Social Media and Business - Coca Cola

A Project report

On

Social Media and Business Management

Under the guidance of Submitted by

Ms.Rohini Vaishnavi Kriti Singhal (PG 20102156)

1 | Social Media and Business Management of Coca Cola

INTRODUCTION

It was 1886, in New York Harbor, workers were constructing the Statue of Liberty. Eight

hundred miles away, another great American symbol was about to be unveiled.

Like many people who change history, John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, was

inspired by simple curiosity. One afternoon, he stirred up a fragrant, caramel-colored

liquid and, when it was done, he carried it a few doors down to Jacobs' Pharmacy. Here,

the mixture was combined with carbonated water and sampled by customers who all

agreed -- this new drink was something special.

Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, named the mixture Coca-Cola, and wrote it out

in his distinct script. To this day, Coca-Cola is written the same way.

In the first year, Pemberton sold just 9 glasses of Coca-Cola a day.

A century later, The Coca-Cola Company has produced more than 10 billion gallons of

syrup. Unfortunately for Pemberton, he died in 1888 without realizing the success of the

beverage he had created.

Over the course of three years, 1888-1891, Atlanta businessman “Asa Griggs Candler”

secured rights to the business for a total of about $2,300. Candler would become the

Company's first president, and the first to bring real vision to the business and the brand.

In 1886, Coca-Cola® brought refreshment to patrons of a small Atlanta pharmacy. Now well into its second century, the Company's goal is to provide magic every time someone drinks one of its more than 500 brands. Coca-Cola has fans from Boston to Budapest to Bahrain, drinking brands such as Ambasa, Vegitabeta and Frescolita. In the remotest comers of the globe, you can still find Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola is committed to local markets, paying attention to what people from different cultures and backgrounds like to drink, and where and how they want to drink it. With its bottling partners, the Company reaches out to the local communities it serves, believing that Coca-Cola exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches.

From the early beginnings when just nine drinks a day were served, Coca-Cola has grown to the world’s most ubiquitous brand, with more than 1.7 billion beverage servings sold


each day. When people choose to reach for one of The Coca-Cola Company brands, the Company wants that choice to be exciting and satisfying, every single time.

VISION

Their vision serves as the framework for their Roadmap and guides every aspect of their business by describing what they need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable, quality growth.

People: Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be.

Portfolio: Bring to the world a portfolio of quality beverage brands that anticipate and satisfy people's desires and needs.

Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we create mutual, enduring value.

Planet: Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and support sustainable communities.

Profit: Maximize long-term return to shareowners while being mindful of our overall responsibilities.

Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization.

MISSION

Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions.

To refresh the world... To inspire moments of optimism and happiness... To create value and make a difference.

COCA COLA IN A NUTSHELL


BRAND PORTFOLIO

1. COCA COLA

2. DIET COKE


3. SPRITE

4. THUMBS UP

5. FANTA


6. LIMCA

7.MAZAA

8.MINUTE MAID- PULPY ORANGE


9.KINLEY WATER

10.NESTEA

11. GEORGIA COFFEE


WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Social media includes web-based and mobile technologies used to turn communication into interactive dialogue. Social Media gives your business a new face and if you miss it you are sure going to miss a great deal. Social media is media for social interaction as a super-set beyond social communication. Enabled by ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques, social media has substantially changed the way organizations, communities, and individuals communicate.

Social networking sites have burst onto the internet scene and captured the attention of internet users worldwide. Platforms change daily and what is used today could be gone tomorrow.Companies have begun to use social networking sites to communicate, build a relationship and market to their target audience.


SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Facebook Twitter You Tube LinkedIn Digg Delicious Stumble Upon BlogSpot Flicker

Let’s have a look on some of them -


FACEBOOK – Users generate their own profile on it. They join groups, add friends, upload photographs and videos, and write on their walls, play games together and create events.

YOUTUBE – Users upload and view user generated videos.

TWITTER – Sentiments are posted in 140 characters or less.

FLICKER – User uploads photos and creates albums and then share it with other users.


WHAT ARE THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS THE ORGANIZATION IS USING CURRENTLY?

Coca-Cola is one of the most persistent and well-loved brands in history. It is one of the longest surviving brands, and thus considered among the most successful companies ever. The reason is their strong advertising and marketing. Coca-Cola has always relied in advertising to promote and market their brand, and this is why they are always on top of their game, after having been in the market for more than a century!

Coca-Cola advertising has indeed greatly affected American pop culture, and even the whole world.

In USA it participated in various Holiday Campaigns, Sports Sponsorships, Media advertisements, and sponsorships for various education programs of India.

It has spent a considerable amount in advertising its beverages. Besides Print advertising, the company had put on large no. of hoardings and kiosk.

Along with the time it has establishes itself well on the Social Media Platforms and as a result the Facebook Fan Page of Coca Cola is third most liked page on Facebook around the world with almost 40,503,857 Likes.

FACEBOOK COVER PAGE


TWITTER PAGE

COCA COLA is active on numerous social media platforms. On the company’s website, there are direct links to take the viewer to each social networking site the company is involved in.

Currently the homepage has ‘buttons’ that link viewers to Coca-Cola’s profiles on Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Fans, Friends and Followers*

Flickr: 116 sets of photos

Twitter: 248,953 “followers”

26,422 tweets

65,813 following

Facebook: 24,595,148 “likes”

12,731 photos

YouTube: Joined January 1, 2006

25,897 subscribers

18,740,566 total upload views

5,197,822 channel viewsION


WHAT IS THE NATURE OF COMMUNICATION ON EACH PLATFORM?

Posts on Twitter and Facebook are conversational and engaging. On Facebook apart from engaging conversations, they do communicate the promotional activities as well. They use their videos, commercials and all the promotional stuff on their Facebook Fan page to promote it as well as its advertisements.

For example: Coke is an official sponsor of London Olympics 2012. It came out with an advertisement “Coke Bottle kholo, London Bolo” and it shared the video on Facebook thus motivating the people to buy coke to go to London.

Another Advertisement was of a Polar Bear commercial where Polar Bears are seen catching a coke bottle. They shared it on Facebook Fan page and got 26,965 Likes, 1482 Comments and 4487 Shares within 10 hours.


Interaction with YouTube is daily and new videos are uploaded on a daily basis. Flicker photos are uploaded at events Coca Cola holds or sponsors.

ESSENCE OF THEIR COMMUNICATION ACROSS VARIOUS PLATFORMS


COCA COLA is a market leader in the food and beverage industry and is known for its high sales and community involvement. The company is actively involved in several Social Media Platforms and their engagement as a global brand can be learned from, as they are more active than their competitors.

All the Tweets and Facebook posts are mainly positive and have direct relation with the projects and commercials Coca Cola is involved with. The Coca Cola FB page consists of various Facts and Figures about the company including the Testimonials, Print media commercials, Television commercials of yester years.

Coca Cola follows a number of followers and responds to the tweets well and in timely and conversational manner.


Multiple posts daily on Twitter to engage customers.

Engaged several guest bloggers to write for the

Coca Cola daily. Coca Cola focuses on its customers more.

Instead of promoting its product more and more it focus on the customer mind sets, their values and their needs. Coke knows that its customers love it intangibly and can do anything for it. To maintain its brand value it often engages its customers through various creative ideas. Like for example

It updated a very simple status on its Facebook page and within some hours it has gained tremendous visits and Likes which led its competitorswonder. Snapshot is shared below:-

We can see that a single status of merely 15 words got 10,565 Likes, 4152 comments and 255 shares within few hours. We can imagine how coke thinks. Another example

of simple update shown below with 22844 Likes, 2706 Comments


As a part of communication Coke also focuses on the recent calls of the countries. Like for Africa when there was water scarcity, Coke came up with a bright idea of Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN). The Replenish Africa Initiative is their commitment to providing clean drinking water to over 2 million people all across the continent.

It promoted all the major events it brought out for its customers like Happification – The installment of Happiness factory series, through Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter etc.


ON FACEBOOK :-


NOTE ON THE TARGET AUDIENCE OF THE COKE SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT

COCA COLA offers a range of beverages suiting to different ages, lifestyles and occasions. This includes Soft drinks, Diet Drinks, energy drinks, juices and juice drinks, water, sports drinks and cordials.

As a part of healthy, varied and an active lifestyle, all its products can be enjoyed by a majority of people. It is committed to helping customers in choosing the best product according to their needs.

Same strategy it followed for its social media presence as well. It focused on people from all age group across all demographics irrespective of Caste Creed and Society. Coca Cola focused on all the communities and all the age groups. It came out with a commercial of Polar Beers and coke, for the children. It came out with various other commercials for the youths as well.

Santa Claus was promoted by Coca Cola in the holiday season and no one forgets this fat grand pa with white beard travelling upon a Reindeer car carrying gifts for the children.


Globally, Coca Cola Company has a long history of supporting sport and physical activity. It has have been the major Olympic sponsor since 1928 and also sponsor major international sporting events.


MARKETING CAMPAIGN THROUGH VARIOUS OTHER PR ACTIVITIES AND MEDIA ADVERTISING

1. CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

Over the years Coca-Cola has used many celebrity endorsers to serve, in a way, as the

“face” of the company. When an audience sees a celebrity endorsing a product, they

begin to associate that celebrity with the product. Coca-Cola has been able to have a

wide range of celebrity endorsements over the years. Thus, they have appealed to a

wide range of consumers.

Some of the big name celebrities who have continued the positive brand image that we

associate with Coca-Cola are Bill Cosby, Michelle Kwan, and Jennifer Lopez.

COCA COLA INDIA has always taken big celebrities as its brand ambassadors. From

Aishwarya Rai to Aamir Khan, Imran Khan and Boman Irani all are a part of Coke

Promotions.

The world's largest beverages brand paid a grand tribute to Sachin Tendulkar who is one century short of becoming the first batsman to score 100 international centuries: launched some 6.5 million special Coca-Cola cans with pictures of the master batsman.The move helped the cola giant make the most out of its Rs 12-15-crore endorsement deal with Tendulkar signed early this year, and make up for not leveraging the association during the Cricket World Cup that India won.


2.

2.INTERNATIONAL TIE UPS OF COCA COLA

COCA COLA AND MCDONALDS

COCA COLA AND DOMINOS


COCA COLA AND SUBWAY


3. SLOGANS THROUGHOUT INDIA:-

Thanda Matlab Coca Cola.

Pio Sur Utha k (DRINK WITH A PRIDE)

“Jo Chaho Ho jaaye, COCA COLA enjoy”

“Burrrrrrrrrrr”

Little drops of Joy!



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