Brand Audit



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Lauren Fanning

Our mission: “To refresh the world, inspire moments of optimism and happiness, create value, and make a difference”

Table of Contents

Brand Inventory 3

Background 3

Category and Competition 3

Products within Category 5

Brand Analysis 7

Consumer Profile 8

Advertising/Marketing Communications 9

Media 9

Promotions 10

Internet and New Media 11

Brand Value 13

Brand Exploratory 14

Recommendations 14

Statement from Joe Tripodi 15

Works Cited 16

I. Brand Inventory

A. Background

The Coca-Cola Company was founded in 1886. The headquarters are located in midtown Atlanta, Georgia. The Chairman of the Board and Chief executive officer is Muhtar Kent, and has held that position since April 2009. The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation, manufacturer, retailer, and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. They distribute in more than 200 countries globally with 1.9 billion servings sold per day. They sell over 3,500 products world wide, 17 of those being billion dollar brands. The company has been responsible for 128 years of “happiness”.

The Coca-Cola Company is best known for its flagship product, Coca-Cola, which was invented in 1886 by John Stith Pemberten. Asa Griggs Candler, who incorporated the company in 1892, bought the syrup in 1889. They operate a franchised distribution where they sell syrup to various bottlers around the world. The Coca-Cola Company owns its anchor bottler, Coca-Cola Refreshments. Under the Coke brand name they have introduced various products like Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

The brand value is 79.2 billion. The global net operating revenue is 46,854 million. They had a 7% case volume growth globally. Coca-Cola also returned 8.5 billion in value to shareowners through dividends and net share repurchases, which means they have increased dividends now for 52 consecutive years. They were rated #3 on Interbrand’s Best Global Brands list for the past two years and are #4 of Fortune magazines most admired companies list. The Coca-Cola Company sold 28.2 billion cases and the flagship Coca-Cola sold a record volume of 11 billion of those cases this past year.

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B. Category and Competition

Coca-Cola is in the market of non-alcoholic beverage and syrup distribution. Coca-Cola Company’s market share in the U.S. is 42.2%, which is huge comparing to PepsiCo at 20.3%. Dr. Pepper and PepsiCo don’t even come close to the Coca-Cola Company’s market share, even though they are the main competitors. The market cap is $168.7 billion.

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The way Coca-Cola distributes their product is different than most. Coca-Cola is a franchised operation. The Atlanta headquarters takes care of the overall brand and marketing as well as product development. Each country has their own bottlers, which are generally separate legal entities. The MDC (Manual Distribution Centers) then deliver the products to the retailers where it is sold.

Coca-Cola does not necessarily spike in sales due to seasonality, but the holiday campaigns always make an impact on consumers. It emphasizes the warm and fuzzy feeling customers long for during the holidays and use Santa Clause or the cute Polar bears to share the “happiness” with the general public, which continues to solidify the iconic brand image.

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C. Products Within Category for the Coca-Cola Company

The main grossing products produced by the Coca-Cola Company include:

Coca-Cola: The flagship product that started it all in 1886 created by John Stith Pemberten. Coca-Cola is sold in over 200 countries. It has that classic taste and is what the company built themselves around.

Sprite: Sprite was introduced in 1961 and is the world’s leading lemon-lime flavored soft drink. It is sold in more than 190 countries and ranks as the #3 soft drink worldwide.

Fanta: Fanta was introduced in 1940 and is the second oldest brand of the Coca-Cola Company. It has a fruit based flavor, and although the orange is the most popular, you can find almost any fruit flavor depending where you are in the world. It is the second largest brand outside of the U.S. as well. The Fanta products (all flavors combined) are consumed more than 130 million times everyday globally.

Diet Coke: Diet Coke was introduced in 1982. It is a sugar free and calorie free soft drink. It was the first new brand since 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark. Diet Coke is available in 150 markets around the world.

Coke Zero: Coke Zero was introduced in 2005 and was created for young adults in mind. It has zero sugar and a more classic taste, compared to Diet Coke.

Dasani: Dasani is the Coca-Cola Company’s water, a part of satisfying all markets, and was introduced in 1999. They launched Dasani Drops to pair with it to add any flavor you desire to your water.

Minute Maid: Minute Maid is a line of juices that have been made for over 60 years.

Ciel: Ciel is a bottled mineral water that was introduced in 1996.

Powerade: Powerade was introduced in 1988. It combines carbohydrates, electrolytes, and fluids for energy and hydration. It is best used for an athletic drink and offers many different flavors as well as drops that can be added to your water.

Simply: The best example that is most known is the Simply-Orange orange juice and its benefits are that it is 100% juice with no additives.

Fresca: Fresca was introduced in 1966. It is a caffeine free citrus grapefruit drink.

Vitaminwater: Vitaminwater is water with bold, fruity flavors and added nutrition. It pioneered the enhanced water beverage category and is available in 26 countries.

Smart Water: Smart Water is different from others because of the way it is purified. The purification process is inspired by the natural hydrologic cycle and then electrolytes are added.

Honest Tea: Honest Tea is the nations #1 organic bottled tea and appeals to the health conscious.

NOS: NOS is the Coca-Cola Company’s energy drink. It is especially popular with auto enthusiasts because of its resemblance to an actual NOS can.

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There are a few new main products Coca-Cola is focusing on. Diet Coke FROST is the first frozen product offering in the brands history. Coca-Cola Life is also a new launch that has consumers very excited because it is part of the government and industry effort to tackle obesity. Since Coca-Cola Life is made with stevia, a new and healthy way of sweetening, the product contains 1/3 less calories and 1/3 less sugar than regular Coca-Cola. It has a green branding package that contrasts from the familiar red packaging. Pepsi is trying to compete with their version, calling it Pepsi True, which is also packaged in a green can. Coca-Cola also launched Powerade Zero drops that transform water to an on-the-go sports drink.

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The Coca-Cola Company focuses on innovation in 5 main areas;

1. Packaging: The iconic shape is synonymous with the brand, but often the cans are temporarily changed for the holidays or even fundraising for causes, such as protecting Polar bears.

2. Partnerships: Coca-Cola purchased a 16.7% company stake in the Monster Beverage Corporation. They plan to expand Monster’s distribution as well as Monster plans to help Coca-Cola crack the energy drink market further than their product NOS has. This long-term partnership will accelerate growth for both companies.

3. Cultural Leadership: Coca-Cola focuses on seven core values when hiring for any position at the company. Those include leadership, passions, integrity, collaboration, diversity, quality, and accountability. Because they are a global brand, it is imperative to embrace the multicultural world in the marketplace and the workplace.

4. Products and Equipment: To encourage well being and healthy living, Coca-Cola is researching many new sweeteners for their products, as well as smaller can sizes to reduce portion size, and increasing the flavor options of healthier options or products with added minerals and vitamins, like Vitaminwater Zero. Coca-Cola has also created the first ever fully recyclable plastic bottle that is created partially from plants. It will be the only bottle they use by 2020.

5. Consumer well-being: Coca-Cola began the “Get the ball rolling” initiative to inspire people to get moving and has motivated 3 million people to do so. They outlined four well being commitments to help fight obesity:

a. Offer low or no calorie beverages in every market.

b. Provide nutrition information very visibly in from of all packages.

c. Get people moving by supporting physical activity programs in every country they do business.

d. Market responsibly, including no advertising to children under 12 years old in the world.

The Coca-Cola Company also has goals for increased community efforts. One project is called the 5 by 20 initiate. The goal is to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020. This past year they reached 550,000. Another project is to achieve water neutrality by 2020. To do this, they have partnered with DEKA, R&D, IBM, McCann Health, Qualcomm, UPS, as well as many others to build community water purification kiosks called EKOCENTERS in 20 countries by the end of 2015.

D. Brand Analysis for the Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company sold 46.25 billion in 2014. It is a global brand so to analyze growth properly, close regions must be grouped.

In the Eurasia and Africa group, they grew in unit case volume by 7% in 2013. Specifically, the Middle East and North Africa had solid growth along all business units and was the biggest leader in that region. For the first time in 60 years, Coca-Cola will begin production locally in Myanmar.

In the Europe group, there was a 1% decline in unit case volume in 2013. However, sparkling and still beverages grew in value share. The “Share a Coke” movement was exceptionally successful here as well. Germany, however, showed huge volume growth of 5%.

In North America, there was growth in the market share across most beverage categories. There were more than one million households added to the Coca-Cola brand. There was double-digit growth in the multi-brand tea portfolio, Zico Coconut Water, and Illy Coffee brand, highlighting the movement towards healthier options.

In the Pacific, there was 3% unit case volume growth overall, which was led by India at 4% (18% of it was the brand Coca-Cola and 5% was Sprite). There was a 1% unit case volume in Japan, 25% growth in Vietnam, and 9% growth in Thailand.

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E. Consumer Profile

The demographics are very broad since The Coca-Cola Company offers products for every person regardless of taste, sex, age, income, or region. The average person consumes a coke product every four days. You can purchase a Coca-Cola product almost anywhere including supermarkets, convenience stores, fast food chains, restaurants, bars, and megastores like Wal-Mart or Target.

Consumers tend to feel a personal touch to the Coca-Cola brand. They have continued to gain brand loyalty by connecting people emotionally through different advertisements and promotions, like the “Share a Coke” campaign. There is such a strong history of brand loyalty to the Coca-Cola products that some consumers are upset with the company for changing the packaging design, even around the holiday times or if its for a charitable cause.

In 1985, a “new” recipe for the flagship Coca-Cola was launched and the response was outraged customers. There were over 400,00 calls and letters received by Coca-Cola complaining about the new flavor. The interesting part was, in blind taste tests, consumers preferred the new recipe more but when the image, packaging, and tradition was changed, the perception of the product was less favored than the original recipe. Needless to say, Coca-Cola reverted back to the original recipe 3 months later.

Coca-Cola’s brand image is much more deeply rooted in the American psyche when compared to Pepsi-Cola. People surveyed about what words come to mind when they think about Coca-Cola said the following:

-America

-Santa Clause

-Polar bears

-World War II

-History

-Family

-“I’d like to teach the world to sing”

-Mean Joe Green

-Happiness

People surveyed about what words came to mind when they thought about Pepsi-Cola included:

-Britney Spears

-Michael Jackson

-Youth

-The choice of a new generation

-Madonna

-Cool and fun

-Energy

It is clear that the Coca-Cola Company has achieved that extraordinary brand image. According to Interbrand’s annual report, Coca-Cola is a more valuable brand than Pepsi-Cola.

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F. Advertising/Marketing Communications

The Coca-Cola Company is wonderful at a wide variety of marketing techniques. One that they clearly use the most is differentiated marketing. With this method, they are able to satisfy a range of markets. For example, Diet Coke/Coke Zero for weight conscious consumers, Dasani for those who don’t like soda and prefer water, Fanta for consumers who prefer a more fruity taste, even Powerade for those who want a sports drink to replace electrolytes, and the list goes on. “Our central promise at the Coca-Cola Company is to refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit, and inspire moments of optimism to create value and make a difference.”

Brand specific attributes include real cola taste, unforgettable taste, revitalizes and refreshes, enjoyment any time, good to drink with family and friends, and is recognized as the best soft drink. Intrinsic attributes include that the product is great tasting, very refreshing, thirst quenching, high quality, worth what it costs, and it goes well with meals and snacks.

G. Media for the Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company has been involved in holiday advertising since the late 1920’s. They are one of the best at emotive advertising during this festive time of year. The red and white branding of the classic Coca-Cola brand makes it easily synonymous with Christmas, and allows the company to capitalize on the holiday spending habits of consumers. Since the brand image already focuses on sharing, relationships, and happiness, it easily targets the holiday fanatics. They also use images like Santa Clause, polar bears, and the newest symbol, the holiday caravan, which is a Coca-Cola truck decorated with Christmas lights.

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The Coca-Cola Company spent 3.3 billion dollars on advertising and media in 2013, where as PepsiCo spent two thirds less than that overall. Coca-Cola spent 231.5 million on TV advertising where as PepsiCo spent 659.1 million of TV advertisement. By 2016, Coca-Cola plans to increase media spending and brand building initiatives by $1 billion.

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H. Promotions for the Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company focuses on three main principles when it comes to promotion. These include:

-Acceptability: through effective marketing, they ensure Coca-Cola brands are an integral part of consumer’s daily lives, making Coca-Cola the preferred beverage anywhere.

-Affordability: they guarantee that they offer the best price in terms of value for money.

-Availability: Coca-Cola brands are available anywhere people might want refreshment.

The Coca-Cola Company has offered many promotions throughout the years. The “Open Happiness” mantra has been long lasting. In 2011, they released traffic tension on a very busy street by using a projector to play a movie and offered free coke products and popcorn to frustrated drivers. They celebrated 125 years with a large projection on a building in New York in 2011 as well. Coca-Cola has also placed a few “hug” vending machines around the country that doesn’t accept money, just hugs, emphasizing the happiness attitude that is so engrained in the brand. Another Coca-Cola happiness machine was placed on a college campus that dispensed Coke after Coke to the students and eventually handed things like pizza, flowers, and even balloon animals through the vending machine to brighten the students day. The “Share a Coke” promotion was strengthened when the company added names on cans or bottles and made it feel like a more personal experience and helped the company connect on a groundbreaking level for the industry. They launched the promotion in over 80 countries. Sales rose globally over 2% while that lasted but boosted sales by 7% in Australia, where the promotion began in 2011. It earned more than 18 million media impressions, increased traffic on the Coca-Cola Facebook site by 870%, and increased likes by 39%.

Since PepsiCo realized they couldn’t overtake the brand image that Coca-Cola has built, they took a new approach. They focus on youth and are based on what’s new, hot, and trendy. Celebrity endorsements are the favorite way for them to make an impression. If you can’t win the game, change the rules and that is what they did. This past year, PepsiCo focused on summertime with the “Iconic Summer” campaign. They offered PepsiCo prizes and themed merchandise as well as once in a lifetime experiences like a trip to the MTV Music Awards in Brooklyn, tickets to the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas, a trip to the Super Bowl, and meet and greets with Nascar drivers.

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I. Internet and New Media

The Coca-Cola Company is moving away from “creative excellence” and towards “content excellence”. They want to focus on social media, since it is so much more interactive and it aligns with the company’s view of connecting on a personal level with their consumers. They create liquid content that begs to be shared, whether it is a photo, video, or article. They make sure the content shared is linked to the brand and goals of Coca-Cola. Creating conversations is also a focus and Coca-Cola prides themselves on acting and reacting 365 days a year. With the use of dynamic storytelling, they allow the story to evolve as they interact with consumers. And lastly, they strive to be brave and creative with their content. Nothing great comes without risks.

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To delve deeper into Coca-Cola’s social media strategy you need to look at each medium that they focus on. On Twitter, they have 2 million followers. They have been tweeted 1994 times this month, making that 60 times per day. That has generated 81,925 engagements that created over 1 billion potential impressions. On Twitter, the Coca-Cola Company uses craved source content that is used to engage the audience and generate content followers can share. They also practice direct engagement, which is one of the biggest challenges for any brand. Coca-Cola does an amazing job of keeping up with the volume of mentions. 83% of their tweets were direct replies. Another tactic used is influencer involvement. Coca-Cola targets celebrities, like Ryan Seacrest, to engage and use their own “selfies” with their products or brand merchandise.

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On Tumblr, Coca-Cola is one of the best at story telling. Their tagline on the page is “Where happiness lives online” and that is cohesive to the image they push. Between the dancing Polar bears, high five .gifs, and puppies in sweaters it is a very fun place to browse. They have a knack for mixing product placement with random images to keep the page light and fun. Coca-Cola has posted 15 times over the past month, but generated 35k reblogs across all Tumblr.

Coca-Cola has been a pioneer on Instagram due to their use of the video feature, rather than just pictures. 4 out of their 15 last posts have been videos and the consumers like the balance and most companies haven’t embraced that feature.

Coca-Cola’s major social media platform is Facebook. They have 82 million fans and stay cohesive with their posts so it can be shared across all other social networks. Because of the consistency between all of these, the brand image is strengthened and supports each campaign in their own different ways to different consumers, however they prefer it.

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J. Brand Value

The Coca-Cola Company has retained its #3 position on Interbrand’s esteemed annual ranking of the most valuable global brands for the second year in a row. The brand value is estimated at 81.6 billion, up 3% from 2013, which is more than 4 times as much as the nearest beverage brand (PepsiCo) on the list. When referring to The Coca-Cola Company, Interbrand said they are “continuing to evolve as markets have changed and through innovation, staying ahead of the trends.”

II. Brand Exploratory

Attached is a copy of the survey and the survey results.

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Recommendations:

Based on the qualitative and quantitative research conducted, Coca-Cola is viewed as the most popular brand at an overwhelming 78%. I believe Coca-Cola has done well sticking to the classic perception that has become part of America. Continuing to emphasize the happiness and relationship aspects are their strongest points. I do believe the share a coke movement is wonderful and was so successful that it should be repeated yearly in different ways. In the survey conducted, over 60% preferred that campaign to PepsiCo and others. Since PepsiCo has that idea of youth, Coca-Cola should continue its promotion and involvement at college campuses to build that brand loyalty with its younger consumers. Also, the current developments in the healthier options should be continued since that is a huge appeal to most people. Taste and price were the most important attributes to people so even though low calorie options should be explored further; the recipe needs to be perfected before launched to keep up the image.

“It is our ability to adapt, to participate in, and even lead in culture, that will allow us to achieve our business goals;” – Joe Tripodi

Works Cited

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