Marketing Communications Mix
Essay Preview: Marketing Communications Mix
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Introduction
The purpose of this essay is to look at the Marketing Communications Mix, clearly define the meaning of each type and show how Coca Cola, one of the biggest brands on the global market, utilises each method.
Belch, E. and Belch A. describe Integrated Marketing Communications as “a concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communications impact”.
The disciples in the marketing communications include:
Media advertising
Direct Marketing
Sales promotions
Public Relations
Personal selling
The product that has given the world its best-known taste was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. Dr. John Stith Pemberton, a local pharmacist, produced the syrup for Coca-ColaЮ, and carried a jug of the new product down the street to Jacobs Pharmacy, where it was sampled, pronounced “excellent” and placed on sale for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink.
Today Coca Cola has grown into one of the strongest and most recognized brands in the world. Coca-Cola’s brand range includes Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Coke, Sprite, Sprite Light, Fanta, Fanta Light, Fanta Icy Lemon, Lilt, Diet Lilt, Tanora, Deep RiverRock, Vittel, Fruice, Schweppes, Oasis and Powerade and many many more.
Growing importance of IMC:
Shift of moving away from media advertising to other forms of communications.
Shift in power from manufacturers to retailers.
Rapid growth of database marketing.
Rapid growth of the internet
Increasing importance of branding
Advertising
Any paid form of nonpersonal communication about an organization, product, service or idea by an identified sponsor could be described as advertising.
Coca-cola uses mediums such as television in order to advertise the latest marketing campaign “the Coke-side-of-life” and tries creating a fantasy world around the brand. This is clear in the television adverts that are broadcast.
The Coca-Cola Company uses television advertising as its main source of increasing consumer awareness. There are many television advertisements on Coca-Cola products. This source allows the companys products to reach a large audience. The company also uses the radio as another source of advertisement. This is a cheaper source of approach compared to the television. Recently, the company benefited from its involvement in the worlds celebrated games such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. Where millions were watching these games, the business had substantial advertising and promotions of the companys brands.
Advantages:
Advertiser controls the message
Cost effective way to communicate with large audiences
Effective way to create brand images and symbolic appeals
Often can be effective to strike effective chord with customers
Disadvantages:
High cost of producing and running ads
Credibility problems and consumer scepticism
Clutter
Difficulty in determining effectiveness
Advertising to consumer markets
National Advertising
Retail/Local Advertising
Advertising to increase demand
primary demand for the product
selective demand for a specific brand
Business & Professional Advertising:
Business to Business Advertising
Professional Advertising
Trade Advertising
Direct Marketing
A system of Marketing by which organizations communicate directly with targeted customers to generate a response and/or a transaction.
Advantages:
Changes in society made consumers more receptive to direct marketing
Allows customers to be very selective and target specific segments of customers.
Messages can be customised for specific customers
Effectiveness easier to measure
Disadvantages:
Low response rates
Clutter
Image problems — particularly with telemarketing
Direct Advertising Methods:
direct mail
catalogues
telemarketing
direct response ads
direct selling
internet
Sales Promotion
Marketing activities that provide extra value or incentives to the sales force, distributors, or ultimate customers and can stimulate immediate sales.
Consumer oriented:
Targeted on the ultimate users of a product (coupons, sampling, premiums, rebates, contests, POP materials)
Trade oriented:
Targeted towards trade intermediaries