
particular company.

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COMPANY PROFILE
Coca-Cola Enterprises, established in 1886, is a young company by the standards of the
Coca-Cola system. Yet each of its franchises has a strong heritage in the traditions of
Coca-Cola that is the foundation for this Company.
The Coca-Cola Company traces it’s beginning to 1886, when an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr.
John Pemberton, began to produce Coca-Cola syrup for sale in fountain drinks. However
the bottling business began in 1899 when two Chattanooga businessmen, Benjamin F.
Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead, secured the exclusive rights to bottle and sell Coca-
Cola for most of the United States from The Coca-Cola Company.
The Coca-Cola bottling system continued to operate as independent, local businesses
until the early 1980s when bottling franchises began to consolidate. In 1986, The Coca-
Cola Company merged some of its company-owned operations with two large ownership
groups that were for sale, the John T. Lupton franchises and BCI Holding Corporation's
bottling holdings, to form Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. The Company offered its stock to
the public on November 21, 1986, at a split-adjusted price of $5.50 a share. On an annual
basis, total unit case sales were 880,000 in 1986.
In December 1991, a merger between Coca-Cola Enterprises and the Johnston Coca-Cola
Bottling Group, Inc. (Johnston) created a larger, stronger Company, again helping
accelerate bottler consolidation. As part of the merger, the senior management team of
Johnston assumed responsibility for managing the Company, and began a dramatic,
successful restructuring in 1992.Unit case sales had climbed to 1.4 billion, and total
revenues were $5 billion The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage

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company. They operate in more than 200 countries & markets more than 2800 beverage
products. Headquartered at Atlanta, Georgia, they employ approximately 90500
employees all over the world. It is often referred to simply as Coke or (in European and
American countries) as Cola or Pop.
MISSION, VISION AND VALUES
The world is changing all around us. To continue to thrive as a business over the next ten
years and beyond, we must look ahead, understand the trends and forces that will shape
our business in the future and move swiftly to prepare for what's to come.
Our Mission
Our Road map starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a
Company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions.
 To refresh the world...
 To inspire moments of optimism and happiness...
 To create value and make a difference
Our Vision
Our vision serves as the framework for our Road map and guides every aspect of our
business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving
sustainable, quality growth.
 People: Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can
be

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 Portfolio: Bring to the world a portfolio of quality beverage brands that anticipate
and satisfy people’s desires and needs
 Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we
create mutual, enduring value
 Planet: Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and
support sustainable communities
 Profit: Maximize long-term return to share owners while being mindful of our
overall responsibilities
 Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization
Our Winning Culture
Our Winning Culture defines the attitudes and behaviors that will be required of us to
make our 2020 Vision a reality.
Live Our Values
Our values serve as a compass for our actions and describe how we behave in the world.
 Leadership: The courage to shape a better future
 Collaboration: Leverage collective genius
 Integrity: Be real
 Accountability: If it is to be, it’s up to me

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 Passion: Committed in heart and mind
 Diversity: As inclusive as our brands
 Quality: What we do, we do well
Focus on the Market
 Focus on needs of our consumers, customers and franchise partners
 Get out into the market and listen, observe and learn
 Possess a world view
 Focus on execution in the marketplace every day
 Be insatiably curious
Work Smart
 Act with urgency
 Remain responsive to change
 Have the courage to change course when needed
 Remain constructively discontent
 Work efficiently
Act Like Owners
 Be accountable for our actions and in actions

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 Steward system assets and focus on building value
 Reward our people for taking risks and finding better ways to solve problems
 Learn from our outcomes -- what worked and what didn’t
Be the Brand
 Inspire creativity, passion, optimism and fun
COCA-COLA WORLDWIDE (BACKGROUND)
The Profile
The Coca-Cola Company is the global Soft drink industry leader, with world
headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The company and its subsidiaries employ nearly 30,000
people around the world Syrups, concentrates and beverages bases for Coca-Cola, the
company’s flagship brand, & over 160 other Company Soft Drink brands are
manufactured and Sold by the Coca Cold Company and its Subsidiaries in nearly 200
countries around the world. In fact approximately 70% of company volume and 80% of
company profit come from outside the United States.
By contract with the Coca-Cola Company on its local subsidiaries, local businesses are
authorized to bottle and sell company soft drinks within certain territorial boundaries and
under conditions that ensure the highest standards of quality and uniformity. The Coca-
Cola takes pride in being a worldwide business that is always local. Bottling and
distribution operations are, with some exception, locally owned and operated by
independent business people who are native to the nations in which they are located.

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The Coca-Cola company stock, with ticker symbol KO2 is listed and traded in the United
States on the New York stock exchange, common stock also is traded on the on the
Boston, Chicago, Pacific an Philadelphia Exchanges Outside the United States, Company
common stock is listed and traded on common and swiss exchanges.
The Company operating management structure consists of five geographic groups:
1. The North America Group Comprises the United States and Canada.
2. The Latin American group includes the Company’s operations across Central and
South American from Mexico to Argentina.
3. The Company’s most populated operating group, the Middle and far east group,
ranges from the Middle East to India, China, Japan and Australia.
4. The greater Europe group stretches from Greenland to Russia’s far last, including
some of the most established markets in Western Europe and the rapidly growing
nations of Eastern and Central Europe.
5. The Africa group includes the Company’s business in 50 countries in Sub Sahara
Africa.
The Coca-Cola Company continues to activate sponsorships throughout the world
including associations with World Cup Soccer. The National Football league. NASCAR,
the Tour de France, the Rugby World Cup, COPA America and numerous local sports
teams. The Coca-Cola Company has sponsored the Olympic games since 1928.

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COKE IN INDIA
Coke gained an early advantage over Pepsi since it took over Parle in 1994. Thus it had
ready access to over 2,00,000 retailer outlets and 60 bottlers.
Thus Coke had greater than Pepsi because it had ready access to the Parle network. For
example in 1994 Pepsi had 20 bottlers to serve the entire country while Coke had Parle’s
60 bottlers. In an important market like Delhi Pepsi had just one bottler while Coke had
four. On the other hand Pepsi had taken over the Dukes Mangola of Mumbai.
In 1993, Pepsi Foods Ltd. had control over the Rs. 1,100 - Crore Indian Soft Drinks
market. At that time, the soft drinks trycoon Ramesh Chauhan, was heading the Parle
group and at that time was deciding to explore the possibility of selling his best rolling
brands to Coke, rather than to Pepsi. Pepsi had entered the market 3 years before Coke
did. Before the Coke-Parle tie-up in '93- Ramesh Chauhan had 2 options before him- (1)
to stick around, fight it out again and hopefully, continue with his number one position.
(2) to sell out to Coca-Cola for a good return. This risk of losing out to one of the
multinationals, eventually, seemed to be throwing up the second alternative. Ramesh
Chauhan told business world (India's most popular business magazine) that "it is better to
seek a compromise than to fight a lone battle". But he was wisely simultaneously taking
steps to safeguard his market share. In a few months, Parle's products will be launched in
250 ml instead the current 200 ml. The indications are that the company will hold the
price line. Incidentally, both Pepsi and Coke (if it finally gets in) will cost more than
local brands because of the 300% duly on the imported ingredients. However, this
scenario was taking place pre-liberalization period and hence implied a very high duty on
imported items.

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Entry of Pepsi and Coke in India or their proposals were at that time being opposed
because of the impact of first - strike on the minds of consumers. If Coca-Cola is
allowed an easy and quick entry through a window established by the government, there
can be no justification for denying similar access to Pepsi Co.
Basically what was wrong at that time with the Coke proposal was that while the Pepsi
deal could go through under the camouflage of horticultures and agriculture development
as their proposal stated, a pure soft drinks project was not so politically palatable (as it
would greatly hamper the indigenous industry).
Coke had plans, to invest $ 20 million in India and Pepsi was going to pump in Rs. 300
crore more. Ramesh Chauhan greatest compulsion, to 90 in for the 2nd option was that
many of his biggest bottlers were preparing to desert him for Coke, .since the bottlers
accounted for nearly one-third of Parle's sales. Parle's biggest bottles in the Easter
region,. Goenka, accounted for 80% market share in Calcutta, felt that the future lay with
Coca-Cola, no Indian company had the financial muscle to take on Coke.
Also, there was the most convincing factor for the tie-up, that Parle's Position in the
Indian soft drinks market and Coca-Cola's marketing strengths and experience would
make an unbeatable combination. At that time according to the world’s most popular and
well known magazine, Fortune, had rated Coke as the world's best brand. Even Coke
would greatly benefit from the tie-up, as Coke with Parle’s wide spread bottling and
distribution network, which was spread over more than a thousand towns and cities and
the gradual withdraw of Parle brand would ensure Coke would be the king. Parle's best
known brands include Thums Up, Limca, Citra and others were GOLD SPOT and
Maaza.

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The biggest advantage to Parle from the tie-up would be an instant gain of $ 40 million,
which could be used profitably in other ventures.
According to a report the deal was that, Parle Exports had transferred the rights of all its
reputed soft drinks brands to Coca-Cola company, USA. In short, Coca-Cola Company
became the exclusive owner of Thums Up, Limca, Gold Spot, Citra and Maaza and could
therefore, withdraw them from the market whenever it would want to.
Under the agreement, the existing bottlers of Parle Exports would continue to produce
Parle brands under the licence from the Coca-Cola company. The U.S. Multinational
proposed to introduce its international brands -Coke, Fanta and Sprite at an appropriate
time. The Parle bottlers will be bottling these Coco - Cola brands also. The exact nature
of Parle, Coca-Cola tie-up is given below :
So, Ramesh Chauhan, sold his soft drink brands of the U.S. Multinatinal for ($ 40
million) and is presently a major Coke bottler. Delhi - based Parle Chairman gave up his
ownership of his soft drinks brand (Thums Up, Limca, Citra and Gold Spot) and was
awarded the bottling franchisee for Delhi, Bombay, Surat and Ahmedabad. Coke depends
on the 54 bottling plants which it was inherited from the Parle by out.
So, logically all brands of Parle as well as Coca-Cola will be marketed together. The only
problem being that Parle bottlers would not be able to meet the peculiar quality
requirements of Coke.
Model of Brand Selection
 Customer buys on value
 Value equals quality relative to price

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 Quality includes all non-price attributes that count in the purchase decision
 Product
 Customer service
 Quality, price and value, are not absolute, but relative to competitors.
Quality Product
Value Customer Service
Price
Fig. 1
ASSUMPTIONS
 Improvements in perceived quality in turn lead to high market share and market
leaders spend to build their franchise.
 Companies spend a larger share of their sales income on advertising and tend to be
much more profitable than companies that spend less.
 Brands that spend a much larger than average share of their sales on advertising earn
an average return on investment of 32% while brands that advertise much less than
their competitors average only 17%.
 Increases in advertising expenditure are closely correlated with gains in master share
(even after adjusting for the effects of other factors).
 Sales promotions like price-off, etc. has no significant correlation with market share
changes(only its effect on consumer behaviour is observed).

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 To some extent companies with high, quality simply have more to say in their
advertising, so they are likely to spend more money saying it.
 Market-perceived quality is a more important measure of competitiveness than
market share for 2 bey reasons :
1. Most market leaders had to develop quality leadership to achieve their large share
position superior quality is the base upon which market leadership is usually built.
2. Generally according to data, business that begin with a large share of the market tend
to lose share. By contrast, those that begin with superior quality tend to hold or gain
share.
Therefore, market share is often a lagging indicator of a company's performance; quality
is the clear key to success.
Pepsi is a perfect example, since it came to India in 1989 with a market share of 0% it
now in 1998 enjoys a share of 45.2% in the market.
But in case of soft drink, the 2 Cola giants Pepsi and Coke cannot to a great extent
differentiate on their brands (but of course in terms of taste and fizz), a lot has to be spent
on’ ads, packaging and promotion, i.e., making it more easily available.
Coke attributes its success to bottlers, the Coca Cola system itself, i.e., its executive
committees, employees, BOD, company presidents but above all from the consumer.
Coke's red color catches attention easily and also the Diet Coke which it introduced was
taking the Cake, as Pepsi has not come out with this in India.

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Ever since Coke's entry in India in 1993, Coke made a come back (after quitting in 1977),
in October 24 in Agra, the city was flooded by trucks, there wheelers, tricycle cards-all
with huge red Coke-emblazoned umbrellas. Retailers were displaying their Coke bottles
in distinctive racks, also with specially-designed iceboxes to keep Coke bottles cold.
This was one big jolt to Pepsi.

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MARKETING MIX
WHAT IS A MARKETING MIX?
It is a set of controllable tactical marketing tools - product, price, place & promotion -
that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market.
THE FOUR PS OF THE MKT’S MIX
Fig. 2
Effective marketing would be blending the marketing mix elements into a coordinated
programme designed to achieve the company’s marketing objective by delivering value
to consumers.
PRODUCT
Product Variety
Quality
Designs
Features
Brand name
Packaging
Sizes
Services
Warranties
Returns
PRICE
List Price
MRP
Discounts
Allowances
Pay Period
CR Terms
PROMOTION
Advertising
Personal Selling
Sales Promotion
Public Relation
PLACE
Channels
Coverage
Assortments
Locations
Transportation
Logistics
TARGET
CUSTOMERS
INTENDED
POSITIONING

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Cola - Cola has always worked upon their marketing mix tools since its entry into India
and Coke’s objective has been to strengthen their brand in important segments of the
market and to gain a competitive edge over Pepsi brands.
MARKETING MIX OF COKE
PRODUCT
Coke was launched in India in Agra, October 24, in '93', soon after its traditional all
Indian launch of its Cola. at the sparking new bottling plants at Hathra, near Agra. Coke
was back with a bang after its exit in 1977.
Coke was planning to launch in next summer the orange drink, Fanta-with the clear
lemon drink, sprite, following later in the year.
Coke already owns more brands than it will over need, since it has bought out Ramesh
Chauhan. Coke just needs to juggle these brands around dextrously to meet its
objectives, to ensure that Pepsi does not gain market share in the process.
For if a vacuum develops, it is Pepsi which has the brand muscle and the distribution
network to grab customers today-not Coke. But Coke could not reduce its marketing
support for Thums Up until its own Cola would hit the four major metros (Delhi.
Bombay, Calcutta and Madras) Therefore, Coke had to give its existing levels of support
for Parle's brands and would push Thums Up and Limca. Coke has plans to' use quality
and hygiene as USPs. Their aim seems to be to expand market by market, Learning from
their mistakes.
In, 1998 Coke's product line includes, Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Fanta, Gold Spot, Maaza,
Citra, Sprite, Bisleri Club Soda and Diet Coke.

33
PACKAGING
Coca-Cola India Limited (CCIL) has bottled its Cola drink in different sizes and different
packaging i.e., 200 ml bottle, 300 ml. Bottle, 330 ml. Cans, 500 ml. Bottle fountain
Pepsi, and bottles of 1 and 1.5 ltr
PRODUCT POSITIONING
One important thing must be noticed that Thums Up is a strong brand in western and
southern India, while Coca Cola is strong in Northern and Eastern India. With volumes of
Thums Up being low in the capital, there are likely chances of Coca Cola slashing the
prices of Thums Up to Rs. 5 and continue to sell Coca Cola at the same rate. Analysts
feel that this strategy may help Coke since it has 2 Cola brands in comparison to Pepsi
which has just one.
Thums Up accounts for 40% of Coca Cola company's turn over, followed by Coca Cola
which has a 23% share and Limca which accounts for 17% of the turn over of the
company. (Thums up being the local drink, its share in the market is intact, forcing the
company to service the brand, as it did last year Mr. Donald short CEO, Coca Cola India,
said that, " we will be absolutely comfortable if Thums Up is No. 1 brand for us in India
in the year 2005. We will sell whatever consumers wants us to". Coca Cola India has
positioned Thums up as a beverage associated with adventure because of its strong taste
and also making it compete with Pepsi as even Pepsi is associated with adventure, youth.

34
PORTER'S FIVE FORCES MODEL OF COCA COLA
BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS
Fig 3
Most of the ingredients needed for beverages and snacks are basic commodities such as
potatoes, flavor, color, caffeine sugar, packaging etc. So the producers of these
commodities have no bargaining power over the pricing for this reason; the suppliers in
this industry are weak.
1. Bargaining Power of Buyers
Buyers in this industry have the bargaining power, because main source of the revenue
and market share in beverage and food industry are fast food fountain, convenience stores
food stores vending etc. The profit margins in each of these segments noticeably
demonstrate the buyer power and how special buyers pay diverse prices based on their
power to bargain.

35
2. Threat of New Entrant
There are many factors that make it hard for new player to enter the beverage
industry some of important factors are brand image and loyalty, advertising
expense, bottling network, retail distribution fear of retaliation and global supply chain.
3.Brand Image / Loyalty
Pepsi and Coke continuously focusing on increasing their biggest beverage and
food products, they has built some of the globe’s strongest brands that are loved by
consumers throughout the world. Innovative Marketing has leveraged their worldwide
brand-building strength to attach with consumers in significant ways and impel the
growth globally. These all campaign results in higher amount of loyal customer’s and
strong brand equity throughout the world. In 2011, Coca-Cola was declared the world’s
most valuable brand according to Interbrand’s best global brand. This makes it
impossible for new entrance to enter the beverage industry easily.
4.Advertising Spend
Cock and Pepsi has very effective advertising campaign, their advertising also represent
the cultures of different countries. They also sponsor different games and teams and also
featured in countlesstelevision programs and films. The marketing and advertising
expense was approximately $ 15 billion. This makes landscape very harder for
new players to succeed.

36
5. Bottling Network
Pepsi and Coca Cola have live and exclusive contracts with bottler’s that have privileges
in all over the world. These franchise agreements or contracts forbid bottler’s from
keeping competitor’s brands. Coke has the world's largest beverage distribution network;
consuming in more than 200 countries enjoys the Coke’s beverages at an average of
nearly 1.6 billion servings a day. Coca-Cola is sold in restaurants, vending machine and
stores in more than 200 countries. PepsiCo has adopted the globe’s most powerful “go-
to-market systems”, serving more than 10 million outlets a week by operating greater
than 100,000 different routes, and producing more than $300 million in retail sales per
day. They have also purchased some of the bottlers, this makes difficult for new players
to get bottler contracts or to build their bottling plants.
6. Retail Distribution
Coke and Pepsi offers 16 to 21 percent margins to retailers for the space they present.
These margins are substantial for retailers and this makes it very hard for the new player
to persuade retailer’s to carry their products.
7.Fear of Retaliation
It is very difficult for new player to enter in this industry because; they will be highly
retaliating by local players in local markets and in global scenario they have to face the
duopoly of Coke and Pepsi. This ultimately could result in price war which affects the
new player.

37
8. Global Supply Chain
Cock Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and nonprofit TechnoServe initiated a partnership
to facilitate more than 50,000 small fruit farmers in Kenya Uganda to increase their
productivity and double their incomes by 2014. Coke has significant opportunities within
global supply chain to encourage and develop more sustainable practices to benefit
consumers, customers and suppliers. While; it is still in the premature stages of exploring
these opportunities and dedicated to the economic vitality and health of the farming
communities our supply chain engages. Pepsi promotes and support sustainable
agriculture not only because it makes good business sense, it purchase million tons of
potatoes and fruits.
9. Threat of Substitute Products
Large numbers of substitutes are available in the market such as water, tea, juices coffee
etc. But firms counter them with innovative marketing and massive advertising which
build growth for their brands by highlighting their benefits. Players also differentiate
themselves by well-known global trade marks, brand equity and availability of the
products which most of the substitute products can not contest. To protect themselves
from competition players in soft drink industry offer Diversify products such as such as
Pepsi offers soft drinks (Pepsi, Slice, Mountain Dew), beverages (Tropicana Juices, Dole
Juices, Lipton tea, Aquafina bottled water, Sport drinks, Tropicana Juices), Snacks (Rold
Gold pretzels and Frito-Lay). Coke also offers most diversified range of products such as
Cola-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Vanilla, Diet Coke, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Caffeine-
Free Coca-Cola and range of lime or coffee and lemon.

38
10. Competitive Rivalry within an Industry
Beverage industry competition can be classified as a Duopoly with Pepsi and Coca Cola.
Themarket share of other competitors is too low to encourage any price wars. Cola-Cola
gets competitive advantage through the well-known global trade marks by achieving the
premium prices. It means Cola-Cola have something that their competitors do not have.
While Pepsi has leveraged its worldwide brand-building strength to attach with
consumers in significant ways and impel the growth globally

39
PEST ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA COMPANY
As the leading beverages company in the world, Coca Cola almost monopolizes the
entire carbonated beverages segment. Beside it, Coca Cola also maintain their reputation
as the leading company in the world using PEST Analysis so that Coca Cola can examine
the macro-environment of Coca Cola’s operations.
Political
When Coca Cola had decided to enter a country to distribute the products, Coca Cola was
monitoring the policies and regulations of each country. For the example, when entering
Moslems country such as Indonesia or Malaysia, Coca Cola followed the regulation by
adding “Halal” stamp in each Coca Cola’s products. In this case, Coca Cola has no
political issues in this matter.
Economic
Coca Cola also has low growth in the market for carbonated beverages (North America).
The market growth was 1% in 2004. For stimulating the growth, Coca Cola had spent
high budget of advertisement to endorse the customers.
Social
Nowadays, customers tend to change their lifestyle. Customers more aware about health
consciousness by reducing in drinking carbonated beverages to prevent diabetes or other
diseases. As a result, Coca Cola’s demand for carbonated beverages has decreased and
the revenues also decreased. Thus, Coca Cola diversify the products by adding

40
production lines in tea (Nestea), juices (Minute Maid), mineral water (Dasani and Ades),
and sport drinks (Powerade), and others.
Technological
Because of the developing technology, Coca Cola has advanced technology in producing
the products. Then, Coca Cola made innovations by giving flavors to the Coke, such as
Cherry Coke, Diet Coke, Coca Cola Zero, Coke with Lime, and others. But, the
customers still prefer the original taste of traditional Coke; it can be seen by the high
demands in traditional Coke.

41
MARKETING MIX OF COCA-COLA
Firstly, we will look at how Coca-Cola has used their marketing mix. The marketing mix
is divided up into 4 parts; product, price, promotions and place.
1. Product:
The product (Coca-Cola soft drink) includes not just the liquid inside but also the
packaging. On the product-service continuum we see that a soft drink provides little
service, apart from the convenience. Soft drinks satisfy the need of thirst. However,
people are always different, some want more and others want less. Therefore Coca-Cola
has made allowances for that by providing many sizes. We also have particular tastes,
and again they have provided several options. So, although thirst is what is needed to be
satisfied and that is the core benefit, we are receiving other benefits in the taste and size.
Coca-Cola has developed several different flavours and sizes as mentioned above, but
also several brands such as Sprite, Lift, Fanta and Diet Coke which increase the product
line length, thus making full use of the market to maximize sales.
The product is convenient, that is - bought frequently, immediately, and with a minimum
of comparison and buying effort.The appearance of the product is eye catching with the
bright red colour. It has a uniquely designed bottle shape that fits in your hand better,
and creates a nicer & more futuristic look.
The quality of the soft drink is needed to be regularly high. Sealed caps ensure that none
of the "fizz" is lost. The bottles are light, with flexible packaging, so they won't crack or

42
leak, and are not too heavy to casually walk around with. The cans are also light and
safe.
The product range of Coca-Cola includes:
 Coca-Cola,
 Coca-Cola classic,
 Caffeine free Coca-Cola,
 Diet Coke
 Caffeine free diet Coke,
 Diet Coke with lemon
 Vanilla Coke,
 Diet Vanilla Coke,
 Cherry Coke,
 Diet Cherry Coke,
 Fanta brand soft drinks,
 Sprite,
 Diet Sprite
 Sprite Remix
The markets where Coke is a dominant player are United States of America, Europe and
Asia, Africa. There is a vast difference in terms of above given phases for example, in
U.S.A & Europe it has reached maturity stage where it can’t expand its market more but
if we consider Asia, it is still in the growth phase.

43
2. Price:
Like any company who has successfully endured a century of existence, Coca- Cola has
had to remain tremendously fluent with their pricing strategy. They have had the
privilege of a worthy competitor constantly driving them to be smarter, faster, and better.
A quote from Pepsi Co's CEO "The more successful they are, the sharper we have to be.
If the Coca-Cola Company didn't exist, we'd pray for someone to invent them." states it
simply. The relationship between Coca-Cola & Pepsi is a healthy one that each
corporation has learned to appreciate.
Throughout the years Coca-Cola has made many pricing decisions but one might say that
their ultimate goal has always been to maximize shareholder value. As Cola consumption
has decreased in the US Colas have come to realize the untapped international market. In
2003 both Coke and Pepsi had a solid presence in India and had each introduced a
300mL
bottle. In order to grab market share Pepsi began to drop prices (even with summer
approaching, which was contrary to policy in America). Shortly thereafter, Coca-Cola
decided to drop their prices slightly, but focused on the reduced price point of their
200mL container. Coca- Cola planned to use the lower price point to penetrate new cities
that were especially price sensitive. The carbonated soft drink market in India is nearly
37% of the total beverage market there.
This low price strategy was not unfamiliar to Coca-Cola. Both Coke & Pepsi utilized a
low price strategy in the early 1990s. After annihilating the low price store brands, Coke
chose to reposition itself as a "Premium" brand and then raise prices.

44
Coca-Cola products would appear, on the shelf, to have the most expensive range of soft
drinks common to supermarkets, at almost double the cost of no name brands. This can
be for several reasons apart from just to cover the extra costs of promotions, for which no
name brands do without. It creates consumer perceptions and values. When people buy
Coca-Cola they are not just buying the beverage but also the image that goes with it,
therefore to have the price higher reiterates the fact that the product is of a better quality
than the rest and that the consumer is not cheap. This is known as value-based pricing
and is used by many other industries in attracting consumers.
In India, the average income of a rural worker is Rs.500 a month. Coca Cola launched a
200 ml bottle for just Rs.5, an affordable amount on the pockets of the rural audience.
3. Place
Coca-Cola entered foreign markets in various ways. The most common modes of entry
are direct exporting, licensing and franchising.
Besides beverages and their special syrups, Coca-Cola also directly exports its
merchandise to overseas distributors and companies. Other than exporting, the company
markets internationally by licensing bottlers around the world and supplying them with
the syrup needed to produce the product.
There are different types of franchising. The type that is used by Coca-Cola Company is
manufacturer-sponsored wholesaler franchise system. It is very comparable to licensing
but the only difference is that the finished products are sold to the retailers in local
market. Coca Cola has managed their company’s marketing and sales strategy within
channels. Have you ever considered the significance of the Coke vending machine to the

45
success and profitability of the Coca Cola company? This channel is direct to consumer
and vending machines often have little to no competition and no trade or price
promotions.
The Coke Company operates three primary delivery systems for its business channels:
 Bulk delivery for the channels of large Supermarkets, Mass Merchandisers and
Club stores;
 For smaller channels Coke does advanced sale delivery for convenience stores,
drug stores, small supermarkets and on-premise fountain accounts.
 Full service delivery for its full service vending customers.
Key Channel Listing
 Supermarkets
 Convenience Stores
 Fast Food
 Petroleum Retailers
 Hotels/Motels/Resorts

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PROMOTION STRATEGIES
GETTING SHELVES
They get or purchase shelves in big departmental stores and display their products in that
shelves in that style which show their product more clear and more attractive for the
consumers.
EYE CATCHING POSITION
Salesman of the Coca Cola company positions their freezers and their products in eye-
catching positions. Normally they keep their freezers near the entrance of the stores.
SALE PROMOTION
Company also do sponsorships with different college and school’s cafes and sponsors
their sports events and other extra curriculum activities for getting market share.
UTC SCHEME
UTC mean under the crown scheme, Coca Cola often do this type of scheme and they
offer very handy prizes in it. Like once they offer bicycles, caps, tv sets, cash prizes etc.
This scheme is very much popular among children.
DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Coca Cola Company makes two types of selling
1. Direct selling
2. Indirect selling

47
Direct Selling
In direct selling they supply their products in shops by using their own transports. They
have almost 450 vehicles to supply their bottles. In this type of selling company have
more profit margin.
Indirect Selling
They have their whole sellers and agencies to cover all area. Because it is very difficult
for them to cover all area of Pakistan by their own so they have so many whole sellers
and agencies to assure their customers for availability of Coca Cola products.
FACILITATING THE PRODUCT BY INFRASTRUCTURE
For providing their product in good manner company has provided infrastructure these
includes:
 Vizi cooler
 Freezers
 Display racks
 Free empty bottles and shells for bottles
ADVERTISEMENT
Coca Cola Company use different mediums
 Print media
 Pos material
 Tv commercial

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PRINT MEDIA
They often use print media for advertisement. They have a separate department for print
media.
POS Material
Pos material mean point of sale material this includes: posters and stickers display in the
stores and in different areas.
TV COMMERCIALS
As everybody know that TV is a most common entertaining medium so TV commercials
is one of the most attractive way of doing advertisement. So Coca Cola Company does
regular TV commercials on different channels.
BILLBOARDS AND HOLDINGS
Coca Cola is very much conscious about their billboards and holdings. They have so
many sites in different locations for their billboards.

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COMPARING THE MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COKE WITH
PEPSI
Coca-Cola India and Pepsi India are locked in a bitter battle for market share. So far
Pepsi has won, outselling Coke 27.1% to 10.8% (All India Market Share) But Coke's new
strategy adopted in India which gives Thums Up the local brand it acquired in 1993-94
from Parle exports - top marketing priority which would hurt Pepsi in the long run.
COKE'S STRATEGIC MOVE SINCE 1993
Four years after it entered the Rs. 1,800 crore Indian soft drinks market, Coca-Cola is
finally waking up to reality and duplicating the strategy of arch rival Pepsi. In these four
years the company has successfully managed to fritter away the 69 per cent market share
of -the five Parle brands -- Thums Up, Limca, Citra, Gold Spot and Maaza -- which it
bought from the Chauhan brothers. Wrong strategy : trying to push only its US brand,
ignoring the Indian-acquired brands and failing to strike a chord with Indian consumers
by not using localised advertising campaigns.
Donald Short, CEO of Coca Cola India. Mr. Short is trying to achieve what his
predecessors, Jaydev Raja and Richard P. Nicholas Ill, could not. His new mantra: do in
India as Pepsi does( as the famous saying at Coke Atlanta, do as the Atlantans do). Like
Pepsi, Coke has started sponsoring local events and staging frequent consumer promotion
campaigns. It has started picking up equity stakes in its bottlers to guarantee them
financial support though its bullying tactics on paying compensation have drawn sharp
criticism. It has finally started releasing locally-created ads, using Indian idiom to strike
a chord with consumers. And finally it has started pushing its strike a chord with

50
consumers. And finally it has started pushing its Indian brands -- led by Thums Up -
instead of focusing on only its flagship. After years of eating, sleeping and drinking
movies, cricket and Coke, Coca-Cola is finally waking up to the strength of the local
brands that it took over from Ramesh Chauhan in 1994. When Coca-Cola came to, India
it had hoped to continue its legendary rivalry with Pepsi world-wide and it was expected
that the India would fade out. So Coca-Cola pushed its own brand. But somebody forgot
to narrate the same script to Indian consumers who insisted that they wanted their thunder
back. Coca-Cola has now reconciled to the fact that Thums Up and Limca are the two
most popular soft drink brands in India, especially in the western and southern regions.
Keeping this in mind the company has lined up an aggressive marketing campaign to
push the two brands in the domestic market.
Mr. Short's new strategy, Thums Up contributes 40 per cent of Coca-Cola India’s
turnover while Limca accounts for another 17 per cent. Coke itself accounts for 23 per
cent. The balance comes from Coke's other brands, including Fanta. Citra and Maaza.
In terms of all-India market share. Thums Up has 16 per cent whereas Coke has 10.8 per
cent. As much as 30 per cent to 35 per cent of Coca-Cola India’s expenditure in 1998 will
be devoted to promoting Thums Up. Limca will command 15 per cent to 18 per cent,
marginally lower than the 20 per cent to 25 per cent which will be spent on promoting
Coke.
Despite being a global brand, Pepsi has built its success on meeting the Indian
consumer's needs, particularly in terms of making the brand synchronize with localized
events and traditions. By offering free Pepsi with idli it tried to beat Thums Up and Coke
in the south. In Calcutta, where Coke always has a large hold, Pepsi linked itself with

51
neighborhood cricket tournaments. In Delhi it associated itself with Holi and offered free
colour sachets with Pepsi bottles. Says Mr. Sinha, CEO of Pepsi : “We recruited local
salesmen to sell our products since to sell consumer products you need local experience.”
That is why Pepsi's events such as the Spot the Mirinda Man contest was such a huge
success.
By contrast, Coke deliberately chose to bring in expatriates. Instead of trying to create a
bond with customers with low impact activities it resorted to high impact activities like
sponsoring the World Cup and the Olympics 'in 1996. But unfortunately none of these
helped it to raise its customer base despite the high advertising spend. In fact Pepsi
benefited more by releasing the “Nothing Official About It” campaign during the same
period. While Pepsi's market share rose from 24 per cent to 26.50 per cent in just two
months after the World Cup, Coke's increased from 12 per cent to just 12.5 per cent.
Coke's lack of freedom to take any decision independently of its Atlanta headquarters
was also one of the major reasons why it has not been as nimble-footed as Pepsi in
evolving marketing strategy in a rapidly changing industry. Flexibility is the weapon
which Coca-Cola has lacked since all controls are vested with Atlanta. Coke's trade
promotions have followed a predictable pattern, offering fat margins to retailers for a
limited period of time -- without exploring alternatives that raise the level of involvement
for the seller as well as the consumer.
In sharp contrast, flexibility has always been one of the most important weapons in the
hands of Pepsi Company India. Every manager and salesperson has the authority to take
whatever steps he or she feels will make consumers aware of the brand and increase its
consumption.

52
Says Mr. Sinha : “AII we do is give people a budget in which they have to work. How
they go about is completely up to them. We are performance oriented and look at only
results, not at the methods adopted to get those results.”
The biggest thorn in Coke's strategy has been its long and bitter battle with its bottlers.
The conflicts have finally settled down to a pattern that reflect its global experience.
Coca-Cota India is floating two subsidiaries, Bharat Coca-Cola and Hindustan Coca-Cola
which will act as holding companies for most of its bottling operations. Thus giving the
transnational ownership and control over this crucial part of its operations. Earlier the
company had made the mistake of demanding huge investments from its bottlers without
worrying about the returns, assuming that they would be willing to sustain losses as long
as Coca-Cola did. In the process, it alienated the former Parle franchisees, the Chauhans.
According to Mr. Chauhan there is a big difference between the kind of investments
Coke has in mind and the kind of investments made by him. Coca-Cola is now in the
process of buying out bottling plants located in Patna and Kanpur, to of its important
northern markets. Mr. Sinha reveals his relations with the bottlers by saying that they are
his partners and the management listens to them, which Coke last year failed to do.
Every member of Pepsi's sales team is meticulously taught the merchandising and display
skills that can leverage the reach of the company's bottling network to achieve high
visibility for the product. Thus Pepsi Company India has used its eight years in India to
develop a relationship with its bottlers that enables it to work in tandem with them. If
Mr. Short can now adopt Pepsi's method of transferring the transnational's expertise to its
bottlers, his brands will benefit.

53
Pricing is another factor in which Pepsi has always had the edge. Pepsi has consistently
used its pricing strategy as an invitation to sample, aiming to turn trial into addiction. It
launched the 1996, its 1.5 liter bottle followed Coke into the market share at Rs. 30 -- Rs.
5 less than Coke's. In both cases, Pepsi raised the price once consumption stabilized,
counting on habit to compensate for the price hike. Coke initially carbon-copied the
strategy by introducing its 330ml. cans in January 1996 at an invitation price of Rs. 15
before raising it to Rs. 18. Mr. Short is now using a lower-priced smaller-sized version
the gain consumers. The 200 ml. Coke launched (so far) in parts of eastern, western and
northern India is priced at Rs. 6, lowering entry-barriers.
According to officials, by launching Thums Up and Limca in a big way, Coke will gain
lost ground. The twin-brand strategy, will help Coke play the pricing game against its
competitors. In the west and east, where Thums Up has a dominant market share, the
multinational will slash the price of Coke which constitutes only a minor share in the
overall volume. A reverse strategy will be followed in the north and south where Coke
sells more then Thums Up.

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BRAND LOYALTY
From a marketing strategy viewpoint, brand loyalty is a very important concept.
Particularly in today's low-growth and highly competitive market-place, retaining brand-
loyal customers is critical for survival; and it is often a more efficient strategy than
attracting new customers. Indeed, it is estimated that it costs the average company six
times more to attract a new customer than to hold a current one. Brand loyalty is often
thought of as an internal commitment to purchase and repurchase a particular brand. As
a behavior phenomenon brand loyalty is simply repeat purchase behavior.
Both cognitive and behavior approaches to studying brand loyalty have value. We define
brand loyalty as repeat purchase intentions and behaviors. While the major focus of our
discussion is on brand loyalty as a behavior, we want to emphasize that cognitive
processes strongly influence the development and maintenance of this behavior.
Brand loyalty may be the result of extensive cognitive activity and decision marking.
Brand-loyal behavior may occur without the consumer ever comparing alternative
brands. Decisions have to be made about where and when to purchase the product; some
knowledge of the product and its availability must be activated from memory; intentions
to purchase ft and satisfaction influence the purchase behaviors.
The market for a particular brand could be analyzed in terms of the number of consumers
in each category, and strategies could be developed to enhance ibe brand loyalty of
particular groups.
i) Undivided brand loyalty is, of course, an ideal. In some cases, consumers may
purchase only a single brand and forego purchase if it is not available.

55
ii) Brand loyalty with an occasional Swatch is likely to be more common, though.
Consumers may switch occasionally for a variety of reasons: their usual brand
may be out of stock, a new brand may come on the market and tried once, a
competitive brand is offered at a special low price, or a different brand is
purchased for a special occasion.
iii) Brand-loyalty switches are a competitive goal in low-growth or declining markets.
However, switching loyalty from one to another of the brands of the same firm
can be advantageous.
iv) Divided brand loyalty refers to consistent purchase of two or more brands.
v) Brand indifference refers to purchases with no apparent repurchase pattern. This
is the opposite extreme from undivided brand loyalty. While we suspect total
brand indifference is not common, some consumers of some products may exhibit
this pattern.
Developing a high degree of brand loyalty among consumers is an important goal of
marketing strategy. Yet the rate of usage by various consumers cannot be ignored. For
simplicity, we have divided the dimensions into four categories of consumers rather than
consider each dimension as a continuum.

56
Brand Loyalty and Usage Rate
Fig.4
The above figure shows that achieving brand-loyal consumers is most valuable when the
consumers are also heavy users. This figure could also be used as a strategic toot by
plotting consumers of both the firm's brands and competitive brands on the basis of brand
loyalty and usage rates. Depending on the location of consumers and whether they are
loyal to the firm's brand or a competitive one, several strategies might be useful;
1. If the only profitable segment is the brand-loyal heavy user, focus on switching
consumer loyalty to the firm's brands.
2. If there is a sufficient number of brand-loyal light users, focus on increasing their
usage of the firm's brand.
3. If there is a sufficient number of brand-indifferent heavy users, attempt to make the
firm's brand name a salient attribute and/or develop a new relative advantage.
Brand Loyalty
Brand - loyal,
Heavy users
Brand-Loyal,
Light Users
Light Usage
Brand-Indifferent,
light users
Brand-Indifferent,
heavy-users
Heavy Usage
Brand Indifference

57
4. If there is a sufficient number of brand-indifferent light users, attempt to make the
firm's brand name a salient attribute and increase usage of the firm's brand among
consumers, perhaps by finding a sustainable relative advantage.
5. It is also important to plot consumers of competitive brands to develop
appropriate strategies. If a single competitor dominates the brand-loyal heavy-
user market and has too much market power to be overcome, then strategies may
have to be focused on other markets.

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COCA-COLA VS PEPSI IN INDIA
Coca-Cola controlled the Indian market until 1977, when the Janta Party beat the
Congress party of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. To punish Coca-Cola's Principal
bottler, a Congress party stalwart and long live Gandhi supporter, the Janata government
demanded that Coca-Cola transfer in syrup formuale to an Indian subsidiary
(Chakravarty, 43). Coca-Cola backed and withdrew from the country. India, now left
without both Coca-Cola and Pepsi, became a protected market. In the meantime, India's
two target soft drink producers have gotten rich and lazy while controlling 80% of the
Indian market. These domestic producers have little incentive to expand their plants or
develop the country's potentially enormous market. Some analyst reason that the Indian
market may be more lucrative that the Chinese market, India has 850 million potential
customers, 150 millions of whom comprise the middle class, with disposable income to
spend on Cars, VCRs and Computers. The Indian middle class is growing at 10% per
year, to obtain the license for India, Pepsi had to export $5 of locally made products for
every $1 of materials it imported, and it had to agree to help the Indian government to
initiate a second agricultural revolution. Pepsi has also had to take an Indian partners. In
the end, all Parties involved seem to come out ahead. Pepsi gain access to potentially
enormous market, Indian bottlers will get to serve a market that is expanding rapidly
because of competition from abroad and will pay lower prices. Even before the first
bottle of Pepsi hit the shelves, local soft drink manufacturer increased the size of their
bottles by 25% without raising costs.

59
SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT Analysis of Soft Drink Industry in relation to Coke
Strengths
 Carbonated soft drink growth 10-15%
 Estimated PCC to increase to 6-8 bottles
Weaknesses
 Weak infrastructure (esp. Cooling)
 Small retailers, less shelf space
 Heavy excise duty (40%), recently have
come down a little
 Cans have to be imported at high duty
rates.
 Problems of empty bottles
Opportunities
 Low PCC as compared to neighboring
countries
 Growing rural market internecine
competition
 Rising disposable income
 Changing consumer trends due to
satellite TV.
Threats
 Political risks
 Coke and Pepsi indulging in

60
ANALYSIS
1. Have you ever tried the product (Coca-Cola)?
Sno Option Out of Response Percentage (%)
1 Yes 50 33 66
2 No 50 17 34
Table 1
Fig5
Out of the 50 people we surveyed, 33 of them said they had tried Coca-Cola at least
once and 17 have not tried
Yes
No

61
2. How do you like the product?
1 Very much 50 30 60
2 It’s not bad 50 15 30
3 Bad 50 5 10
Table 2
Fig6
From the analysis,itwasfoundthatmajorityof 60% (30 people) respondentssaidthey
enjoyeddrinkingCoca-Colaand30%(15 people) saidit’snotbadand rest 10% (5 people)
whosaidtheypreferredotherdrinks
Very much
It's not bad
Bad

62
3. What brand would you say is more popular among the public?
1 Coca Cola 50 19 38
2 Limca 50 8 16
3 Pepsi 50 18 36
4 Sprite 50 5 10
Table 3
Fig 7
As seen in the chart, out of 50 people, 19 respondents said, in their opinion, Coca-Cola
was more ,8 respondents said they preferred limca as a popular brand, 18 preferred Pepsi
as most popular, and rest 5 preffered Sprite as most popular
Coca Cola
limca
Pepsi
Sprite

63
4. Do you remember Coca Colas advertisements on TV?
1 Yes 50 32 64
2 No 50 18 36
Table 4
Fig8
The chart represents that a majority of 32 people thought the Advertisements were good
enough & they like what they see, and rest 18 did not remember
Yes
No

64
5. Would you join Coca Cola in near future ?
1 Yes 50 14 28
2 No 50 36 72
Table 5
Fig 9
The chart represents that a majority of 36 people will not work in Coca Cola company
and rest 14 would like to work in Coca Cola company in future
Yes
No

65
6. Do you think the price of Coca Cola is reasonable?
1 Yes 50 30 60
2 No 50 20 40
Table 5
Fig 10
As seen in the above figure, a majority of 30 people out of the 50 respondents
thought that the Coca-Cola price are slightly overpriced and rest 20 people find it
as a perfect price
Yes
No

66
7. If you were to see the Coca Cola logo somewhere would you recognize it?
1 Yes 50 50 100
2 No 50 0 0
Table 7
Fig 11
It is understood from the fact that the Logo of the Company still has its image in the
minds of the people with all the respondents saying they would recognize the “Coca-
Cola” Logo.
Yes
No

67
8. What influences your choice of soda?
1 Taste 50 8 16
2 Brand 50 8 16
3 Availability 50 6 12
4 Price 50 11 22
5 Quality 50 7 14
6 Popularity 50 10 20
Table 8
Fig 12
From the above figprice place an importantrole inchoice of soda,thenpopularitywith10
people outof 50 , taste and brandat equal levelwith8peple
Taste
Brand
Availability
Price
Quality
Popularity

68
9. How often do you buy the product?
1 Never 50 10 20
2 Few times a
week
50 16 32
3 Once/few time of
year
50 14 28
4 Everyday 50 10 20
Table 9
Fig 13
As it can be seen in the figure, it was concluded that majority of the respondents bought
the product few times a week . This shows the brand loyalty of the customers towards
Coca-Cola.
Never
Few times a week
Once/few times a year
Everyday

69
10. Where do you buy Coca-Cola products the most?
1 Super market 50 15 30
2 Restaurants 50 17 34
3 General stores 50 18 36
Table 10
Fig 14
As seen in the above chart, customers usually preferred to buy Coca-Cola in general
stores , The second largest option was restaurants and third was Super market
Super Market
Restaurants
General stores

71
SUGGESTIONS
The suggestion made in this section are based on the market study conducted as part of
“Coca Cola”
1. Perform a detail demand survey at regular interval to know about the unique needs and
requirement of the customer
2. The company should focus to bring some more flavors like health drinks and other low
calories offerings. Coca cola can also introduce some fruit based drinks , as t has enter
the energy drink arena with Burn
3. The company must keep a watch on it primary competitors in market in order to be
able to compete with them
4. The company should use a new attractive system of word of mouth advertisement to
keep alive the general awareness in the whole market
5.the company should always be in a position to received a continuous feedback and
suggestion from its customers as well as from the market and try to solve it without any
delay to established its own good credibility
6.A strong watch should be kept on its distributer so that the goodwill of the brand
doesn’t get affected

72
CONCLUSION
It was observed that Coca-Cola has been perceived quite positively as it has been
projected. People are aware of the Brand & Awareness of Coca-Cola is quite high in the
market. When a product is launched, avid Coke drinkers choose this soda over any other
competitor simply because it's a Coca-Cola product and they trust it. Although Coke has
been into controversies, people still prefer to stay loyal to the Brand with Coca-Cola
being termed as a more popular brand than Pepsi. Coca-Cola products would appear, on
the shelf, to have the most expensive range of soft drinks common to supermarkets, at
almost double the cost of no name brands. This can be for several reasons apart from just
to cover the extra costs of promotions, for which no name brands do without. When
people buy Coca-Cola they are not just buying the beverage but also the image that goes
with it, therefore to have the price higher reiterates the fact that the product is of a better
quality than the rest and that the consumer is not cheap. In supermarkets and convenience
stores Coca-Cola has their own fridge which contains only their products. There is little
personal selling, but that is made up for in public relations and corporate image. Coca-
Cola sponsors a lot of events including sports and recreational activities.

73
LIMITATION OF STUDY
The main purpose of the study is get idea about the preference of the customer toward
various coca cola product. But there are certain :-
Factors which affect this study they are as follow:-
1. Since the sample procedure is judgmental, the sample selected may not be true
representation of the population
2. Economic and market condition are very unpredicted (present and future)
3. The study was confined to New Delhi, D block Janak Puri due to which the result
cannot be applied to universally
4. It is only for short period of time.
5. Lack of professional approach since researcher is a student
6. The sample size is only 50 so the sample may not be truly

74
RECOMMENDATIONS OF STUDY
After completing our project I have concluded some recommendation for the Coca Cola
company, which are following.
 Coca Cola Company should try to emphasis more on providing their
infrastructure in the market to facilitate their customers.
 According to the survey, conducted by the international firm Pakistani people like
little bit sweeter Cola drink. So for this Coca Cola company should produce their
product according to the local demand.
 Marketing team should try to increase the availability of Coke in rural areas.
 They should also focus the old people.
 As Coca Cola is most purchased in general store so they should focus on small
retailer

75
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books & Magazines:
 Philip Kotler “Marketing Management” 11th edition
 Kothari “Research Methodology” 3rd edition
 T.N Chhabra “Principle of Marketing” edition
 Annual Report of coca-Cola company.
Websites:
 www.google.com
 www.coca-Colaindia.com
 www.altavista.com
 www.thecoca-colacompany.com
 www.india-server.com/
 www.news.bbc.co.uk/
 www.magindia.com/
 www.wikiinvest.com
 www.open2.net/

77
QUESTIONNAIRE
Hi this is Tanuj Singh, I am pursing BBA form IP University, I am working on a project
“MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COCA COLA” for grant of degree. I assure that I
will not revealed out your identity
Name:-
Age:- 15-20 30-35
20-25 35-above
25-30
Gender: - M F
1. Have you ever tried the product (Coca-Cola)?
a) Yes
b) No
2. How do you like the product?
a) Yes c) No
b) It’s not bad
3. What brand would you say is more popular among the public?
a) Coca-Cola c) Pepsi
b) Limca d) Sprite
4. Do you remember Coca Colas advertisements on TV?
a) Yes
b) No

78
5. Have you taken part in any marketing campaign of Coca Cola?
a) Yes
b) No
6. Do you think the price of Coca Cola is reasonable?
a) Yes
b) No
7. If you were to see the Coca Cola logo somewhere would you recognize it?
a) Yes
b) No
8. What influences your choice of soda?
a) Taste d) Price
b) Brand image e) Quality
c)Availability f)Popularity
9. How often do you buy the product?
a) Never b) Once/few times a year
c) Few times a week d) Everyday
10. Where do you buy Coca-Cola products the most?
a) Super Markets b) General stores
c) Restaurants
11. Any Suggestions
Thank you

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