Coca-Cola, also known as Coke, is a carbonated soft drink sold in more than 200 countries worldwide. It is hard-pressed to find somebody unable to recognize this iconic global brand. Currently, Coca-Cola is the most valuable soft drink brands worldwide. Coca-Cola secured 5th rank with brand value worth 63.37 Billion U.S. Dollars in a survey for most valuable brands worldwide in 2019.
History
Dr. John S. Pemberton had invented Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia, in the year 1886. His initial recipe had alcohol which was removed after prohibition legislation was passed in Atlanta. Initially, Coca-Cola was sold as a medicine in soda fountain stores claiming that it would be a remedy for ailments including nausea, indigestion, and headaches.
Frank M. Robinson who was working as a bookkeeper for Dr.Pemberton is credited with designing the trademarked logo and with naming the beverage “Coca-Cola”. Sales in the initial year were an average of nine servings per day in Atlanta.
Today, daily servings of Coca-Cola beverages are estimated at 1.9 billion globally. In 1889, Asa Candler acquired the rights of the Coca-Cola business and the secret formula and incorporated The Coca-Cola Company in the year 1892. Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time on 12th March 1894 when Joseph Biedenharn, a Mississippi businessman, began bottling the beverage making it portable.
Ernest Woodruff, along with other investors, purchased the Coca-Cola Company in the year 1919, and later on, his son was elected as the president of the company. In the year 1928, Coca-Cola was introduced as a sponsor for the Olympic games held in Amsterdam, and it provides for the company to have International Exposure. It started a tradition that continues to date.
Coca-Cola India
Coca-Cola marked its entry in the Indian market in the year 1950 with its first bottling plant in New Delhi. They gave stiff competition to Gold spot and other soft drinks available in the market owing to its image built up in the western countries. Still, the company has to exit and discontinue its operations in the year 1977 due to the implementation of new laws in India, limiting the dilution of equity of Multinational Corporations.
Coca-Cola had returned to India in the year 1992 after India had opened up the market for Foreign Investments in the year 1991. The company started its operations again on 24th October 1993 with the opening of a production facility in Agra. Coca-Cola acquired brands like Limca, Thumps Up, Gold Spot, and Maaza from Parle Bisleri in the same year. Coca-Cola India has launched Sprite in the year 1999.
Since its inception, it has established itself and recognized as an undisputed youth badge brand. Now, Sprite is known as one of the most preferred and fastest-growing soft drinks in India.
Manufacturing
Coca-Cola India Private Ltd. is responsible for manufacturing and selling concentrates, beverages, and powdered beverages mix in India and Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited is authorized to prepare, package, sell and distribute beverages through its extensive distribution channel.
Coca-Cola India has around 57 manufacturing plant, 120 product warehouses, that directly feeds more than 7000 distributors who serve more than 2.5 billion shopkeepers, retail outlets, etc. Over 240 suppliers support them. Coca-Cola India creates direct employment to 25,000 people and indirect employment to 1,50,000 people. It runs several community development programs like Coca-Cola NDTV support my school, Project Unnati to help mango farmers, and the Parivartan retailer training program.
Market Share
The market share of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in the carbonated drink industry was 55.9% and 33.1 %, respectively in 2019. There are many small-level players in this segment, but these firms’ brand awareness is significantly less. Also, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have a high level of concentration. Thus, they do not face any threat from new entrants in the market, and also there are high entry barriers in this industry. The revenue in the Soft Drink segment is around US$ 4,407 Million in 2020, out of which carbonated soft drinks have a share of US$ 284m. The market for carbonated beverages is expected to grow annually by 9.8%, and the average per capita consumption is 0.4 L in 2020.
Currently, India is the fifth-largest market for Coca-Cola in terms of volume, and the company aims to double the volumes to two billion in the next five years.
Coca-Cola Logo and its journey
4P Market Analysis of Coca Cola
Product
Coca-Cola has an extensive product portfolio of more than 500 brands and comes with approximately 3900 beverage choices. It is sold in various sizes to cater to the demand of every target group. Fanta, Maaza, Sprite, Limca, Diet Coke, Minute maid, etc. are some of the well-known brands of Coca-Cola.
Price
Coca-Cola products have high availability, and they do pricing according to the target market and geographic segment. It follows second-degree price discrimination as they have different prices for products in different segments. Buyers who purchase in bulk generally have to pay significantly less than the one purchasing single Coca Cola products. The soft drink industry is considered to be a duopoly in maximum parts of the world, and Coca-Cola pricing is similar to Pepsi.
Place
Coca-Cola Products are present in more than 200 countries, and it sells an average of 1-.9 billion servings each day globally. Their products can be found easily in Grocery, Stores, Restaurants, Movie Theatres, Parks, Canteen, Shopping malls, etc. Coca-Cola uses its bottling partners for the manufacturing, packaging, merchandising, and distribution of their products. They had created global reach with local focus because of the strength of the Coca-Cola system that comprises their company and approximately 225 bottling partners worldwide.
Also Read: Red Bull – Creating A Brand Through Extreme Content Marketing
Promotion
Coca-Cola focuses on aggressive marketing through advertisements on T.V., Print media, Online ads, Digital Marketing, etc. In the year 2019, they had to spend 4.25 billion U.S. dollars on Advertisement. Coca-Cola engages itself in major sponsorship events like NBA, Olympic Games, FIFA Worldcup, American Idol, Coke Studio, etc. and that helped them to promote their products globally. They give particular emphasis at stores and supermarkets on the shelf spaces to generate more visibility for their products. Coca-Cola company also engages itself in various CSR activities, and thus, along with welfare, they also create emotional connect with the consumers.
Some of the Brilliant Campaigns executed by Coca-Cola Company
Coke Machine Task– Basically, a coke machine is placed at places like malls, parks, etc. and the person will be given a task to perform. Upon successful completion of the task, they would be rewarded with a coke.
Share a Coke-They have launched a new campaign called ‘Share a Coke’ in which coke bottles and cans come with some popular name of that country with a purpose to create a more personal relationship with consumers and inspire a shared moment of happiness.
Hug Machine– It is a classic coke vending machines that dispense a free drink when someone hugs the machine.
Social Media– Coca-Cola is 3rd most popular brand on Facebook with 106.96 million followers as of June 2020. Similarly, it has a significant presence on other social sites like Instagram, Twitter,etc. and they leverage these platforms by engaging users from time to time with various activities, and people post helped Coca-Cola to connect with more people.
If we talk about India, then Coca Cola launched one of the most successful campaigns to date, “Thanda Matlab Coca Cola” in 2003, and the ad was enacted by Aamir Khan. Now when anyone was craving for some Cold Drinks, they will choose Coca-Cola as it was the immediate word that comes to their mind.
The operating revenue of the Coca-Cola Company is 37.27 billion U.S.
Key people
Krishnakumar- CEO (President) of Coca-Cola India Pvt Ltd
Neeraj Garg- CEO (President) of Hindustan Coca-Cola Pvt Ltd
Controversies
Coca-Cola has been accused of dehydrating communities in its pursuit of water resources to feed its own plants, drying up farmers’ wells, and destroying local agriculture. The company has also violated workers’ rights in countries such as Colombia, Turkey, Guatemala, and Russia.
Many scientist and institutions have found that the pesticide level present in the company’s products are more than the acceptable level. It has impacted the demand for beverages in the Indian market quite drastically within the weeks of findings.
Fun Facts about the company
- Coca-Cola still uses the script logo that Frank Robinson crafted initially.
- The recipe is known by only a handful of people in the world.
- If all the cola bottles in the world were laid end to end, they’d reach the moon and back more than 1,677 times.
- Coca-Cola was the first-ever Olympic Games sponsor.
This brand is a globally renowned company, and their vision statements reflect the leadership and the development the company has gifted the non-alcoholic industry with for over 132 years ever since the company came into existence.