Coca Cola's Product Lifecycle (Essay Sample)

Coca Cola’s product lifecycle and its competitive advantage in the market
Course/name
Instructor
Date
Critical analysis:
Ways in which the coca cola company can improve the competitive advantage of its brands/products.
Introduction
Coca-Cola, a multinational company based in American is a beverage corporation and retailer, manufacturer and marketer of syrups and beverage which are non-alcoholic. Coca cola brands have enjoyed customers' loyalty for more than a century (Blumenstyk, 2006). Because of this, they have continually adapted to the market demands and this has outweighed their competitors such as Pepsi Company. The brands have featured in every part of the world where there are different cultures, religions and tastes from different kinds of people (Blumenstyk, 2006). This paper critically analyses the life cycle of Coca cola products and recommends on the strategies it should utilize to maintain its competitive advantages and meet the needs of the business.
Background information
The coca cola company has been a giant business in delivering the market demands of its customers. It has faced many challenges were it not for the proper strategies the company has adopted; it would not be in current position. One of the challenges the coca cola company faced was issues with management and leadership struggles (Blumenstyk, 2006). For example, before CEO Neville Isdell came to take over coke leadership, the company had lost faith in itself and the management board had even lost confidence in the recovery of the business (Croft, 2006). He did an exemplary assignment by first encouraging and building the morale of the employees (Croft, 2006). He set out strategies on how the company could rejuvenate itself to work more efficiently in dealing with markets demand (Croft, 2006). The paper highlights the strategies the company is employing and challenges the coca cola company faced in its business.
Analysis
The new management of Coca Cola Company analyzed how the business had changed, and beverages people were drinking, when and why they were drinking those beverages (Elliott, S 2012). They designed the plan called the manifesto for growth. It is a manifesto for growth, which spurred the development of Coke Company to its status (Morris, B 2006). They decided that the coke would produce beverages and will not diversify from them. The company decided to produce no alcoholic beverages that meet customer needs. The company CEO at the time was Neville Isdell who called this strategy revolutionary evolution (Fu-Ling, H, & Chao Chao, C 2009).
The business decision to launch new products helped it to improve and take advantage of the business and its competitors. Coca cola has launched new products with new strange-sounding names e.g. Tab energy. This product is a diet energy drink and it has also innovated Coca Cola black – Coffee Coke and Full Throttle fury, a citrus –flavoured energy drink. These products create better and robust connection with a customer hence increasing the demand for the products (Ritson, M 2008). The company competitiveness was better enhanced by better and well financed marketing of the products. It increased its annual spending on marketing to help boost the sales (Morris, B 2006). Again, the company was able to take more risks; therefore, it was ready for failure or success.
More recently, the company was campaigning for its new product, i.e. New Coke. The company lost millions of money from this marketing campaign because it failed to consider marketing dynamics (Matties, B 2010). Because of this, the company did not plan for the emotional relation with its customers to have the real thing. The new product was in the market for a small time then it disappeared. Now after 20 years the company reintroduced the original coke because it was the real thing. The original coke is the market leader for all other sodas for a long time, something the new coke could not do. Coke, however, also had good data. It had conducted taste tests and many people liked the new brand (Morris, B 2006). However, the company depended on these data. The company ought to have used business wisdom. Because of this, the customers were so emotionally attached to the original product, therefore, there was need to introduce a new product in the market (Matties, B 2010).
For a long term coke had defiantly and strongly rooted in its past, for example, it held on its belief that its products were good than anybody else's. It concentrated on the phrase; "Make cola focus for currencies, then sell it for dollars through a worldwide bottling system to a business that still attractive much swallowed what it saw on TV." However the market changed and bottled water introduced into the market. Coca Cola Company was not able to adapt to the market changes (PR, N 2012). It was not able to play well in soft drinks, energy drinks and coffee describing them as low-volume distractors. Arch rival Pepsi was helped by this to take charge and it got the road map (Ritson, M 2008). Matthew Reilly of Morningstar, an analyst, said ironically, "Coke was not even a player in energy drinks--and it was the original energy drink."
In more than one decade coke have not done enough in terms of drinks, it concentrated on carbonated soft drinks (Ram, U 2007). They were not able to think creatively and innovatively to create new products on sodas. The manager Isdell once said, "We've often chased volume to the detriment of the business." The company took sodas as a potential nurture of pathway that helped the business to move more towards its achievements. The management is now looking at sodas as avenues of wellness and health (Coca-Cola GB in 'Side of life' drive' 2006). Nowadays the management is looking at sodas as possible "carriers of health and wellness," This helped the packages and the brands to increase in the number to a high level (Joseph, S 2013).
The coca cola products have remained strongly consistent. The coca cola has not changed its names and its logo for a long time. The company has owned its white and red colours and has maintained them for over 100 years (Thomas, Hammer, Beibst, &Münte, T 2013). The brands have a trade mark that is not comparative with its competitors, for example, the coca cola bottle. The feature makes the products to be leaders while other is followers and it acts as one (Elliott, S 2012).
Some Coca-Cola slogans have been outstanding, but others are not. On the one hand, 'Coca-Cola Adds Life,' ‘open happiness' and 'Things Go Better With Coke;' on the other, 1908's 'The Satisfactory Beverage' and the recent 'Life Tastes Good.' It started in year 2001 as part of a global campaign; it ran straight into trouble (Morrish, J 2005). First, trouble was with Parmalat Company, which was utilizing the slogan in Canada for yoghurt and soft cheese then and suddenly life did not taste good, after all. Therefore, the company should adopt slogans that are well researched to prevent legal battles with other companies (International Business, T 2013).The products also had marketing qualities such as well-organized and robust advertising and promotion of products, as well as highly effective distribution and partnered itself with other popular events such as Olympics and world cup (Taylor, 2009).
Different products such as the mecca cola drinks create an association of two words that are contrasting hence creating iconic images thus creating originality to the products (Ram, U 2007). The juxtaposition of mecca and cola creates an effect of commodification, of structural and symbolism. Therefore, mecca cola tries to cola-inize accompanied by symbolizing name "mecca-ization" thus appropriately fitting in the modern cultures (PR, N 2011). Again the robust company has employed the agencies full of talents to get a bigger profile of its products e.g. Hollywood through CAA. For many years, coke brands have featured in plum spots to in the Hollywood films and TV shows. Several other brands have also created union with brands placement and Los Angeles talent business, creating a market for branded entertainment (Hein, K 2006). However, the partnership between CAA and coke has suffered some setbacks because the partnership has begun to fade with CAA demanding high cost of prices for its retail services (Hein, K 2006). The company should bring more partners on board to help it create a competitive advantage in marketing the coca cola products (Croft, 2006).
Nowadays coke cannot afford to control the market and be a monopoly business in beverages. It once controlled bottlers, shareholders and consumers in the market (Coca-Cola Shows Us the Coke Side of Life, 2006). The management has redefined and regenerated itself to adopt a new compensation plan ('Coca-Cola Shows the Coke Side of Life,' 2006). Through this plan, the top managers are get paid once the company meets its target and when they fail they are not paid. The plan has enabled the coca cola products to thrive competitively in 21st century (Blumenstyk, 2006).
Conclusion
Coca Cola Company must have a set out strategies that will help it to remain viable in the current market. The company must clearly understand the business needs for it to outdo its competitors such as Pepsi Company. For decades, coke has produced some brands, which reflect the choice and preferences of different cultures, religion and race for more than a century. The company has also developed new products that have funny names such as coffee coke. These have helped to create an association on the customers about the new products. Through strategies that are capable of attracting more customers, the products are able to thrive in a highly competitive market that has many players. Partnership has been a key strategy to the success of the coca cola company. It has collaborated with CAA that helped it to market it...