Following massive layoffs, Coca-Cola is again considering massive cuts to its brands.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CNN and other overseas media reports, in response to the crisis of the new crown epidemic, Coca-Cola launched a business restructuring strategy, in terms of product portfolio, Coca-Cola plans to significantly streamline its brands.
But cutting its brands is only because of the impact of the epidemic, which can't shake Coca-Cola's status as a world-renowned brand.
In the Guinness Book of World Records, Coca-Cola is listed as the world's most famous trademark. Today, it is an influential beverage giant with a brand value of nearly $70 billion.
One of Coca-Cola's presidents once proudly said, "Even if I set a fire to all of Coca-Cola's possessions now, I can rise again with the Coca-Cola brand." This is enough to highlight the power of the Coca-Cola brand!
Why has Coca-Cola been so successful? What is its marketing secret?
01
Exclusive product formulas
Unique market competitiveness
From a small, little-known factory in Atlanta to the world's No. 1 beverage brand, Coca-Cola has become the world's most successful brand.
Coca-Cola's history is a history of brand development. Behind the great success, the most talked about aspect of the brand is its core competence - the original formula.
More than 99% of the ingredients in Coca-Cola are publicly available, basically a mixture of several substances - sugar, carbonated water, caramel, phosphoric acid, caffeine, and "loss of effectiveness " of coca leaves and coconut fruit.
The core recipe, the secret ingredient that makes up less than 1 percent of Coca-Cola - "Cargo 7x" as it is said to have seven ingredients.
Since its birth in 1886, it has been stored in a safe for more than 130 years, and fewer than 10 people around the world know the recipe.
But still, countless people have spared no effort in trying to decipher it, yet the result is the same, with all sorts of imitation Coke flavors in a myriad of flavors, so it can be said that it has always been imitated and has never been surpassed. And the mysterious 7x continues to sustain the Coca-Cola brand's century-long glory. In addition to this, Coca-Cola has created its most successful characterization, Santa Claus.
In 1931, in an effort to boost sales around Christmas, when Coke's sales were slow, Coca-Cola created the "Coca-Cola Santa Claus", which appeared in a famous Saturday Evening Post advertisement.
This Santa Claus added a lot of warmer, more human colors to the "saintly" image of Santa Claus: rose-colored face, white beard, shining eyes, wrinkles on his face when he smiles...
The Coca-Cola version of Santa Claus was created by Coca-Cola in an advertisement in the Saturday Evening Post. ...
Surprisingly, the red suit and white beard of Santa Claus, created by Coca-Cola based on its own logo, in one fell swoop, beating out the previous images of Santa Claus in various countries, and quickly becoming a global cultural symbol.
Since then, Coca-Cola has used this image of Santa Claus in its annual Christmas advertisements and registered Santa Claus as its trademark.
Year after year, the Coca-Cola version of Santa Claus became a part of the brand's culture.
Coca-Cola, through its deep insight into human nature, has taken happiness as the brand's eternal value proposition, and through the creation of the red Santa Claus, a subtle, brain-attacking brand marketing strategy, and persistent dissemination, has made every generation become a member of the Coca-Cola religion, unknowingly including newborn babies. "
The Coca-Cola Cult.
And then formed a strong brand awareness and brand **** Ming, to promote Coca-Cola from the beginning of the year only sold less than 10 bottles of the situation, the development of today's market capitalization of 150 billion U.S. dollars, the brand value of up to 77.8 billion U.S. dollars, the world's champion for 13 consecutive years.
03
Keeping up with the changes in consumer demand
Actively promoting product innovation
Entering the new communication environment, facing new consumers.
In a new communication environment, facing new consumers and new pop culture, Coca-Cola is still at the forefront of the marketing world, which, I'm afraid, has to be attributed to its core culture of keeping up with the times.
Coca-Cola has been able to accurately understand the trend of global consumption upgrading and the pursuit of health by consumers, and has continued to innovate its products, upgrade its flavors, and provide consumers with emotional added-value to reshape its image of health in the minds of the public.
In order to cater to the needs of young people in pursuit of novelty and personalization, Coca-Cola has launched the functional drink Water Action, the water brand Ice Dew, the high-end line Ice Dew - Pure Joy, the functional drink Magic Claw, the high-end milk brand Fairlife, the coconut water brand Zico, the high-end bottled water brand Smart Water, etc.
Coca-Cola has also introduced a series of new products to meet the needs of young people in pursuit of novelty and personalization.
In addition, flavor upgrades. For example, Diet Coke completed a new upgrade from packaging to flavors in January 2018, with a long, skinny can with a bright color scheme and new lime-sweet ginger, cherry, blood orange and mango flavors.
04
Playing up the content
Sniping hearts with packaging marketing
In practicing the brand strategy. Coca-Cola has always played with the youth.
A series of bottle campaigns have kept pace with the times, and the texts chosen are popular and emotionally ****ing among young people. Coca-Cola tapped into consumers' inner sense of identity, established community-based emotional connections, touched consumers' hearts, and got them to take the initiative to share and interact with each other, thus laying a good foundation for social communication in the later stages.
Nickname Bottle
In the summer of 2013, Coca-Cola was transformed by the "Nickname Bottle", which became a topic of discussion for all people, and entered the daily life of the general public at a rapid pace. Not only did sales increase by 20% over the same period the previous year, but it also won the Grand Prize at the China Effie Awards, the biggest festival in advertising.
Lyrics Bottle
The 2014 Lyrics Bottle was also a summer sensation. Coca-Cola printed familiar lines on the bottles and blended them with scenes from their lives, so that everyone could find their own youth in the bottle, whether they were experiencing it or had lost it.
From Jay Chou to Mayday, from the World Cup theme song to the graduation season anthems, the songs selected are popular and familiar, making people of all ages, genders, and personalities willing to pay for them.
City Bottles
Coca-Cola has launched more than 30 City Modern bottles, which accurately summarize the characteristics of many cities in China in one word.
For example, Shanghai Wave, Chengdu Idle, Guangzhou Flavor, Beijing Fan, Luoyang Rhyme, Xi'an Tune, Hangzhou Mei, Dalian Smooth, Changsha Spicy, and so on. There are also cans on the text is the city's food culture and humanistic mood condensed into one adjective to see want to "raise cans". This kind of marketing approach to highlight local characteristics makes Coca-Cola a foreign brand that looks more localized.
Reverse Bottle
Young people are happy to express themselves to make friends, but are often shy to express themselves, wit and humor, and refused to "awkward chat". Therefore, similar to the "earth flavor love language" expression by the young people enthusiastically chased, a variety of "earth flavor love language" was played with a lot of fun.
It is in recognition of this social mood of young people that Coca-Cola launched the new reverse bottle, which is a clever combination of Coca-Cola and the product itself: when the amount of Coke in the reverse bottle decreases, the latter part of the text will be displayed on the bottle, which is a reversal of the existing text, so that the drinker of the Coke will find it surprising and interesting.
In the age of social media, content wins and product is the best marketing. As the medium most directly accessible to consumers, designed product packaging becomes a way for Coca-Cola to personalize the consumer experience and enhance the freshness of the brand.
It is for this reason that Coca-Cola has made a name for itself in China and around the world over the last few years, creating countless surprises and joys for people.
05
Linking up with brands to play cross-border marketing
Giving consumers a sense of freshness
Coca-Cola's cross-border marketing is wide-ranging. With a wide range of marketing, from beauty, clothes, shoes to bags, Coca-Cola continues to crossover and innovate in various fields.
For example, Coca-Cola cooperated with the Korean beauty brand Fishey's to launch the Coca-Cola series of makeup products, including air cushion powder, eyeshadow, lipstick, etc.;
A global limited edition of co-branded nail polish in cooperation with OPI, the nail brand with the No.1 market share in the United States;
To
Customized "Vascular" running shoes in collaboration with Nike to commemorate the Sydney Olympics;
Triple co-branded T-shirts, swimsuits, sweatshirts, hats, socks, and other items with KITH and CONVERSE.
2018 Coca-Cola in cross-border marketing and new ideas to open up, highlighting in the choice of partners with their own **** and reciprocity.
For example, Coca-Cola has entered into cooperation with New York hipster brand KITH and other major hipster apparel brands, better utilizing the brand synergy effect.
The two brands complement each other, adding to each other's accumulated market popularity and brand communication effects, thus enhancing the brand's overall influence.
06
Involvement in sports
Continuing to try to innovate the brand
Sports marketing is a must for many brands.
Big event marketing is a must for many brands, and that's true for Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola chose to partner with FIFA for the World Cup in Russia in 2018. But unlike previous sports marketing, Coca-Cola did a lot of innovation.
First of all, the release of the World Cup theme song "COLORS", and the translation of the song into multiple languages to maximize localization. World Cup themed tvc 'stock up' 'readyfor' 'uplifed alex' bombed 200 countries for multi-channel placement.
Secondly, the digital version of the bottle was designed to create entertaining socialization. Coca-Cola designed cans with digital packaging where the numbers 0-9 could be used as score predictions and fans could engage in social media guessing during the game as well.
Finally, a limited edition was put on sale to create a rare collector's item. In line with the World Cup marketing, this year Coca-Cola launched the Russia World Cup limited edition set (6 bottles), representing 6 different countries, with the 1998-2018 World Cup pattern printed on the bottle, which was snapped up as soon as it was put on sale, making for a spectacular scene.
Coca-Cola's marketing is mostly based on the brand culture as the core, the bottle as the carrier, the youthful language as the link, the big event communication as the trigger, the social media as the main communication channel, and every idea is injected into the communication activities, so that the users can accept the product by subconsciously. This is probably why Coca-Cola has been an "evergreen" in marketing for more than a century.
07
Conclusion
For many people, Coca-Cola is not a single product, but represents a collective memory. To this day, Coca-Cola remains a powerful brand.
In an increasingly segmented and personalized FMCG market, the likelihood of another Coca-Cola is slim to none, and more likely to fall into mediocrity after a short period of popularity.
Coca-Cola's ability to stay on top of the industry for more than a century is closely related to its ability to keep up with youthful, technological, and cultural trends, and to constantly innovate its marketing.