Modern world is the world of marketing as all products, which exist on the market, are not only put there and sold, but had come through the long way with different stages. Market relations are rather complicated and involve a lot of aspects which should be taken into account. Considering the question of the marketing mix, a lot of items should be checked, the main of which are product, place, price, and promotion, which are going to be center of our discussion. Taking any company, which inserts its products to the market, these four elements are the parts of its marketing structure. Let us take The Coca Cola Company and consider the marketing mix inside it.
Product, place, price, and promotion are main items of the marketing structure in the Coca Cola Company and before considering the specific marketing aspects of the Coca Cola Company, it is significant to give the information about these items in general. Product comprises in itself all products and services which exist on the market and which are offered to the customers for the price.
Place means the location of the manufacturing, where the products are sold and the information how the products are distributed from the manufacture to the sell location. Place may also distinguish one company form the other. Price is the amount of money, which was spent on the manufacturing of the product, plus indirect costs and the percentage addition to the price, what is the shop consideration. Promotion is the series of methods which are used to put the product to the market and make customers interested in it (Longest, 2004).
Talking about the question of the marketing mix, there is the tendency to take into consideration one more item to the marketing mix, people, as human resources play one of the main roles in the market relations and take part in all marketing aspects, enumerated above. Human resources are paid a lot of attention in the modern life of marketing relations all the manufacture and marketing are based on the people’s knowledge, skills and experience.
Being more specific, let us consider all the marketing items which were discussed above in reference to the Coca Cola Company which was chosen as the example to make the discussion vivid and full of examples. The Coca Cola Company is a brand in manufacturing beverages and its supply all over the world. The Company has got its approval in the world thanks to the quality of the beverages. Moreover, the marketing also played not the last role in the appreciation of the Coca Cola products on the market.
All products of the Coca Cola Company are required to the global standards and are safe. The Coca Cola Company offers the products which are suitable for people who follow diets (light products which are free from calories). The Company takes part in the nationally tailored nutrition labeling programs in many countries all over the world and insures that any diet in the combination with the high quality beverages from the Coca Cola Company give magnificent results (The Coca Cola Company, 2009). The Coca Cola Company cares about the health and well-being of people and the emotional condition is one of the aspects which the Company wants to add happiness. Those who lead active life may also enjoy the Coca Cola products as they help to refresh. The popular slogan of the 90s comes to the idea, “Image is nothing. Thirst is everything. Obey your thirst”.
A huge amount of different types of the beverages which are offered by the Coca Cola Company are predetermined by the Company’s desire to meet customers’ requirements and wishes. Different people like just water, other want it to be sweet, and so on and so forth. In general, the Coca Cola Company offers 3,000 products in over 200 countries, what confirms its brand name and leading positions in the field of beverages in the whole world.
Describing the products of the Coca Cola Company, it should be mentioned that there are a lot of items which are offered to the customers, such as Coca Cola, Fanta, Sprite, BonAqua, and a lot of others. Coca Cola, Fanta, Sprite, and BonAqua are the products which are present on the markets all over the world, but there are beverages, which are unknown on the most territory of the world and are produced especially for the separate countries. The examples of the exclusively manufactured products are Wilkins (water) is offered in Philippines, Bistrone (soup) in Japan, Real Gold (soft drink) in Japan, Tian Yu Di/Heaven and Earth (Tea) in Hong Kong, Macau (Macao) and Singapore and a lot of other items which are offered in the different parts of the world. (The Coca Cola Company, 2009).
The Coca Cola Company has always been associated with the United States of America and on the first stages of the development of the company, and it has been using it as the advertising. Let us take the slogans like “Americans preferred taste” (1950s), “Look up America, see what we’ve got” (1970s), or “We’ve got a taste for you. America’s real choice – Coca Cola Classic!” (1980s). The Coca Cola products will always be the symbol of America and the quality of the beverages will support the idea of the great and powerful country which is able to locate and promote such huge Company.
The price of any product is formed out of lots of items and aspects and the Coca Cola Company tires to combine a lot of aspects which seem uncombined from the first time. The low price for customers and the high price for sellers are impossible to provide, that is why the Company tires to balance the costs and provide customers with relatively cheap beverages and the workers with the high salary. The price of the product is submitted to the market and merchant relations and laws.
It is not a secret that any product has both direct and indirect costs. Under direct costs the costs of the very raw materials are understood, out of which the beverages are produced. The indirect costs are the inputs which the Company has, that are the manufacturing machines usage, the charges for leasehold and other payments of such style, the labor fee, transportation of the products to the place of sell and other costs. All the extra charges of the company are put on the shoulders of customers.
The Coca Cola Company cares about the price of their products and tries not to make the abrupt skips of the price and do not higher the price without visible reasons. The price composition is rather difficult and complicated affair, and a lot of departments take part in the price construction. First of all, all direct and indirect costs are taken into account, then the company makes the rise according to the brand name, the % to the distribution costs and some other trivial costs which usually exist. There is tendency to type the recommended price on the product, which includes all costs which are possible and should be sold for this price. This measure is the tactics of this company and this allows the company to follow the price (it does not allow to higher the price much what is the step to please the customers).
Promotion is the way how product is introduced to the customers and how it reaches its consumers. The Coca Cola Company makes all possible to show people the quality of their products and make people buy them. The most spread way of product promotion is advertising. Television, radio, magazines, big boards, newspapers, brochures and fliers, and Internet are the main types of places where companies’ advertising may be placed. The modern tendency is to use the advertising in the movies, that is when in the middle of the here and there the bottle of Coca Cola is placed. It becomes very popular to invite a celebrity to the trailer, as customers want to be like their favorite singers or actors and copy their customs with pleasure (the advertisement commonly says that the person likes to drink their beverages). Promotion of the product is a very important marketing part as without which people will never know about the product.
So, the Coca Cola Company cares about its image and makes all possible to meet the customers’ wishes. Product quality, price, the place of distribution and promotion of the product are the main marketing items which comprise the strategy and tactics of the company and make it possible for the company to continue its development in the chosen direction.
Reference List
Longest, B. B. (2004). Managing health programs and projects. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
The Coca Cola Company. (2009). Web.