Coca Cola Integrated Marketing Communications

Introduction
Integrated marketing communications also referred to as IMC, is a marketing approach that incorporates coordination of advertising tactics such as ingenious promotion ideas, aimed at conveying clear messages about a particular product to the targeted consumers, for sales purposes. The today world dictates a business-conscious perspective about life, and every corporate body is looking for ways to fit in the global market platform. IMC appears just to be a way of driving the companies’ profits to a standout rank, and Coca Cola Company is a case in point ( Shimp, 2010).
This paper examines how Coca Cola Company has thrived through the execution of integrated marketing strategies and how consumers have benefited as a result.
Coca Cola Company’s Integrated Marketing Communications
Conducting integrated marketing communications was meant to distinguish this company from its competitors. Therefore, it became a matter of great concern for the company to outdo similar companies in order to remain in the global market. This is why; social marketing, sales promotion and creation of awareness through TV commercials, internet, media, organizing related campaigns and printed banners for advertisement, became a pressing strategy for the company.
In reference to Coca-cola Company (2012), incorporation of integrated marketing communications by the coca cola company has played a substantial role in ensuring that the company’s profits are highly escalated not only to nourish the company’s interest, but also to achieve a close to 100% consumer satisfaction. This is inline with the marketing plans that the company has put in place to communicate a message that covers both the society and positioning of the product. On this note, the company has shown complete commitment addressing both the consumer needs and societal outlook, through social media engagement and collective marketing ways that foster social responsibility.
Various Sales Promotion Strategies that Coca Cola Company Employs
Sales promotion as an element of integrated marketing communications leans more on branding coca cola drinks to appear more improved, more enhanced and way better in comparison. The idea is to give the consumer a reason to choose coca cola over other soft drinks. As a marketing strategy, this was geared towards ensuring that Coca Cola Company flourishes top above her competitors. Therefore, the company employs the following ways that make sales promotion to take another level:
Appropriate product display
The compactness and appearance of the product before the eyes of the consumers makes a difference on a marketing stand point. Reason being, it’s only natural for someone to be compelled to go for such a product even when the idea seem irrational at the moment; maybe because of priorities. For this reason, the company is making this strategy an initiative, urging retailers across the world to ensure proper display in shelves (Coca-Cola Company, 2012).
Trade Discount and Free Samples
In a situation where one has to choose between two competing product, say with almost the same prices, one with a free sample attached to it and the other without; its common knowledge that the person in question will go for one with the free sample. The idea here is to exhaust even the slightest available aspect that might seem to make a product better that the rest. This approach seems to be working just fine for the coca-cola company. On a related level, discounting techniques is just another way to go about it (Coca-Cola Company, 2012).
Influence of Market Research, Marketing Information Systems and Technology on Integrated Marketing Strategies
According to Howard (2007), conducting a market research entails making a marketing decision based on a given statistics. It mainly addresses precise issues that the company would want to find out at a particular moment; say a new product’s name. The company introduced Diet Coke and Coke Zero, no sugar and reduced to zero calories, considering difference in tastes and preferences and current health issues, due to obesity and weight gain. One way or another, market research is relevant for decision making.
Over the years, information systems and technology have proven to be an aspect that enhances conveyance of company’s information to the intended users. This is directly related to technology that keeps advancing by the day, making digital marketing possible. Information systems and technology, entails the use of the internet in carrying out business transactions. Through this, coca-cola company was able to reach the outside world through communication without any time restrictions (Stratmann ,2011)..
How Sales Promotion Strategies Differ Across Product Offerings
Coca cola has managed to expand her boundaries on every level hence gaining great prominence all over the world. For some reasons the company has experienced impenetrability’s in attempts to successfully brand its products. The 1980 flavor situation is a case in point. With all the greatness that the company is commemorating, a pronounced American number still choose Pepsi a million times over coca cola. This has made the company to opt for one of its kind measures, geared towards sales promotion (Coca-cola Company, 2012).
 
 
How the Company Get its Products or Services to Customers
According to the Coca Cola Company products (n.d), the company has two major strategies that necessitate sales of the product. One involves the use of retailers to conduct the sales. The products are transported directly from manufacturing area to the stores. The other one is whereby the food industry is made part of the promotion procedure. Restaurants have come up with menus that include coca cola products in the foods being offered.
How Marketing and Sales Have Leveraged to Produce Results
In a manufacturing company, competition is the key word that relates sales and marketing to better creativity, more rapidly growth and elevated profits .Coca Cola Company has figured out strategies that leverages the market share competition through sales and marketing. This is inline with the measures that the company has put in place to become one of the world’s most exclusive brands: the unique distinct coca cola logo that dates back in 1923 has been in operation until today. This is a technique that has made the company to stand out in a world of massive competition.
Secondly, is the fact that consumer price rotates at a flat figure. Unlike other companies within the same line of production, coca cola has managed to maintain her prices within the range of affordability. Thirdly, is the packaging procedure adopted by the company. The coke glass bottles have been designed to look exactly like the cocoa pod. Why? Significance is drawn to the idea of promoting the image of the face of coca cola and linking it to cocoa pod basing on similarities of name. The reason behind the plastic bottle repackaging was to put meaning to portability, where someone can easily carry the drinks to a desired destination without any restriction. Last but not the least; the company has incorporated food industry in the marketing and promotion techniques. Restaurants are now attaching a price on specific foods with an inclusion of a bottle of coca cola, hence a benefit to the company (Lamb, et al.  2009).
Conclusion
Integrated marketing communications has helped coca cola to expand operations worldwide. Working with a goal that guarantees contentment to the public, Coca-Cola Company has managed to give people a sigh of relief by being a part of initiatives that provide relevant help to the victims of natural calamities across the world. IMC, has taken this company to incredible lengths that have confirmed that a good number of people have become immediate beneficiaries of the approach. To add word to it, sales promotion an aspect of IMC has opened job opportunity doors for those in need.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
References

Coca-cola Company, (2012) Coca Cola Integrated Marketing Communications

Retrieved October 3, 2017 from http://softdrinkcolawar.blogspot.co.ke/2012/12/coca-cola-intergrated-marketing.html
The Coca Cola Company Products.(n.d.) Coca Cola zero. Retrieved October 3, 2017 from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/brands/index.html?WT.cl=1&WT.mm=footer3-prodinfo-red_en_US
Howard Theresa (2007). Coke finally scores another winner. USA Today. Retrieved October 3, 2017  from http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2007-10-28-coke-zero_N.htm
 
Lamb, W. Charles, Hair, F. Joseph and McDaniel Carl. (2009). The Essentials of Marketing. South-Western Cengage Learning. USA. Retrieved October 3, 2017 from http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=9Kf_O1eI0J4C&pg=PA215&dq=psychographic+segmentation&hl=en&ei=AqnLTcvnEYSJrAeQr4iJBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=psychographic%20segmentation&f=false
Stratmann Jo (2011). Coca-Cola Cut Ad Spend By 6.6% And Invest More In Social Media. Retrieved October 3, 2017 from
http://www.business2community.com/consumer-marketing/coca-cola-cut-ad-spend-by-6-6-and-invest-more-in-social-media-020090
Shimp, A. Terence. (2010). Advertising, Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications. South-Western Cengage Learning. USA. Retrieved October 3, 2017 from  http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=wUB9cczGxiAC&pg=PA7&dq=marketing+communication+tools&hl=en&ei=XMLLTamrBtGxrAfIu9iJBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=marketing%20communication%20tools&f=false