Promotional Media Communication of the Coca-Cola Company - Essay Example

?Topic Postmodern business marketing evolved with the entry of knowledge-based economy and with the proliferation of information technology that bridged production to its market. This paper will discuss how Coca-Cola Company optimized its strategy by using social media in marketing and in relating with its consumers in the market. In the process of explication, the researcher use ethnographic approach of analysis to correlate marketing, branding, the use of social media and information technology as business strategy (Sothern, 2013, p. 1). Ethnographic analysis is a qualitative method of studying a culture of specific society (Sothern, 2013, p. 1) – in this case, focused on United Kingdom. The researcher will therefore employ direct observation, interviews or by using questionnaires. Conclusions derived are technically subjective and researcher is often stringently concern about making broad generalization of matter as the subject of inquiry (Sothern, 2013, p. 1). The Company Coca-Cola is a business leader in beverage production and retailing industry. It has a global operation and is selling diverse beverages that suit best to consumers' taste which inspire them to maximize the products for home or for either private or public occasions. One of its leading product is Coca-cola diet, a soda but with limited value of calorie. In its Facebook account, Diet Coke is marketed as an extraordinary beverage and was historically introduced as developed since 1982 which was claimed to have catapulted as the leading diet soft drink of the world, thus, the brand is sustained until these days (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Diet Coke is produced to target consumers that are interested on maintaining a low-calorie diet, or those that are diagnosed with diabetes, and yet will still savour such tasty delight (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). A year after, 1983, Diet Coke, also prominently known by other countries as ‘Coca-cola Light’, is also marketed in Australia, Canada, and Costa Rica. It became one of the major leading soft drink of US in same year (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Photo 1. Prominent product endorser of Diet Coke showed off muscled and lean body which garnered thousands of thumbs up and shares on Facebook (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1) By 1986, the company prided to have reached about 61 countries as market zone with an estimated 60 million cans served daily (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Since it gained a global prestige, the company aired its first commercial advertisement using the slogan – “Just For the Taste of It” (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). On same year, the company attempted to draw the market attention by adding cherry flavour to Diet Coke and also maximized a print advertisement by using the carved monuments of political heroes of America in 1987 to project such “monumental taste” (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Later, the Company maximized Oxford Plains Speedway to promote the first Diet Coke 100 until it optimized the 3D advertisement during the Big game by bannering the slogan “The Move Is On to Diet Coke” (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). It continued to promote the product as extraordinary in 1989 with Gary Weismann as the consumer’s endorser, tagging along with it the prominence of a superhero action star (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Almost ten years after, Diet Coke was recognized as the brand of the decade in 1990 and sustained sporting its image with Batman (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Being avidly consumed in the market, the company decided to celebrate its 10th anniversary at New York’s Time Square (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). In 1993, Diet Coke was promoted as a beverage that suits the taste of all with only one calorie and which was followed with salacious advertisement that those who would buy for it ‘break for refreshment solely for diet Coke (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1).” Playing with the people’ interest of the universe and the space, the company also decided to let astronauts bring Diet Coke to outer world in 1995 under the quest of ‘testing the formula (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Photo 2. Fun and comical way of presenting individual passion and choice of Diet Coke with prominent artists as endorsers (Diet Coke, 2013, p.1). From gaining universal ideation as a beverage for all, Diet Coke return to make its advertisement consuming to the existential and philosophical meaning of the self by bearing the slogan “You are what you drink” in 1997; “Live Your Life” in 1999; and gifting Diet Coke to Loren Penman on her last day of work in 2000 (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). The entry of 21st century, which is quite filled with controversial uncertainties and challenges of life, Diet Coke batted its advertisement with “That Certain Something” is revealed, thus, still holding on to the psychology of consumers of the millennium (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). It was further seconded with “Do What Feels Good” slogan to annex the beverage to human liberty and the increasing trend of individualism of consumers in the market in 2002 (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). The company toyed with the psycho-emotional existential beings of buyers as postmodern period takes heavier tool on individual decision-makings that break through customs and traditional practices (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). This is severed in the advertisement that deals with the common issues on recovering from human depression, confusion, angst and anxiety by promoting “Bounce, it’s a Diet Coke Thing” slogan in 2004 (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Personalizing it further, like how a person would end a letter by affirming anyone’s possessiveness, Diet Coke dedicated its product by advancing its slogan to “Yours, Diet Coke” in 2007. By 2008, the company choose to greet consumers with “Good Day, ___ (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1).” Nowadays, the beverage Facebook account has 2,159,363 ‘likes’ among consumers and has an estimated 73,059 people opening its page to browse its contents (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). The page permitted consumers to leave messages on its wall and to like posted photos including those photos of its endorsers and of company’s activities in UK (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). It continually promoted its low-calorie product and enticing consumers to purchase it on the bases that it could not add sugar to their fats (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). The page also provided links to its multimedia advertisements that are likewise posted on Youtube.com and the videos posted on its varied websites (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Of course, the endorsers demonstrated their lean and muscled physique to claim and affirm that the product’s content are not indeed making them flabby or out of shape (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). This is quite typical in a country that promotes sexy physique and the culture of slender fashion. In an indirect manner, its relating that those bit fat consumers can convert its preference of beverage to Diet Coke to attain such desired perfect curves, especially those who are kin on shaping its psych with the fashion industry (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Like the historic advertisements, the product remained endorsed by prominent models and lovely beaus to appeal to the youths and adults interests to be on shape. Branding and Recreating its product for Consumers’ Vision Truly, the management of Coca-cola Inc. has mastered the art of advertisement to capture the psychology and emotions of consumers by providing visual multimedia items. De Chernatony (2006) explicated that brand management transcend customers and the need to attain a balance mechanism to satisfy customers taste on the product (p. xii). This is the classic approach for a company to control, organize, instigate and appeal to customers wants for them to continually lean on the brand by maintaining such advertisement and communication that make them nearer or identify themselves to the product (De Chernatony, 2006, p. xii). The company likewise struggle to make the product speak on the human psych and appeal to their emotions by purposively choosing marketer controlled media for communication and to integrate consumers to its produce (De Chernatony, 2006, p. xii). They also act out the desired culture of people, although sensitive to dietary and nutritional concerns, to develop that “oneness of voice on the product” in the market (De Chernatony, 2006, p. xii). It somehow nurtured a bandwagon effect by maximizing multimedia and social media as the most prominent tool of communication and bridging with the market (De Chernatony, 2006, p. xii). The management likewise made the product, Diet Coke, aligned to the personal values not only of their company but also of the consumers to sustain a logical and coherent message about their brand. This is essentially about brand management – an essential component of marketing strategy (De Chernatony, 2006, p. xii) De Chernatony (2006) opined that the using the strategies provided a balance perspective from within and from the external side of an organization to satisfy stakeholders and consumers, thus, seeking the brand vision using the social culture and the organizational culture too, to attain its business competence and to leverage in the market of beverages (p. 4). De Chernatony (2006) further explicated that well manage brands towed with satisfying reputation to attain satisfactory return of investment. This is the logic of maximizing prominent artists and models with such reputation and physical ability to demonstrate the necessary band wagon appeal – something that can elicit consumer choice and confidence on the brand promoted (p. 4). This simply affirms that the promoted brand is the sum of its value based on the cumulative trust gained from its owners and its consumers using advertisements as its marketing strategy (De Chernatony, 2006, p. 4). Conclusion Diet Coke has indeed passed through a well-planned and effectively managed brand because it has efficiently gained such reputation in the market that boost the confidence of its producer to sell these in the global market and gained the soft heart of its consumers, albeit the economic difficulties they confront amid erratic condition between stability and recession (De Chernatony, 2006, p. 4). In withering time, the product maintained its dominant position in the market because aside from the use of television, print, and huge international events, the company also maximized its presence using internet and social media (De Chernatony, 2006, p. 4). This is a powerful way of marketing. It made the product available every corner where consumers are likely to thrive. It commands market advantage and competitive leverage with the rest of nutritional beverages by influencing the mind and the heart of the consumers and by upholding its functional values through interactive media (Berger, 2004, p. 12). Such functional values refer to the sustaining belief that a certain conduct or end-state of existence is deemed preferable in living (De Chernatony, 2006, p. 6; Moor, 2007, p. 1). Feel it, attain universality, be extraordinary, bounce with it, and live with it are functional values that has been optimized by the industry to get into the psychological and emotional being of every consumer. The product was effectively identified to the person or consumer’s life, odds, high-time, or low-time by creatively and conveniently inspiring them to adapt what the Diet Coke inspires them to become with certain attitude of friendliness, sense of independence, of choice, of integrity, of healthcare, and of dignity (De Chernatony, 2006, p. 6; Arvidsson, 2006, p. 3). Truly, the multimedia and how the product was introduced and re-introduced to the market simply depicted that Diet Coke was branded and promoted using slogans that are tailored to fit into the interest of consumers and are retailed even within the nook of the social networks to maintain its market visibility. Such affirm that branding is holistically about maximizing informational capital and that it is reflective of the cultural resources with which the people significantly relate their identities and their values (Arvidsson, 2006, p. 5). The consumers also correlate their commercial intertextuality and the meaning of their choices to the products, including the way how they relate their social relations too (Arvidsson, 2006, p. 5). Their online interactions proved that their relation with the brand is significantly part of the modernization process and their mundane context to the product. On the broader sense nonetheless, their personal association to Diet Coke is reflective of how the market socialize within the brand, albeit the fact that they were particularly part in removing the variance of production, consumption and distribution within the supply chain’s socialization processes (Arvidsson, 2006, p. 6). References Arvidsson, A. (2006). Brands: Meaning and Value in Media Culture. London: Routledge p. 3. Berger, A. S. (2004). Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture: Advertising's Impact on American Character and Society, Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield. Diet Coke (2013). Diet Coke, Facebook, US: California, p. 1. Viewed at: https://www.facebook.com/DietCoke De Chernatony, L. (2006). From Brand Vision to Brand Evaluation: The strategic process of growing and strengthening brands, 2nd Ed., US: Elsevier Ltd, pp. 1-313. Sothern, M. (2013). Ethnographic Analysis, eHow.com, p. 1. Retrieved: Viewed at: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5801143_ethnographic-analysis.html Moor, L. (2007). The Rise of Brands. Oxford: Berg., p. 1. Read More