Promotion and Brand Leveraging of Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of soft drinks which was founded back in 1886. According to Vrontis and Sharp (2003) Coca Cola currently operates in over 200 countries worldwide. It occupies the largest (47%) market share in the global market. The reason behind Coca Cola’s success is their recognition around the world and it happens because of their successful promotional activities.

According to the blog 'Coca-Cola Targeting and Positioning' Coca-Cola use strategic positioning in order to retain same image around the world. Their motto is “Think global, act local”. That is why they are successful because it is perceived that coke is a part of our daily life. Coca Cola offer the same flavored coke to all the countries. But they adapt different offers to meet the local needs of the consumers.  For example they have different SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) of different sizes for different countries around the world. The can of Coca Cola in USA is different from the can of Bangladesh.

The positioning of Coca Cola is ‘Open Happiness’. Their all advertisements are based on this positioning. They also do advertisement according to the culture, customs and norms of the countries where they are operating. For example during the festival season like Eid, Diwali etc. in India Coca Cola broadcast advertise where they link the coke with the festivals. By this they are actually leveraging the happiness of the festivals to their brand.

Coca cola also undergo other promotion campaign like ‘Hug me’ where the cokes were kept in a refrigerator and the people who hug the refrigerator gets a coke.

In USA the demand of Coca Cola is huge and constant all around the year. But in South East Asia the

demand of Coca Cola goes very up during the summer season because at that time the climate becomes very hot. But during the winter season the demand falls down. But even that they keep their advertisement campaign running at that off season because their strategy is to keep people informed that they are always in the market.

Coca-Cola has leverage the image of a long list of celebrities around the world in their advertisement. For example few years ago Coca Cola came with an advertisement campaign “Bewajah khushiyaan lutao Coca Cola pilao” where they endorse Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra who were the stars from the super hit movie ‘Students of the Year’. This movie was very popular among the young generation. So they endorse the actors and actress of this movie. This campaign was a huge success.

Coca-Cola has also leveraged the image of country of origin. It’s recipe was made in USA and coke around the world use this same secret recipe. USA is a symbol of quality. So people believe in the quality and taste of Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola is the most popular soft drink around the world. Their promotion and brand leveraging is an example for other competitors to follow. 

References

Coca Cola Targeting and Positioning (November 16, 2012) retrieved from http://softdrinkcolawar.blogspot.com/2012/12/coca-cola-targeting-and-positioning.html

Vrontis. D, & Sharp.I (2003). The Srategic Positioning of Coca Cola in Their Global Marketing Operation from The Marketing Review, 3, Pp. 289-309

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Brand Positioning of Meril Petroleum Jelly

Meril Petroleum Jelly

Square Toiletries Limited is one of the renowned companies of our country and Meril is one of the successful brand of this company. Under Meril brand name they launch different products from different product category which are given below

• Meril Petroleum Jelly
• Meril Lip Gel
• Meril Olive Oil
• Meril Glycerin
• Meril Baby Lotion
• Meril Baby Shampoo
• Meril Baby Powder
• Meril Baby Gel Toothpaste
• Meril Baby Olive Oil
• Meril Splash Beauty Soap
• Meril Splash Xtra Fresh
• Meril Revive Talcum Powder
• Meril Revive Moisturizing Lotion
• Meril Revive Moisturizing Cream

Meril is a very popular brand in our country and it has positioned itself as a good quality brand in the mindset of consumers. Among the product lines of Meril, Meril Petroleum Jelly is the highest revenue generating sub brand. There are three levels of brand positioning and Meril petroleum jelly is positioned on the basis of product attributes and product benefit. Meril is generally a skin care brand. Through advertising campaign the brand communicated the attributes of their product. For example in one of the advertise of Meril Petroleum Jelly it was shown that Meril Petroleum Jelly can retain moisture up to 98% whereas the normal oil and body lotion can retain upto 32% and 63% of the body moisture respectively. Through this

advertisement Meril Peroleum Jelly has positioned itself on the basis of the attributes of the product. Meril Petroleum Jelly also protects skin from damage especially during the winter season. Clearly it reflects their positioning by product benefits. Meril Petroleum Jelly is focused on undifferentiated marketing. The points of difference of meril petroleum jelly are-

•   The attributes of Meril Petroleum Jelly are desirable to the consumers.
•  The brand has necessary resources and capabilities to satisfy the consumers.
• The logo, symbol, smell and packaging of Meril Petroleum Jelly is unique and different from that of the competitors and consumers can easily recognize Meril Petroleum Jelly only by seeing and even not seeing but experiencing the container.Meril Petroleum Jelly Blind Test -this ad shows how strong the positioning of Meril Petroleum Jelly is.

Meril Petroleum Jelly has category points of parity. Like all other competitors it retains moisture of the skin. The brand mantra of Meril Petroleum Jelly is it provides protection to the damaged skin (Brand Function) of the consumers irrespective of class, gender, social status etc. (Emotional modifier) by retaining the moisture of the skin (Emotional Modifier).

Meril Petroleum Jelly is a very good quality product and it has created a strong position in the mindset of the consumers. The consumers are very satisfied with the product. Their marketing is so strong and effective that the competitors are facing tough times in penetrating the market. Though Meril Petroleum Jelly is a very good product but they should focus on product development and intense marketing to retain the existing consumers because the competitors are always trying to grab more market share by intense advertising.


References
http://www.scribd.com/doc/88987536/Marketing-Mix-Final#scribd
http://squaretoiletries.com/meril_protective_care.php