Brand mgmt may be what I am trying to say instead of/in addition to marketing and advertising. Introduce brand management as a concept/thesis. Idea: each time the sale of the company meant monumental increases in what the company poured into brand mgmt/advertising. Thesis needs to include that it is a lifestyle, it is one of life’s simple pleasures, and it is included in every occasion.
One of the icons of America culture is Coca-Cola. It is one of the biggest names and one of the most recognized and powerful brands across the United States and across the globe. It is fascinating how this product, with such humble beginnings, has thrived, by nearly always being positioned impeccably in its marketing and advertising strategies on top of its market as the number one product as a result of quality, marketing and advertising.
Coca-Cola begins its history rather humbly. The “syrup” mixture that made up the first cola drink was developed by a pharmacist, Dr. John Pemberton, in May of 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia.. He took the product to a pharmacy, Jacobs’ Pharmacy, where, after others tasted it and deemed the product “excellent”, - G it was sold for five cents a glass as a fountain soda drink. Later, carbonated water was added to the syrup mixture.
Frank Robinson, Dr. Pemberton’s partner and bookkeeper at the time, came up with the name Coca-Cola; he is also the creator of the infamous Coca-Cola script that is so much a part of Coke’s world wide recognition.
The two began a modest marketing campaign for the cola product. The first steps in marketing Coca-Cola were simple hand painted signs directing people to the new, refreshing beverage available at Jacobs’ Pharmacy. The first newspaper advertisement for Coca-Cola appeared in The Atlanta Journal soon after. Sales averaged about nine drinks per day. B-According to Allen Butler of Associated Content, despite spending $70 for marketing and advertising, Dr. Pemberton had only made about $50 that first year.
Dr. Pemberton had been selling off parts of his businesses over the late years of his life to various business partners, and just a couple of years after its creation, he sold Coca-Cola to businessman Asa G. Candler for $2,300-C. Dr. Pemberton died, basically penniless, in 1888, without so much as a glimpse of the global success his Coca-Cola product eventually achieved.
A-As a sort of pioneer in advertising, Mr. Candler believed in the quality of the product and in the power of marketing, advertising and merchandising, and he began large scale aggressive advertising for his fine tuned product. He invested an unheard of at the time twenty percent of his company’s revenue on advertising, and aiming that advertising toward an almost upper scale class. He proclaimed Coca-Cola to be “Delicious. Refreshing. Exhilarating. Invigorating”.
Such aggressive advertising at the time increased Coke’s sales almost tenfold, and Mr. Candler, along with his brother, John, Frank Robinson, who was Dr. Pemberton’s former partner, and two of his other associates trademarked Coca-Cola and incorporated the business, The Coca-Cola Company.
Under Candler’s guidance and vision, the Coca-Cola product continued to be mass marketed. Coupons for free soft drinks were distributed. The perfect marketing strategy-offer potential customers something for free. What a great way to get people to try a new product – offer them something for free in the hope that they will return for more and become regular paying consumers of the product!
Merchandising also played a key element in Coca-Cola’s continued success. Mr. Candler saw to it that there was plenty of Coca-Cola merchandise available for give aways, such as fans, calendars, clocks and other novelties. He knew that one element of success was in promoting the Coca-Cola name and keeping it in front of consumers. By this time it was being sold at different soda fountain locations, and the demand for the drink was increasing and sales were continuing to climb.
D-By 1919, a group of investors had purchased The Coca-Cola Company for approximately $25 million, and that is also the year that The Coca-Cola Company became a publicly owned company. Common stock at that time sold for $40 a share.
As President of the The Coca-Cola Company, Robert Winship Woodruff stressed the importance of a quality product as well as consistency. No matter where a Coca-Cola is being enjoyed, it must always taste the same. He established a research and development team, and he dispersed his staff to outlets that sold Coca-Cola, training soda fountain workers to correctly serve Coca-Cola. With the increased production of Coca-Cola spawning monumental strides in the bottling industry, it is not surprising that bottle sales surpassed soda fountain sales during Woodruff’s leadership. Using the latest in bottling technology, he ensured that his product was a convenience for his clients, so that they were in a position to easily sell Coca-Cola at their facility to the general public or in coin-operated machines in workplaces. For retailers, Coca-Cola’s creation of the cardboard six-bottle carton in the 1920’s “became one of the industry’s most powerful merchandising tools”. - H
Advertising during Woodruff’s tenure also became more aggressive and sophisticated. He partnered with Archie Lee of the D’Arcy Advertising Agency. While previous owner Candler had targeted his advertising toward the upper class, Mr. Woodruff instead focused on the common man. His goal was that Coca-Cola was to be synonymous with the all-American way of life. – C Under Lee’s direction, advertising positioned the Coca-Cola product as refreshing and a “fun food” - E.
Though years earlier it had been introduced rather informally by American travelers visiting abroad, Coca-Cola’s global presence was felt when they began sponsoring the Olympic Games in 1928. The United States Olympic team arrived in Amsterdam, along with one thousand cases of Coca-Cola. Spectators were introduced to Coca-Cola as both a soda fountain drink and in bottles-H. The Coca-Cola Company continues to be one of the biggest sponsors today.
Production of the Coca-Cola beverage overseas began during World War II. An extremely clever and successful public relations and promotional strategy used by Lee and Woodruff was that, during World War II, the company proclaimed that “every man in uniform would be able to get a bottle of Coke for five cents no matter what the cost to the company”-C. In order to bolster the morale of troops stationed overseas, General Dwight Eisenhower asked that Coca-Cola plants be built near U.S. army bases in Europe and North Africa.
After World War II, when the pendulum hand swung and America was in its period of great prosperity and affluence, it was only fitting that Coca-Cola had become a recognized and powerful brand symbolizing America. It had been through the war. Now it represented home and defined that era. Coca-Cola was synonymous with America.
Partially in response to competition from Pepsi Cola, The Coca-Cola Company rose to the challenge by manufacturing three new lines of soda beverages. The new drink line up included Sprite, TAB (one of the first diet soft drinks) and Fresca, all of which remain in production today.
Responding to the chaos and disorder of the 1960’s, the political crises and the growing outcry for world peace, Coca-Cola produced one of the world’s most famous television commercials ever made in 1971. Filmed in Italy, the commercial focused on a circle of swaying youth from around the world singing from the top of a mountain and proclaiming, “I’d like to buy the world a coke” –F The Coca-Cola Company illustrates the strength of that particular opus by stating how “the deep emotional bond between Coca-Cola and its consumers grew even more powerful and more global”.
The Coca-Cola Company launched its very successful Diet Coke, which remains the best selling diet soft drink and third best selling soft drink today (J). However, it was not so successful when a few years later in the mid-80s when it tried to monkey with the original cola formula and introduced what was appropriately called New Coke. The company had maintained the integrity of the original “secret” recipe used since the beginning of the century, and the general public did not hesitate to convey its unhappiness with the new version of an old favorite. The Coca-Cola Company listened to its consumers, quickly reintroduced Coca-Cola Classic and within a few short years, New Coke was discontinued and “universally considered the biggest consumer product blunder of the 1980’s, but it was also considered the biggest perspective as a positive thing, because of the massive amount of free publicity that the Coke brand received from the debacle.” – C As the old saying goes, there is no bad publicity.
Over the course of their hundred plus year history, The Coca-Cola Company has stood the test of time and still represents the American way of life today. With its successful marketing and promotion and attention to ensuring nothing less than a quality product, The Coca-Cola Company continues to give consumers the product and quality that they demand by evolving with the times.
I know my works cited page is a mess – I still have to figure out how to do this
A -http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/56875/history_of_cocacola_and_their_advertising.html?cat=22
B-
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/37117/a_history_of_cocacola.html?cat=22
C-http://www.answers.com/topic/the-coca-cola-company
D-http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/chronicle_man_named_woodruff.html
E-http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snpmech4.htm
F-http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/businesses/A-F/Coca-Cola-Company.html
G-http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/chronicle_birth_refreshing_idea.html
H-http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/chronicle_man_named_woodruff.html
J http://www.virtualvender.cocla-cola.com/ft/index.jsp
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