Then & NowThen & Now

A Coke StoryA Coke Story

Siddharth JaiswalSiddharth Jaiswal IMT Hyderabad Batch 2011-13 PH No-9573573989 Email-siddharthjaiswal9@gmail.com sjaiswal@imthyderabad.edu

Then & Now: A Coke Story

1977 and the Coca Cola Company had to exit the Indian Markets.

The Rebirth:

It was on May 8, 1886 that Dr. John Pemberton mixed the magic portion of coca cola syrup to carbonated water and sold it for five cents a glass. Pemberton had no clue of what was to become of this fluid that he had formulated. Today coco colas logo is one of the most recognized trademarks in the world. Spread across 200 countries it is the largest producer of nonalcohol carbonized drinks and known for its marketing tactics. Worldwide the category of cola has been built on marketing alone, no matter how much the two biggest players (Pepsi Co & Coca Cola) in this space try to differentiate themselves on the basis of their Formula, lets face it except the amount of sugar content in each of them there is very little to distinguish. Hence these two companies choose their fatal weapons of advertising which has a huge role to play in consumers picking up one over the other. Like most companies in search of untapped markets, Coca Cola Company, Atlanta had a hawks eye on India. The company first made its entry into the Indian market in the year 1956 and made a good fortune. The Indian economy was increasingly regulated and many industries were restricted to the public sector, this movement reached its peak in

Coca Cola re-entered India in 1993, giving its competitor Pepsi Co a huge four year heads up into the Indian market which used this opportunity to capture much of the Indian consumers imagination. The Coca Cola Company knew it had to bridge its absence of 16 years from the Indian market aggressively and quickly, with a two-pronged gambit; one through acquisitions, by cementing itself with the nations top soft-drink brands (Thumbs-Up, Limca etc.) which give instant access to established bottling infrastructure along with good brand portfolio And the second, by turning to the jingles and bringing on celebrity endorsers. During this period the companys marketing department focused on jingles, celebrity endorsements and tag lines to reach out to consumers.

rural market of India represented a major opportunity (96% of Indian population) for market penetration and a battleground for market dominance. Its mantra was Within the arms reach of desire. Additionally, an average coke cost around Rs10 and the average wage for a day was around Rs100, coke was presumed as a luxury that only few could afford. Hence, to cater to the high potential markets the company introduced the 200ml bottle, smaller to the traditional 300ml version at Rs5 only, bridging the gap between coke and the traditional refreshments like tea, lemonade etc. making coke truly accessible. Tag lines like Always the real thing, Pee le coca cola, Thande ka Tadka, Jo chahe ho jye. Coca Cola enjoy backed by celebrities like Karishma Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Amir Khan and Aishwarya Rai had done the trick for the carbonated drink manufacturer.

The Next Decade:

Since 1993-2003, Coca Cola had invested the whooping amount of US$ 1 billion in India, making it one of biggest foreign investors in the country. In 2003, Coca Cola was ranked the # 1 brand in the world and estimated its brand value at $70.45 billion. It believed in a brand positioning strategy called as the 3As Affordability Availability Acceptability

Reaching to the masses and increasing the per capita consumption of cola in the massive landscape of India was the challenge for coke at this point of time. The

Coke had to sketch a unique ad campaign to penetrate into the remotest places of India, this is when the Thanda Matlab Coca Cola happened and took the company one notch up in terms of the connect with the masses of India. This campaign featured actor Amir Khan playing regional roles and helped coke to strengthen its brand equity. The campaign targeted the segment whose

primary needs were out of home thirst quenching.

around Delhi contain a deadly cocktail of pesticides residues.

Thanda meaning cold/cool is also generic for cold beverages in India, giving the campaign multiple meaning of cold refreshments and thirst quencher relating itself as cold Indian beverages like lassi or lemonade. The Thanda campaign became to be known as a gem of a tagline and the most effective by any brand in the softdrink category. In the year 2002-2003, 91% of the sales were made to lower, lowermiddle and upper middle class who largely came from the rural regions of the country.

The company acted immediately by designing a new advertising strategy that included safety guaranteed stickers, newspaper ads, public tours of the Coca Cola plants and the Pesticide controversy campaign featuring Amir Khan to regain its lost trust of the people from the cold drink.

Hitch in the Journey:

On 5 August 2003, the center for science and environment (CSE) issued a report stating 12 major brands of cold drinks sold in and

The company had to redesign strategies to heel from the damage caused due to the controversies of 2003-2006. The new brand development strategy stressed on the so called 3 Ps: Price value Preference Pervasive penetration

Since 2009 Coca Cola Company has been running the Open happiness campaign worldwide, which was adapted by the Indian Market as well. This was the first time that the company adapted a global campaign unlike the traditional tailor made local advertising. This campaign featured Imran Khan who has been a part of the Indian execution; however he was not able to recreate the magic that his uncle Amir had accomplished for the company in 2003.

Then came the Brrr. campaign in 2010, again an adaptation of South Africas brand campaign. "We are coming up with our latest campaign called 'Brrr'. Through this campaign, we are giving the whole experience of having an ice cold drink. The campaign has manifested the spontaneous experience of consumers when they have it," Coca-Cola India Brand Director (CocaCola and Trademark) Avinash Pant said.

However the results of the campaign dont look impressive, is it time to rethink the companys positioning? It seems that Coca Cola Company once known for its killer marketing tactics has lost track in todays spoilt for choice consumers. The biggest question remains, can coke bring back its advertising charm? This will not be easy for the largest softdrink company as it has missed out on the World Cup opportunity, providing its competitor Pepsi a clear path to move far ahead. Still hope remains for the company as they could capitalize on the brands recent association with the Olympics, which could be the ticket for a comeback.

References: Coca Cola India Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth. Paper no:10085, Nov-2004. Argenti, Paul et.al Collaborating with Activists: How Starbucks work with NGOs, California Management Review, Vol 47, No 1, June 2004. Dawar, Niraj and Nancy Dai. Cola Wars in China: The future is here. HBS Case, August 2003. Dey, Saikat. Interview on Indian History and economic Liberalization. January 2005. Global Brand Scorecard 2003: Special Report. Interbrand, as seen in Business week 08/04/2003.