According to the American Advertising Association, advertising
is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and
services through the mass media and with an identifiable sponsor. So
advertising is not just about making known in order to sell as propounded by
Frank Jefkins.
Coca cola bottling company producers of coca cola,
fanta and sprite as we all know is one of world’s most popular companies.
Their
foremost product, coca cola was first introduced in 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia
and has since been a catalyst for social interaction and inspired innovation.
Thirsty consumers worldwide now enjoy coca cola company
products 1.7 billion times every single day- about 19,400 beverages every
second.
May 8 1886, coca cola was created by john pemberton and
served at Jacob’s pharmacy. nine drinks aday were sold during this year.
The
company’s accountant, frank robinson
named the drink coca cola because he thought the two ‘C’s would look
well in advertising.
By 1888 asa candler begun acquiring personal control of
coca cola formula and patents from john pemberton.
Calenders were first used for advertising by asa
candler and after 1892, he focused his energies exclusively on producing coca
cola.
Today, coca cola is one of the world’s strongest brands
ever, having huge presence on the various continents having more innovations
like sprite and fanta joining the family.
But if this is so, why should the company continue to
advertise?
Coca cola should continue to advertise to increase
awareness.
Frequently advertising reaches more consumers and increase market
share. Frequency builds awareness; awareness builds familiarity and familiarity
builds trust.
It is believed that your audience needs to be exposed to your
advert 2.5 times to sink in and build awareness. Just like dieting, advertising
gets the best results over time. each advert builds on prior brand recognition.
Secondly coca cola must advertise to announce a change
in the product. Since 1886 when coca cola begun, the product has gone through a
number of significant changes till now.
Even though coca cola is still a
beverage drink, the product has been transforming through the churning out of
new additions. The coke light for instance was launched to add a new flavor.
The coke light has no sugar and most preferred for diabetic patients. This is
an addition and must be advertised to grasp a new market and by so, they
increase their market share.
Coca Cola Company may advertise after introducing a totally
new product but in the same product category.
In the same beverage products
zone, the company will need to advertise a newly introduced product. For instance,
sprite and fanta are all products of coca cola bottling company.
Minute made
fruit juice is also their product and there is the need to advertise such a
product when being introduced to the market.
Additionally, the company may advertise to announce a
price change. I am sure when coca cola started in the 1880’s; the price of the
product is not the same till now.
The prevailing economic situations are
different now. It is logical to increase the price of a product when the cost
of production goes up, hence the need to advertise.
Similarly the company may
advertise a price change if they are offering a promotion within a specific
period. For instance coca cola even though sold at 1cedi may be sold for
50pesewas within a period of promotion or a raffle.
Another
point is that it important to advertise to beat competition. Several soft
drinks like pepsi cola, mirinda and other similar products are all competing
for a market.
Maintaining a market share and subsequently increasing it is
derived from continuous advertisement; that is, the more you advertise; the
popular the product gains recognition in the minds of consumers hence increase
in awareness and patronage.
It
is also important for coca cola to advertise in a newly identified market to
make in rolls as a ‘new comer’ or a fresher.
Whenever a product is introduced
to a new market, there is the need for conscious efforts geared at making their
presence felt through promotional channels.
For instance in 1994 when the South
African bottling company (sabco) was given the coca cola franchise to operate
in Africa, there were conscious advertising efforts to announce its presence.
Another
interesting aspect of advertising is that today’s ad may influence but tomorrow’s will close the deal for a lukewarm prospect. Like pushing a ball
up a hill, it is better to push slowly than to push quickly and run out of
energy halfway up. Hence the need for coca cola to continuously advertise till
the product gains the total control and influence the company is looking for.
Apart
from the above mentioned reasons, the issue of product life cycle has a link
with continuous advertisement. All products and
services have certain life cycles. The life cycle refers to the period from the
product’s first launch into the market until its final withdrawal and it is
split up in phases. During this period significant changes are made in the way
that the product is behaving into the market i.e. its reflection in respect of
sales to the
company
that introduced it into the market. Since an increase in profits is the major
goal
of a company that introduces a product into a market, the product’s life cycle
management
is very important. Here conscious promotional efforts must be made to push the
product to gain strong market share.
The understanding of a product’s life cycle
can help a company to understand and realize when it is time to introduce and
withdraw a product from a market.
The processes
include Product development, Product introduction, Product growth, Product
maturity and finally Product decline. In all these phases especially the first
four, will need advertisement to enable the product gain a large market share.
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