Advertising, as the first aspect of the promotional mix, provides Coca-Cola with its communication strategy. Temporal notes that many of the big brands are now paying a lot more attention to digital branding and marketing strategies. For instance, Coca-Cola uses multiple platforms – it has its own corporate blog site and one for fan blogs, plus a social networking page on Facebook.
When it comes to personal selling, Coca-Cola produces advertisements that resonate with the lifestyle of the consumers. An example is when they used celebrities to communicate the product to various persons.
The sales promotion strategy for Coca-Cola is done through advertising on TV commercials as the primary mode. This has enabled them to control 59% of the world’s soft drink market.
Public relations at Coca-Cola are done through focus groups to help them understand consumer expectations. This was the same issue that caused Coca-Cola massive embarrassment when the company tried to introduce New Coke, but on testing people, it occurred that the consumers got used to drinking old-flavored Coke and did not want to buy the new drink.
In markets where competition is less, Coca-Cola resorts to direct marketing strategies. An example is in Africa, where they have a market share of 6%. Due to the low penetration rates of the internet, Coca-Cola uses catalog distribution and outdoor advertising as the primary means of brand communication.
Coca-Cola operates on a leveraged sales approach to mitigate possible losses accrued through different world markets. This is done through licensing bottlers who hold a contract to produce finished Coca-Cola products.