Brand management

Brand management involves a number of important aspects such as cost, customer

satisfaction, in-store presentation, and competition. Brand management is built on a marketing
foundation, but focuses directly on the brand and how that brand can remain favorable to
customers. Proper brand management can result in higher sales of not only one product, but
on other products associated with that brand. For example, if a customer loves Pillsbury
biscuits and trust. the brand, he or she is more likely to try other products offered by the
company such as chocolate chip cookies.
Brand management is
Disciplines > Brand management > Brand management is
The total approach | Creating the promise | Making the promise | Keeping the promise
The total approach
Brand management starts with understanding what ' brand' really means. This begins with
the leaders of the company who define the brand and control its management. It also
reaches all the way down the company and especially to the people who interface with
customers or who create the products which customers use.
Brand management performed to its full extent means starting and ending the
management of the whole company through the brand. It is simply far too important to
leave to the marketing department. The CEO should be (and, in fact, always is) the brand
leader of the company.
Creating the promise
Creating the promise means defining the brand. A good brand promise is memorable and
desirable. It cannot be effective if nobody remembers it, and is no good either if nobody
wants it!
A good brand promise evokes feelings, because feelings drive actions. Volvo offers
feelings of safety. Mustang offers feelings of excitement.
The promise must be unique and identified with you alone. Within an industry, promises
can be very close, but if you want any hope of success, you must stake out the very
specific territory of your promise and know clearly how it is different from the promises
of other firms.
The right promise is not just something you make up on a Friday afternoon. It comes
through a deep understanding of your marketplace and your customers. It also comes
from a deep understanding of the capabilities and motivations of the people in your
company. Creating a promise you cannot consistently keep, year after year, is plain
suicide.
Making the promise
Once you have created the promise, the next (and not so trivial) step is to somehow inject
it into the minds of your customers, your staff and everyone who receives anything from
you or has any impact on what you deliver.
This is where marketing people come into their own. Although it is still not their sole
preserve, a large part of marketing, which includes advertising and PR, is about
positioning the company and its products in the minds of customers and against your
competitors.

Keeping the promise

Creating and making the right promise is one thing, but then you have to keep it. If you
do not, you brand will still exist, but now the promise will be of slipshod products and
inconsistent delivery.
Keeping promises means managing capability. It means consistent processes that are
capable of delivering what is required. It means technology and systems which are
reliable and usable. It means motivated people who are willing and able to deliver the
goods.
A function of marketing that uses techniques to increase the perceived value of a product
line or brand over time. Effective brand management enables the price of products to go
up and builds loyal customers through positive brand associations and images or a strong
awareness of the brand. Developing a strategic plan to maintain brand equity or gain
brand value requires a comprehensive understanding of the brand, its target market and
the company's overall vision.
Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/brand-management.asp#ixzz1yQ0tMOYk

Brand Management

Overview
Brand management is difficult to define because the actual job description varies widely
across the vast universe of consumer products companies. Many CPG companies have at
least one thing in common, though: Theyre part of huge conglomerates that produce
many name-brand products. Size gives them economies of scale, and a diversity of
products gives them protection against down cycles. Which is not to say that small momand-pop, mail-order pickle-and-jam companies dont crop up every now and then and
make a serious go of it. They do. They arent where the majority of the jobs are, howeverat least, not until Unilever or Nestl takes them over.

The basic analogy for brand management is that brands are treated like businesses within
the company, and brand managers are essentially small business owners. The job
involves:
.Monitoring the competitive landscape of the category in which your brand resides.
. Developing strategies to exploit market opportunities.
. Executing those strategies with the help of a cross-functional team.
. Delivering the sales volume, market share, and profit projections for the business.

Brand managers craft elegant business plans and submit them to senior management.
Then, when the price of the key ingredient in their product goes through the roof because
of locust plagues, they rewrite the business plan from scratch with many more
contingencies. They focus on the minutiae of a daily sales-volume report, and they dream
big dreams when its time to update the vision for the brand. They approach upper-level
management for capital to fund a new product launch or a line extension in much the
same way that small business owners go to venture capitalists or banks to fund
expansion.
Requirements

Brand management is considered part of the marketing function, and most aspiring brand
managers have had some experience in advertising, promotions, or sales. However,
consumer packaged goods companies are very interested in candidates who have honed
their analytical and leadership skills in other disciplines, including consulting, investment
banking, or strategic planning. If you have no previous experience in marketing, a
summer internship can be enormously helpful. Many companies offer summer
internships, which often result in a job offer after graduation.
Recruiters look for leadership, analytical skills, problem solving ability, teamwork, and
creativity. Successful applicants should have at least an undergraduate degree in business,
liberal arts, or a related field. Philosophy majors and engineers are equally welcome to
apply, if they can demonstrate skills in the five areas just mentioned. Most companies
look for candidates with at least a 3.5 GPA. The more work experience and leadership

and teamwork experience (in a sorority/fraternity, school club, or sports team) you can
show, the better.
Job Outlook

Record-high gasoline prices and generic competitors able to cheaply replicate brand
name goods have stuck CPG companies between a rock and a hard place. These market
pressures have led to budget cuts, weakened revenues, and stock declines. Recent product
price increases at Campbell Soup, Starbucks, Hershey Foods, Clorox, and General Mills
attest to the strain large consumer products companies are under to remain profitable. Yet,
at most companies, the increased competition has made brand management more
valuable than ever. Brand management was once an exotic practice known only to the
CPG industry, but now companies in a wide array of industries are finding value in wellmanaged brands. Companies are also finding branding useful in more corporate
functions. Human resources departments are fretting over the internal branding needed to
attract employees and keep them loyal. The boom in new ways to reach consumers-video
on the web, satellite radio, and blogs to name the most recent-also requires brand
managers to keep pumping branding messages through the endless capillaries of media.
And thanks to these increased venues for marketing, as well as more uses for branding
within companies and in more industries, job opportunities for brand managers have
expanded.

Employment in the field of marketing is expected to increase faster than average-at over
27 percent- through 2014. The BLS says this sustained job growth will be supported by
increasingly intense domestic and global competition in consumer products and services.
It also cautions budding marketers, however, to expect increased competition for fulltime corporate marketing positions as marketing projects (including brand management)
are increasingly outsourced to ad agencies and contract specialists.
Brand managers who were able to hang onto their jobs through the most recent recession
have been forced to work with drastically reduced budgets, leaving them hard-pressed to
deliver the major product wins they need to advance their companies-and careers. On the
other hand, brand managers with specialized scientific or industry expertise may find
they are better poised to land plum positions with major ad agencies as the economy
continues on an upswing.
Career Tracks

The career track at most companies features plenty of opportunities for cross-functional

experience and varied work assignments. At some companies, experience in functions

other than marketing has become a prerequisite for advancement. One brand management
professional reports that in her 25- year career at Procter & Gamble, she has held seven
different jobs in departments ranging from marketing to cost accounting to corporate
recruiting.
Despite flexibility in career path development, there are clearly defined entry-level
positions: marketing analyst (undergraduates), assistant brand manager (MBAs), or sales
representative (undergraduates). The path from marketing analyst to assistant brand
manager to brand manager is a progression from executing to developing strategy.
Continuing along the path involves a shift from participating in cross-functional teams to
leading them, and from monitoring a business budget to assuming profit and loss
responsibility. At some point along this path, most companies send aspiring managers out
into the field for extensive sales training, a.k.a. the reality check.

The annals of brand management are full of tales of brilliant strategy that the sales
force couldnt execute in a store. In general, marketing analysts support multiple small
businesses or one big one; assistant brand managers run a small business; and brand
managers manage one large business or a portfolio of two or three smaller ones.
Marketing directors, a catchall term for the levels beyond brand manager, oversee a major
portfolio of brands.
Marketing Analyst

The marketing analyst or assistant position is the entry level for recent college graduates.
Supporting a few brand managers or assistant brand managers, a marketing analyst must
balance tasks to keep everybody smiling. You may work on one major brand (say, Diet
Coke) or a group of smaller brands. Most of your work will involve poring through reams
of data. Yes, you will have the opportunity to sit in on divisional meetings and strategy
sessions, but the bulk of your work will be more tactical, a euphemism for number
crunching. Know how to balance a budget? Yearn to construct a competitive analysis?
Ever wonder who tracks how many premiums consumers order? Duties such as these will
soon consume your life. Successful marketing analysts execute assignments efficiently
and accurately. Big-picture strategy work comes later.
Typical Responsibilities:
. Assist in business reviews, including competitive analysis

. Benchmark competitors
. Manage budgets
. Proofread advertising copy
. Run errands
. Get signatures
. Inventory the supply closet
. Teach the divisional VP how to make PowerPoint slides
Assistant Brand Manager
With MBA in hand, youre ready to conquer the world. Sorry, but youll have to postpone
those grandiose plans. For now, youll spend anywhere from two to four years
discovering the wonderful world of consumer product marketing and learning the way
business is done at your chosen company. As an assistant brand manager, its your job to
coordinate the various marketing functions-including packaging, advertising, promotions,
and public relations-to execute the marketing plan.
The good news is that you are the one person at the company ultimately responsible for
that one product. The bad news is that the buck stops at your desk. In the course of
executing the marketing plan, you will head up a number of cross-functional teams that
work on various parts of your business. For example, a product improvement project may
bring together R&D, marketing research, packaging, finance, and operations. A change in
your consumer promotion plan might require a coordinated effort between representatives
from promotions and operations. Operations? You dont want to change the dates on a
coupon drop without checking with operations to ensure that the factory is producing
enough product to cover the increased demand.

Dont worry, you will have an opportunity to develop marketing plans of your own, but a
tremendous amount of your time is spent carrying out the previous managers big ideas
and responding to directives from upper management. Youll understand your place in a
big company very clearly after your marketing director slashes your carefully crafted
consumer promotion plan in the back half of the year to cover the costs of a coupon
redemption overrun on another brand in her portfolio.

Assistant brand managers shift gears all day long. One minute theyre brainstorming new
promotion ideas, the next theyre wading through monthly volume projections.
Typical Responsibilities:

. Lead cross-functional teams that carry out the daily work on the business
. Manage marketing analysts and administrative assistants
. Develop marketing plan to review brand performance and meet volume and profit
projections

. Participate in the life of the company by interviewing prospective candidates, attending

recruiting functions, sitting on planning committees, and volunteering in corporate
outreach programs
. Demonstrate leadership and analytical skills to senior management
. Manage qualitative and quantitative market research projects
Brand Manager

Congratulations! Youre now responsible for the performance of a major brand or a

portfolio of two to three smaller brands. You also take on additional responsibilities at the
business unit, division, or corporate level. These responsibilities might range from
serving on a companywide task force that is reviewing trade spending across different
brands to leading the recruiting team at your alma mater. You are also responsible for the
performance of the marketing analysts and assistant brand managers who work on
your business.

In fact, at some companies, up to 50 percent of managers performance evaluations can

be devoted to assessing their contribution to their subordinates development. In addition
to an increase in salary, freshly minted brand managers often receive attractive
performance incentives that tie year-end bonuses to a combination of their brands
performance and the companys performance. Critics argue that these performance
incentives lead managers to sacrifice long-term brand-building initiatives in favor of
short-term profit-taking, but no one predicts a change any time soon.
Typical Responsibilities:

. Assume leadership of the cross-functional team working on a major brand or group of

smaller brands, and accept profit and loss responsibility for the business
. Segue from executing tactics to developing strategy to selling it to senior management
. Participate in companywide initiatives, such as steering committees and policy review
boards

. Manage assistant brand managers, analysts, and administrative assistants

Marketing Director

Ready to run a business? Then youre right on track to become a marketing director. In
this role, youll be responsible for a whole business unit, guiding overall strategy by
coordinating the efforts of brand managers and assistant brand managers and ensuring
that the brand teams remain focused on the key strategic issues. Its your job to
communicate with the executive wing, and to ensure that your brands receive the
resources and capital they need to grow. Because youre responsible for the business
units P&L (thats profit and loss), the workload can be heavy at times, but your generous
compensation package justifies the effort.
Youll be expected to make big-picture entrepreneurial decisions as a marketing director,
and your company will hold you responsible for the outcomes of those decisions. As a
marketing director, youll make key contacts in ad agencies, the media, consulting firms,
your industry, and the marketing field in general, and these contacts will serve you well
as an entrepreneur or consultant. Through them youll gain access to the services, people,
research, ideas, and exposure you need to make your own company or consulting
ventures successful. A marketing director position is one of the best-paid, most rewarding
opportunities for on-the-job training youll find in the business world.
Typical Responsibilities:

. Strategy development for entire business unit and/or product division

. Managing portfolio of brands, and shouldering profit and loss responsibility for the
business
. Budget allocation and oversight, with responsibility to reallocate resources as necessary
to track financial goals across a brand portfolio
. Managing a team of brand managers and assistants responsible for cross-functional
teams that develop and implement appropriate brand strategies
. Determine acceptable business unit profit and loss, and make course corrections, where
needed, to track financial and strategic corporate positioning goals
Editorial objectives

Journal of Product & Brand Management is an academic journal written for both
practitioners and scholars. The objective of the journal is to publish articles that enrich

the practice of product and brand management while simultaneously making significant
contributions to knowledge of product and brand issues.
Editorial criteria

Manuscripts must offer meaningful implications and recommendations for practitioners,

but also must be conceptually or theoretically sound and offer significant research
findings or insights. Where manuscripts report the findings of original research, the
methodology and findings should be scientifically defensible and presented clearly and to
the extent that readers with limited backgrounds in research methods and statistical
analyses are not discouraged from reading the article.
Research is not the only basis for an acceptable article. Case analyses, book reviews, and
other thought-provoking manuscripts are encouraged. Article cases of an international
nature are especially welcome. The editorial goal is to create a journal of relevance to an
international audience. To do this we seek articles from all parts of the world. Particularly
welcome are manuscripts which address product and brand issues from the perspective of
comparative international markets.
In Brand Management, if Apple's the New P&G, What the Hell is P&G?
If theres any doubt whos the best brand manager on the planet, consider the hysteria
brewing over the iPhone 5. Will it be taller? Thinner? Will its screen be four inches or
3.5999? Whats that tiny mystery opening next to the lens? Is this photo real or fake
anyway?
iPhone 5 isnt expected out till the fourth quarter but the level of interest no,
breathlessness over the slightest possible deviation from past models has got to make it
the biggest, baddest product line extension in marketing history. Think about it. Other
companies couldnt pay to gin up this kind of buzz. All Apple (AAPL) does is shut up
make really good stuff and try to keep a lid on it. Its pure marketing genius. Its whats
made Apple todays Procter & Gamble (PG) a beacon to marketers everywhere.

data by YCharts
But if Apples the new P&G, whats P&G? A brand management machine, right? Nope.
While Apples been single-mindedly focused on improving products, P&G has been
frenetically trying to grow in every possible direction. Until last week, CEO Bob
McDonalds growth strategy has been to expand distribution beyond its 180-plus
countries, up and down all price points, into all seven major retail channels (from four);
filling out its product lines to be, on average, in 24 product categories in each country
versus 19. In short, as Bob McDonald explained, in last years 10-K, if you grow
something this big just a little bit in any direction theres bound to be a nice bump to
the bottom line.
Whats missing? The very feature that made P&G unique (marketing 101): fastidious
Brand Management. The kind of attention to detail that goes into an iPhone or makes
Tide, Tide . . . odd, Bob McDonald, a P&G lifer, was once brand manager of Tide.
Last quarter, something unheard of happened at P&G. It lost global market share in most
of its major product segment categories. It got a bump all right but in developing
markets, which wasnt enough to offset volume declines in big, slow but critically big
developed markets. Those are the ones hardest to budge especially with boring stuff
people take for granted even if its Tide, Crest, Charmin.
As P&G raised prices in mature markets, volumes fell. The outcome was an unfortunate
negative mix that reduced net income 15% to $2.4 billion. Net sales rose 2%, to $20.2
billion, 5% of which was pricing. At a company like P&G, this IS brand management a
balancing act of pricing, advertising, promotion and distribution and its why focused
brand management matters. If your product isnt an iPhone, youd better know how to
tweak price without losing share. Since the quarter ended, P&G has rolled back prices yet
again.
AAPL Revenues TTM

10

data by YCharts
Bob McDonald is a big believer in innovation, as reflected in P&Gs $2 billion annual
R&D budget that he likes to point out exceeds most of its competitors budgets combined.
Our experience has proven that price promotion may win a quarter here and there, but
innovation wins decades, he explained in last years annual report. But innovation also
takes focus. And while P&G has some hits, single serve Tide pods arent iPods.
The third quarter performance (including rising costs and contracting margins) was
apparently the wakeup call that triggered a major change of direction announced last
week. At the Citigroup (C) Global Consumer Conference, CFO Jon Moeller unveiled
some major adjustments to the Bob McDonald Purpose-driven growth plan namely a
halt to expansion until the company gets a grip. See here for YCharts recent look at the
P&G dividend situation.
PG Revenues TTM

11

PG data

by YCharts
In retrospect we may have overextended ourselves a bit with the pace of our portfolio
and geographic expansions, he said. So its back to basics with all the focus on core
markets, starting with an assessment of the nitty gritty price points, product portfolios,
innovation, marketing support to determine whether theyre getting adequate resources
and attention. We will not spend a dollar outside of our core businesses until we are
broadly sufficient to win in these markets, he said.
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4.
Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product
line, or brand.
The discipline of brand management was started at Procter & Gamble as a result of a famous
memo[1] by Neil H. McElroy.[2]
4.1Product (business)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" [1] or the "result
of an act or a process",[2] and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prdce(re)
'(to) lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything
produced.[3] Since 1695, the word has referred to "thing or things produced".[4]
In economics and commerce, products belong to a broader category of goods. The economic
meaning of product was first used by political economist Adam Smith.
In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want
or need.[5] In retailing, products are called merchandise. In manufacturing, products are
purchased as raw materials and sold as finished goods. Commodities are usually raw materials
such as metals and agricultural products, but a commodity can also be anything widely
available in the open market. In project management, products are the formal definition of
the project deliverables that make up or contribute to delivering the objectives of the project.
In insurance, the policies are considered products offered for sale by the insurance
company that created the contract.
A related concept is subproduct, a secondary but useful result of a production process.
Dangerous products, particularly physical ones, that cause injuries to consumers or
bystanders may be subject to product liability.
Contents
1 Product classification

13

1.1 By use
1.2 By association
1.3 National and international product classifications
2 Model
3 See also
4 Footnotes
Product classification
PRODUCT' can be classified as tangible or intangible.

A tangible product is a physical

object that can be perceived by touch such as a building, vehicle, gadget, or clothing. An
intangible product is a product that can only be perceived indirectly such as an insurance
policy.
Intangible Data Products can further be classified into Virtual Digital Goods ("VDG")
that are virtually located on a computer OS and accessible to users as conventional file
types, such as JPG and MP3 files, without requiring further application process or
transformational work by programmers, and as such the use may be subject to licence
and/or rights of digital transfer, and Real Digital Goods ("RDG") that may exist within
the presentational elements of a data program independent of a conventional file type,
commonly viewed as 3-D objects or a presentational item subject to user control or
virtual transfer within the same visual media program platform. Open Source Code, GNU
Linux, or even Android, may manipulate and/or convert base Virtual Digital Goods
("VDG") into process-oriented Real Digital Goods ("RDG"), as part of an application
process or manufactured service that may be viewed on Personal Data Assistant ("PDA")
or other hand-held tangible devices or OS computer.
By use

In its online product catalog, retailer Sears, Roebuck and Company divides its products into
"departments", then presents products to potential shoppers according to (1) function or
(2) brand.[6] Each product has a Sears item-number and a manufacturer's model-number.
Sears uses the departments and product groupings with the intention of helping customers
browse products by function or brand within a traditional Raj department-store structure.[7]
By association

A product line is "a group of products that are closely related, either because they
function in a similar manner, are sold to the same customer groups, are marketed through
the same types of outlets, or fall within given price ranges." [8] Many businesses offer a
range of product lines which may be unique to a single organization or may be common
across the business's industry. In 2002 the US Census compiled revenue figures for the
finance and insurance industry by various product lines such as "accident, health and
medical insurance premiums" and "income from secured consumer loans". [9] Within the
insurance industry, product lines are indicated by the type of risk coverage, such as auto
insurance, commercial insurance and life insurance.[10]
National and international product classifications

Various classification systems for products have been developed for economic statistical
purposes. The NAFTA signatories are working on a system that classifies products called
NAPCS as a companion to North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).[11] The
European Union uses a "Classification of Products by Activity" among other product
classifications.[12] The United Nations also classifies products for international economic
activity reporting.[13]
The Aspinwall Classification System [14][15]classifies and rates products based on five
variables:
14

Replacement rate (How frequently is the product repurchased?)

Gross margin (How much profit is obtained from each product?)
Buyer goal adjustment (How flexible are the buyers' purchasing habits with regard to this
product?)
Duration of product satisfaction (How long will the product produce benefits for the
user?)
Duration of buyer search behavior (How long will consumers shop for the product?)
The National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP)[16] developed a commodity and
services classification system for use by state and local governments, the NIGP Code.[17]
The NIGP Code is used by 33 states within the United States as well as thousands of
cities, counties and political subdivisions. The NIGP Code is a hierarchical schema
consisting of a 3 digit class, 5 digit class-item, 7 digit class-item-group and an 11 digit
class-item-group-detail.[18] Applications of the NIGP Code include vendor registration,
inventory item identification, contract item management, spend analysis and strategic
sourcing.raj
Model

A manufacturer usually provides an identifier for each particular type of product they
make, known as a model, model variant, or model number. For example, Dyson Ltd, a
manufacturer of appliances (mainly vacuum cleaners), requires customers to identify
their model in the support section of the website.[19] Brand and model can be used together
to identify products in the market. The model number is not necessarily the same as the
manufacturer part number (MPN).[20]
A specific unit of a product is usually identified by a serial number.
4.2

Product lining is the marketing strategy of offering for sale several related products. Unlike
product bundling, where several products are combined into one, lining involves offering
several related products individually. A line can comprise related products of various
sizes, types, colors, qualities, or prices. Line depth refers to the number of product
variants in a line. Line consistency refers to how closely related the products that make
up the line are. Line vulnerability refers to the percentage of sales or profits that are
derived from only a few products in the line.
The number of different product lines sold by a company is referred to as width of
product mix. The total number of products sold in all lines is referred to as length of
product mix. If a line of products is sold with the same brand name, this is referred to as
family branding. When you add a new product to a line, it is referred to as a line extension.
When you add a line extension that is of better quality than the other products in the line,
this is referred to as trading up or brand leveraging. When you add a line extension that
is of lower quality than the other products of the line, this is referred to as trading down.
When you trade down, you will likely reduce your brand equity. You are gaining short-term
sales at the expense of long term sales.
Image anchors are highly promoted products within a line that define the image of the
whole line. Image anchors are usually from the higher end of the line's range. When you
add a new product within the current range of an incomplete line, this is referred to as
line filling.
Price lining is the use of a limited number of prices for all your product offerings. This is
a tradition started in the old five and dime stores in which everything cost either 5 or 10
cents. Its underlying rationale is that these amounts are seen as suitable price points for a
15

whole range of products by prospective customers. It has the advantage of ease of

administering, but the disadvantage of inflexibility, particularly in times of inflation or
unstable prices.
There are many important decisions about product and service development and
marketing. In the process of product development and marketing we should focus on
strategic decisions about product attributes, product branding, product packaging and labeling and
product support services. But product strategy also calls for building a product line.
See also
Brand
Brand management
Halo effect
Marketing
Product management
Product line extensions
4.3

Brand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Brand (disambiguation).
"Marque" redirects here. For other uses, see Marque (disambiguation).

The Coca-Cola logo is an example of a widely-recognized trademark and global brand.

Marketing

Key concepts
Product marketing
Pricing
Distribution
Service
Retail
Brand management
Account-based marketing
Ethics
Effectiveness
Research
Segmentation
Strategy
Activation
Management
Dominance
Marketing operations

Promotional contents
Advertising
Branding
Underwriting spot

16

Direct marketing
Personal sales
Product placement
Publicity
Sales promotion
Sex in advertising
Loyalty marketing
Mobile marketing
Premiums
Prizes

Promotional media
Printing
Publication
Broadcasting
Out-of-home advertising
Internet
Point of sale
Merchandise
Digital marketing
In-game advertising
Product demonstration
Word-of-mouth
Brand ambassador
Drip marketing
Visual merchandising
v
t
e

A brand is a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's
good or service as distinct from those of other sellers." [1] Branding began as a way to tell
one person's cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A modern example of a
brand is Coca Cola which belongs to the Coca-Cola Company.
Marque[2] or make[3] are often used to denote a brand of motor vehicle. A concept brand is
a brand that is associated with an abstract concept, like breast cancer awareness or
environmentalism, rather than a specific product, service, or business. A commodity brand
is a brand associated with a commodity. Got milk? is an example of a commodity brand.
Contents
1 History
2 Concepts
2.1 Brand awareness
2.2 Brand elements
2.3 Global brand
3 Benefits of global branding
4 Global brand variables
4.1 Brand name
4.1.1 Types of brand names
4.2 Brand identity
4.3 Visual brand identity
4.4 Brand trust
4.5 Brand parity
5 Expanding role of brand
6 Branding approaches

17

6.1 Company name

6.2 Individual branding
6.3 Attitude branding and iconic brands
6.4 "No-brand" branding
6.5 Derived brands
6.6 Brand extension and brand dilution
6.7 Multi-brands
6.8 Private labels
6.9 Individual and organizational brands
6.10 Crowdsourcing branding
6.11 Nation branding (place branding and public diplomacy)
7 See also
8 References
9 Bibliography
History
The word "brand" is derived from the Old Norse brandr

meaning "to burn." It refers to the

practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their products.[4]
The Italians were among the first to use brands, in the form of watermarks on paper in the
1200s.[5]
Although connected with the history of trademarks[6] and including earlier examples which
could be deemed "protobrands" (such as the marketing puns of the "Vesuvinum" wine
jars found at Pompeii),[7] brands in the field of mass-marketing originated in the 19th
century with the advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many
household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When
shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia on the barrels
used, extending the meaning of "brand" to that of trademark.
Bass & Company, the British brewery, claims their red triangle brand was the world's first
trademark. Lyles Golden Syrup makes a similar claim, having been named as Britain's
oldest brand, with its green and gold packaging having remained almost unchanged since
1885. Another example comes from Antiche Fornaci Giorgi in Italy, whose bricks are
stamped or carved with the same proto-logo since 1731, as found in Saint Peter's Basilica in
Vatican City.
Cattle were branded long before this. The term "maverick," originally meaning an
unbranded calf, comes from Texas rancher Samuel Augustus Maverick whose neglected cattle
often got loose and were rounded up by his neighbors. The word spread among cowboys
and came to be applied to unbranded calves found out wandering alone [8]. Even the
signatures on paintings of famous artists like Leonardo Da Vinci can be viewed as an
early branding tool.
Factories established during the Industrial Revolution introduced mass-produced goods and
needed to sell their products to a wider market, to customers previously familiar only
with locally-produced goods. It quickly became apparent that a generic package of soap
had difficulty competing with familiar, local products. The packaged goods
manufacturers needed to convince the market that the public could place just as much
trust in the non-local product. Campbell soup, Coca-Cola, Juicy Fruit gum, Aunt Jemima, and
Quaker Oats were among the first products to be 'branded', in an effort to increase the
consumer's familiarity with their products. Many brands of that era, such as Uncle Ben's
rice and Kellogg's breakfast cereal furnish illustrations of the problem.
Around 1900, James Walter Thompson published a house ad explaining trademark advertising.
This was an early commercial explanation of what we now know as branding. Companies
18

soon adopted slogans, mascots, and jingles that began to appear on radio and early television.
By the 1940s,[9] manufacturers began to recognize the way in which consumers were
developing relationships with their brands in a social/psychological/anthropological
sense.
From there, manufacturers quickly learned to build their brand's identity and personality
(see brand identity and brand personality), such as youthfulness, fun or luxury. This
began the practice we now know as "branding" today, where the consumers buy "the
brand" instead of the product. This trend continued to the 1980s, and is now quantified in
concepts such as brand value and brand equity. Naomi Klein has described this
development as "brand equity mania". [10] In 1988, for example, Philip Morris purchased
Kraft for six times what the company was worth on paper; it was felt that what they really
purchased was its brand name.
Marlboro Friday: April 2, 1993 - marked by some as the death of the brand [10] - the day Philip
Morris declared that they were cutting the price of Marlboro cigarettes by 20% in order to
compete with bargain cigarettes. Marlboro cigarettes were noted at the time for their heavy
advertising campaigns and well-nuanced brand image. In response to the announcement
Wall street stocks nose-dived[10] for a large number of branded companies: Heinz, Coca Cola,
Quaker Oats, PepsiCo. Many thought the event signalled the beginning of a trend towards
"brand blindness" (Klein 13), questioning the power of "brand value."
Concepts

Proper branding can result in higher sales of not only one product, but on other products
associated with that brand. For example, if a customer loves Pillsbury biscuits and trust
the brand, he or she is more likely to try other products offered by the company such as
chocolate chip cookies.
Brand is the personality that identifies a product, service or company (name, term, sign,
symbol, or design, or combination of them) and how it relates to key constituencies:
customers, staff, partners, investors etc.
Some people distinguish the psychological aspect, brand associations like thoughts,
feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become
linked to the brand, of a brand from the experiential aspect.
The experiential aspect consists of the sum of all points of contact with the brand and is
known as the brand experience. The brand experience is a brand's action perceived by a
person. The psychological aspect, sometimes referred to as the brand image, is a
symbolic construct created within the minds of people, consisting of all the information
and expectations associated with a product, service or the company(ies) providing them.
People engaged in branding seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand
experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has
certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique. A brand is therefore one
of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it demonstrates what the brand
owner is able to offer in the marketplace. The art of creating and maintaining a brand is
called brand management. Orientation of the whole organization towards its brand is called
brand orientation. The brand orientation is developed in responsiveness to market
intelligence.
Careful brand management seeks to make the product or services relevant to the target
audience. Brands should be seen as more than the difference between the actual cost of a
product and its selling price - they represent the sum of all valuable qualities of a product
to the consumer.
19

A brand which is widely known in the marketplace acquires brand recognition. When
brand recognition builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of positive
sentiment in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved brand franchise. Brand
recognition is most successful when people can state a brand without being explicitly
exposed to the company's name, but rather through visual signifiers like logos, slogans,
and colors.[11] For example, Disney has been successful at branding with their particular
script font (originally created for Walt Disney's "signature" logo), which it used in the
logo for go.com.
Consumers may look on branding as an aspect of products or services, as it often serves
to denote a certain attractive quality or characteristic (see also brand promise). From the
perspective of brand owners, branded products or services also command higher prices.
Where two products resemble each other, but one of the products has no associated
branding (such as a generic, store-branded product), people may often select the more
expensive branded product on the basis of the quality of the brand or the reputation of the
brand owner.
Brand awareness

Brand awareness refers to customers' ability to recall and recognize the brand under
different conditions and link to the brand name, logo, jingles and so on to certain
associations in memory. It consists of both brand recognition and brand recall. It helps the
customers to understand to which product or service category the particular brand
belongs and what products and services are sold under the brand name. It also ensures
that customers know which of their needs are satisfied by the brand through its products
(Keller). Brand awareness is of critical importance since customers will not consider your
brand if they are not aware of it.[12]
There are various levels of brand awareness that require different levels and combinations
of brand recognition and recall. Top-of-Mind is the goal of most companies. Top-ofMind Awareness occurs when your brand is what pops into a consumers mind when
asked to name brands in a product category. For example, when someone is asked to
name a type of facial tissue, the common answer is Kleenex, which is a top-of-mind
brand. Aided Awareness occurs when a consumer is shown or reads a list of brands, and
expresses familiarity with your brand only after they hear or see it as a type of memory
aide. Strategic Awareness occurs when your brand is not only top-of-mind to consumers,
but also has distinctive qualities that stick out to consumers as making it better than the
other brands in your market. The distinctions that set your product apart from the
competition is also known as the Unique Selling Point or USP.
Brand elements

Brands typically are made up of various elements, such as:[13]

Name: The word or words used to identify a company, product, service, or concept.
Logo: The visual trademark that identifies the brand.
Tagline or Catchphrase: "The Quicker Picker Upper" is associated with Bounty paper
towels. "Can you hear me now" is an important part of the Verizon brand.
Graphics: The dynamic ribbon is a trademarked part of Coca-Cola's brand.
Shapes: The distinctive shapes of the Coca-Cola bottle and of the Volkswagen Beetle are
trademarked elements of those brands.
Colors: Owens-Corning is the only brand of fiberglass insulation that can be pink.
Sounds: A unique tune or set of notes can denote a brand. NBC's chimes are a famous
example.
20

Scents: The rose-jasmine-musk scent of Chanel No. 5 is trademarked.

Tastes: Kentucky Fried Chicken has trademarked its special recipe of eleven herbs and
spices for fried chicken.
Movements: Lamborghini has trademarked the upward motion of its car doors.
Global brand

A global brand is one which is perceived to reflect the same set of values around the
world. Global brands transcend their origins and create strong enduring relationships with
consumers across countries and cultures. They are brands sold in international markets.
Examples of global brands include Facebook, Apple, Pepsi, McDonald's, Mastercard, Gap, Sony
and Nike. These brands are used to sell the same product across multiple markets and
could be considered successful to the extent that the associated products are easily
recognizable by the diverse set of consumers.
Benefits of global branding

In addition to taking advantage of the outstanding growth opportunities, the following

drives the increasing interest in taking brands global:
Economies of scale (production and distribution)
Lower marketing costs
Laying the groundwork for future extensions worldwide
Maintaining consistent brand imagery
Quicker identification, recognition and integration of innovations (discovered worldwide)
Preempting international competitors from entering domestic markets or locking you out
of other geographic markets
Increasing international media reach (especially with the explosion of the Internet) is an
enabler
Increases in international business and tourism are also enablers
Possibility to charge premium prices
Internal company benefits such as attracting and retaining good employees, and cohesive
company culture
Global brand variables

The following elements may differ from country to country:

Corporate slogan
Products and services
Product names
Product features
Positionings
Marketing mixes (including pricing, distribution, media and advertising execution)
These differences will depend upon:
Language differences
Different styles of communication
Other cultural differences
Differences in category and brand development
Different consumption patterns
Different competitive sets and marketplace conditions
Different legal and regulatory environments
Different national approaches to marketing (media, pricing, distribution, etc.)
Brand name

21

Relationship between trade marks and brand

The brand name is quite often used interchangeably with "brand", although it is more
correctly used to specifically denote written or spoken linguistic elements of any product.
In this context a "brand name" constitutes a type of trademark, if the brand name
exclusively identifies the brand owner as the commercial source of products or services.
A brand owner may seek to protect proprietary rights in relation to a brand name through
trademark registration and such trademarks are called "Registered Trademarks".
Advertising spokespersons have also become part of some brands, for example: Mr.
Whipple of Charmin toilet tissue and Tony the Tiger of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.
Types of brand names

Brand
names
come
in
many
styles. [14]
A
few
include:
Initialism:
A
name
made
of
initials
such
as
UPS
or
IBM
Descriptive: Names that describe a product benefit or function like Whole Foods or
Airbus
Alliteration and rhyme: Names that are fun to say and stick in the mind like Reese's
Pieces
or
Dunkin'
Donuts
Evocative: Names that evoke a relevant vivid image like Amazon or Crest
Neologisms:
Completely
made-up
words
like
Wii
or
Kodak
Foreign word: Adoption of a word from another language like Volvo or Samsung
Founders' names: Using the names of real people,and founder's name like HewlettPackard,
Dell
or
Disney
Geography: Many brands are named for regions and landmarks like Cisco and Fuji Film
Personification: Many brands take their names from myth like Nike or from the minds of
ad execs like Betty Crocker
The act of associating a product or service with a brand has become part of pop culture.
Most products have some kind of brand identity, from common table salt to designer jeans. A
brandnomer is a brand name that has colloquially become a generic term for a product or
service, such as Band-Aid or Kleenex, which are often used to describe any brand of
adhesive bandage or any brand of facial tissue respectively.
Brand identity

22

The outward expression of a brand including its name, trademark, communications, and
visual appearance is brand identity.[15] Because the identity is assembled by the brand
owner, it reflects how the owner wants the consumer to perceive the brand and by
extension the branded company, organization, product or service. This is in contrast to the
brand image, which is a customer's mental picture of a brand. [15] The brand owner will
seek to bridge the gap between the brand image and the brand identity.
Effective brand names build a connection between the brand personality as it is perceived
by the target audience and the actual product/service. The brand name should be
conceptually on target with the product/service (what the company stands for).
Furthermore, the brand name should be on target with the brand demographic. Typically,
sustainable brand names are easy to remember, transcend trends and have positive
connotations. Brand identity is fundamental to consumer recognition and symbolizes the
brand's differentiation from competitors.
Brand identity is what the owner wants to communicate to its potential consumers.
However, over time, a product's brand identity may acquire (evolve), gaining new
attributes from consumer perspective but not necessarily from the marketing
communications an owner percolates to targeted consumers. Therefore, brand
associations become handy to check the consumer's perception of the brand.[16]
Brand identity needs to focus on authentic qualities real characteristics of the value and
brand promise being provided and sustained by organizational and/or production
characteristics.[17][18]
Visual brand identity

The visual brand identity manual for Mobil Oil (developed by Chermayeff & Geismar), one of
the first visual identities to integrate logotype, icon, alphabet, color palette, and station
architecture.
The recognition and perception of a brand is highly influenced by its visual presentation.
A brands visual identity is the overall look of its communications. Effective visual brand
identity is achieved by the consistent use of particular visual elements to create
23

distinction, such as specific fonts, colors, and graphic elements. At the core of every
brand identity is a brand mark, or logo. In the United States, brand identity and logo
design naturally grew out of the Modernist movement in the 1950s and greatly drew on
the principles of that movement simplicity (Mies van der Rohes principle of "Less is
more") and geometric abstraction. These principles can be observed in the work of the
pioneers of the practice of visual brand identity design, such as Paul Rand, Chermayeff &
Geismar and Saul Bass.
Brand trust

Brand trust is the intrinsic 'believability' that any entity evokes. In the commercial world,
the intangible aspect of Brand trust impacts the behavior and performance of its business
stakeholders in many intriguing ways. It creates the foundation of a strong brand connect
with all stakeholders, converting simple awareness to strong commitment. This, in turn,
metamorphoses normal people who have an indirect or direct stake in the organization
into devoted ambassadors, leading to concomitant advantages like easier acceptability of
brand extensions, perception of premium, and acceptance of temporary quality
deficiencies.
The Brand Trust Report is a syndicated primary research that has elaborated on this metric of
brand trust. It is a result of action, behavior, communication and attitude of an entity, with
the most Trust results emerging from its action component. Action of the entity is most
important in creating trust in all those audiences who directly engage with the brand, the
primary experience carrying primary audiences. However, the tools of communications
play a vital role in transferring the trust experience to audiences which have never
experienced the brand, the all important secondary audience.
Brand parity

Brand parity is the perception of the customers that some brands are equivalent. [19] This
means that shoppers will purchase within a group of accepted brands rather than choosing
one specific brand. When brand parity is present, quality is often not a major concern
because consumers believe that only minor quality differences exist.
Expanding role of brand

It was meant to make identifying and differentiating a product easier. Over time, brands
came to embrace a performance or benefit promise, for the product, certainly, but
eventually also for the company behind the brand. Today, brand plays a much bigger role.
Brands have been co-opted as powerful symbols in larger debates about economics,
social issues, and politics. The power of brands to communicate a complex message
quickly and with emotional impact and the ability of brands to attract media attention,
make them ideal tools in the hands of activists. [20] Cultural conflict over a brand's meaning
have also been shown to influence the diffusion of an innovation.[21]
Branding approaches
Company name

Often, especially in the industrial sector, it is just the company's name which is promoted
(leading to[citation needed] one of the most powerful statements of branding: saying just before
the company's downgrading, "No one ever got fired for buying IBM"). This approach has
not worked as well for General Motors, which recently overhauled how its corporate brand
relates to the product brands.[22] Exactly how the company name relates to product and
services names is known as brand architecture. Decisions about company names and product
names and their relationship depends on more than a dozen strategic considerations.[23]

24

In this case a strong brand name (or company name) is made the vehicle for a range of
products (for example, Mercedes-Benz or Black & Decker) or a range of subsidiary brands
(such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Flake or Cadbury Fingers in the United States).
Individual branding
Main article: Individual branding

Each brand has a separate name (such as Seven-Up, Kool-Aid or Nivea Sun (Beiersdorf)),
which may compete against other brands from the same company (for example, Persil,
Omo, Surf and Lynx are all owned by Unilever).
Attitude branding and iconic brands

Attitude branding is the choice to represent a larger feeling, which is not necessarily
connected with the product or consumption of the product at all. Marketing labeled as
attitude branding include that of Nike, Starbucks, The Body Shop, Safeway, and Apple Inc.. In
the 2000 book No Logo,[10] Naomi Klein describes attitude branding as a "fetish strategy".
"A great brand raises the bar -- it adds a greater sense of purpose to the experience,
whether it's the challenge to do your best in sports and fitness, or the affirmation that the
cup of coffee you're drinking really matters." - Howard Schultz (president, CEO, and
chairman of Starbucks)

The color, letter font and style of the Coca-Cola and Diet Coca-Cola logos in English were
copied into matching Hebrew logos to maintain brand identity in Israel.
Iconic brands are defined as having aspects that contribute to consumer's self-expression
and personal identity. Brands whose value to consumers comes primarily from having
identity value are said to be "identity brands". Some of these brands have such a strong
identity that they become more or less cultural icons which makes them "iconic brands".
Examples are: Apple, Nike and Harley Davidson. Many iconic brands include almost rituallike behaviour in purchasing or consuming the products.
There are four key elements to creating iconic brands (Holt 2004):
"Necessary conditions" - The performance of the product must at least be acceptable,
preferably with a reputation of having good quality.
"Myth-making" - A meaningful storytelling fabricated by cultural insiders. These must be
seen as legitimate and respected by consumers for stories to be accepted.
"Cultural contradictions" - Some kind of mismatch between prevailing ideology and
emergent undercurrents in society. In other words a difference with the way consumers
are and how they wish they were.
"The cultural brand management process" - Actively engaging in the myth-making
process in making sure the brand maintains its position as an icon.
"No-brand" branding

25

Recently a number of companies have successfully pursued "no-brand" strategies by

creating packaging that imitates generic brand simplicity. Examples include the Japanese
company Muji, which means "No label" in English (from "Mujirushi Ryohin"
literally, "No brand quality goods"), and the Florida company No-Ad Sunscreen.
Although there is a distinct Muji brand, Muji products are not branded. This no-brand
strategy means that little is spent on advertisement or classical marketing and Muji's
success is attributed to the word-of-mouth, a simple shopping experience and the antibrand movement.[24][25][26] "No brand" branding may be construed as a type of branding as
the product is made conspicuous through the absence of a brand name. "Tapa Amarilla"
or "Yellow Cap" in Venezuela during the 1980s is another good example of no-brand
strategy. It was simply recognized by the color of the cap of this cleaning products
company.
Derived brands

In this case the supplier of a key component, used by a number of suppliers of the endproduct, may wish to guarantee its own position by promoting that component as a brand
in its own right. The most frequently quoted example is Intel, which positions itself in the
PC market with the slogan (and sticker) "Intel Inside".
Brand extension and brand dilution

The existing strong brand name can be used as a vehicle for new or modified products;
for example, many fashion and designer companies extended brands into fragrances, shoes
and accessories, home textile, home decor, luggage, (sun-) glasses, furniture, hotels, etc.
Mars extended its brand to ice cream, Caterpillar to shoes and watches, Michelin to a
restaurant guide, Adidas and Puma to personal hygiene. Dunlop extended its brand from tires
to other rubber products such as shoes, golf balls, tennis racquets and adhesives.
There is a difference between brand extension and line extension. A line extension is
when a current brand name is used to enter a new market segment in the existing product
class, with new varieties or flavors or sizes. When Coca-Cola launched "Diet Coke" and
"Cherry Coke" they stayed within the originating product category: non-alcoholic
carbonated beverages. Procter & Gamble (P&G) did likewise extending its strong lines
(such as Fairy Soap) into neighboring products (Fairy Liquid and Fairy Automatic) within
the same category, dish washing detergents.
The risk of over-extension is brand dilution where the brand loses its brand associations
with a market segment, product area, or quality, price or cachet.
Multi-brands

Alternatively, in a market that is fragmented amongst a number of brands a supplier can

choose deliberately to launch totally new brands in apparent competition with its own
existing strong brand (and often with identical product characteristics); simply to soak up
some of the share of the market which will in any case go to minor brands. The rationale
is that having 3 out of 12 brands in such a market will give a greater overall share than
having 1 out of 10 (even if much of the share of these new brands is taken from the
existing one). In its most extreme manifestation, a supplier pioneering a new market
which it believes will be particularly attractive may choose immediately to launch a
second brand in competition with its first, in order to pre-empt others entering the market.
Individual brand names naturally allow greater flexibility by permitting a variety of
different products, of differing quality, to be sold without confusing the consumer's
perception of what business the company is in or diluting higher quality products.

26

Once again, Procter & Gamble is a leading exponent of this philosophy, running as many as
ten detergent brands in the US market. This also increases the total number of "facings" it
receives on supermarket shelves. Sara Lee, on the other hand, uses it to keep the very
different parts of the business separate from Sara Lee cakes through Kiwi polishes to
L'Eggs pantyhose. In the hotel business, Marriott uses the name Fairfield Inns for its budget
chain (and Ramada uses Rodeway for its own cheaper hotels).
Cannibalization is a particular problem of a "multibrand" approach, in which the new brand
takes business away from an established one which the organization also owns. This may
be acceptable (indeed to be expected) if there is a net gain overall. Alternatively, it may
be the price the organization is willing to pay for shifting its position in the market; the
new product being one stage in this process.
Private labels
Private label brands,

also called own brands, or store brands have become popular. Where the
retailer has a particularly strong identity (such as Marks & Spencer in the UK clothing
sector) this "own brand" may be able to compete against even the strongest brand leaders,
and may outperform those products that are not otherwise strongly branded.
Individual and organizational brands

There are kinds of branding that treat individuals and organizations as the products to be
branded. Personal branding treats persons and their careers as brands. The term is thought to
have been first used in a 1997 article by Tom Peters.[27] Faith branding treats religious figures
and organizations as brands. Religious media expert Phil Cooke has written that faith
branding handles the question of how to express faith in a media-dominated culture. [28]
Nation branding works with the perception and reputation of countries as brands.
Crowdsourcing branding

These are brands that are created by the people for the business, which is opposite to the
traditional method where the business create a brand. This type of method minimizes the
risk of brand failure, since the people that might reject the brand in the traditional method
are the ones who are participating in the branding process.
Nation branding (place branding and public diplomacy)
Nation branding is a field of theory and practice

which aims to measure, build and manage

the reputation of countries (closely related to place branding). Some approaches applied,
such as an increasing importance on the symbolic value of products, have led countries to
emphasise their distinctive characteristics. The branding and image of a nation-state "and
the successful transference of this image to its exports - is just as important as what they
actually produce and sell."
See also
Brand architecture
Brand engagement
Brand equity
Brand loyalty
Brand tribalism
Branding agency
Co-branding
Content marketing
Green brands
Integrated marketing communications
Visual brand language
Bm1.

Brand architecture

27

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Brand architecture is the structure of brands within an organizational entity. It is the way
in which the brands within a companys portfolio are related to, and differentiated from,
one another. The architecture should define the different leagues of branding within the
organization; how the corporate brand and sub-brands relate to and support each other;
and how the sub-brands reflect or reinforce the core purpose of the corporate brand to
which they belong. According to Rajagopal and Sanchez Brand architecture may be
defined as an integrated process of brand building through establishing brand
relationships among branding options in the competitive environment. The brand
architecture of an organization at any time is, in large measure, a legacy of past
management decisions as well as the competitive realities it faces in the marketplace[1].
Brand architecture, how a company communicates the inter-relation of its parts, need not
solely be a reflection of the business organization, though this is a common trap across
many large corporations. Best practices in brand architecture typically take a more
customer-centric approach, helping customers, partners and investors understand how
different components of a business relate to one another. [2]
Contents
1 Types of brand architecture
2 Strategic Considerations
3 See also
4 References
Types of brand architecture

There are three key levels of branding:

Corporate brand, umbrella brand, and family brand - Examples include Virgin Group and Heinz.
These are consumer-facing brands used across all the firm's activities, and this name is
how they are known to all their stakeholders consumers, employees, shareholders,
partners, suppliers and other parties. These brands may also be used in conjunction with
product descriptions or sub-brands: for example Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup, or Virgin
Trains.
Endorsed brands, and sub-brands - For example, Nestle KitKat, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Sony
PlayStation or Polo by Ralph Lauren. These brands include a parent brand - which may be a
corporate brand, an umbrella brand, or a family brand - as an endorsement to a sub-brand or an
individual, product brand. The endorsement should add credibility to the endorsed subbrand in the eyes of consumers.
Individual product brand - For example, Procter & Gambles Pampers or Unilever's Dove. The
individual brands are presented to consumers, and the parent company name is given
little or no prominence. Other stakeholders, like shareholders or partners, will know the
producer by its company name.
A recent example of brand architecture in action [3] is the reorganization of the General
Motors brand portfolio to reflect its new strategy. Prior to bankruptcy, the company
pursued a corporate-endorsed hybrid brand architecture structure, where GM underpinned
every brand. The practice of putting the "GM Mark of Excellence" on every car, no
matter what the brand, was discontinued in August, 2009. [4] In the run-up to the IPO, the
company adopted a multiple brand corporate invisible brand architecture structure. [3] The
company's familiar square blue "badge" has been removed from the Web site and
advertising, in favor of a new, subtle all-text logo treatment.[5]

28

Strategic Considerations

Deciding what strategy to pursue in structuring the company brand portfolio depends on
the answer of a number of strategic issues. According to the article Brand Architecture:
Strategic Considerations, the issues to consider include:[6]
Audience Diversity What are the target segments for your brand? Is the brand focused
on just one audience or must it appeal to many?
Brand Elasticity How far can each of the brands stretch to cover different products and
markets? Harley Davidson made a classic blunder applying their brand to wine coolers.
Product/Service Offerings How are other brands in the portfolio positioned and
targeted? Are some of your brands complementary, competitive or incongruent?
Competitive Context What are competitive branding practices? How do customers view
the marketplace? Do your brands help you stand out and grab market share?
Brand Equities Do you have brands with a particular following or a unique heritage or
equity must be carried forward?
Geographic Needs How consistent are needs/preferences across cultures and markets?
Strong local brands might not work in other countries. Not every brand can travel.
Organizational Structures Who is accountable for branding practices and standards?
What are the political realities behind brands in your portfolio?
Ownership Does the organization have legal control over its brand? Youll have less
leeway with licensed brands.
Sources of Growth What businesses and brands are expected to drive future growth for
your company? Are they helping you pursue your strategy?
Purchase Criteria How do people buy your products? Do they ask for products by brand
name or do they ask for a generic name or your company brand name? Do your brands
make buying easier? How much do people want or need your brands?
Brand Performance How do brands perform against desired attributes? Is their
positioning clear and effective?
Brand Role What is role of brand in fulfilling the business model? How important is the
brand in driving awareness or creating loyalty?
Channels What channels and distribution methods are available and how are they used
across the brand portfolio?
Company Specific Issues What considerations are specific to your company or industry?
What might be technically correct might not be feasible in the reality of your company.
Sometimes theory has to bow to practicality.
Brand engagement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Brand engagement is a term loosely used to describe the process of forming an
attachment (emotional and rational) between a person and a brand. It comprises one aspect
of brand management. What makes the topic complex is that brand engagement is partly
created by institutions and organizations, but is equally created by the perceptions,
attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of those with whom these institutions and organizations
are communicating or engaging with.
As a relatively new addition to the marketing and communication mix, brand engagement
sits in the space between marketing, advertising, media communication, social media, employer
branding, organizational development, internal communications and human resource management.

29

There is still lack of clarity and debate about whether this is a soft or hard measure, and
whether it can be linked to any consumer or employee behavior change e.g. sales
activity, trial, or recommendation.
Contents
1 External
2 Internal ("close stakeholder")
3 The measurement angle
4 Example
5 Collaboration and connectivity vs. content management
6 See also
7 Sources
8 References
External

Brand engagement between a brand and its consumers/potential consumers is a key

objective of a brand marketing effort.
In general, the ways a brand connects to its consumer is via a range of "touchpoints" -that is, a sequence or list of potential ways the brand makes contact with the individual.
Examples include retail environments, advertising, word of mouth, online, and the
product/service itself.
Internal ("close stakeholder")

There are two broad areas where brand engagement is relevant within an organization
(employees and close stakeholders such as franchise staff, call centers, suppliers or
intermediaries).
The first area is ensuring that the employer brand promised to employees is delivered upon
once employees join the firm. If the employee experience is not what is promised, this
could result in increased employee turnover and/or decreased performance.
The second area is ensuring employees and close stakeholders of an organization
completely understand the organization's brand, and what it stands forand to make sure
that their activities on a day to day basis are contributing to expressing that brand through
the customer experience.
In general, this requires an ongoing effort on the part of the organization to ensure that its
employees and close stakeholders understand what the brand is promising to its
customers, and to help all employees clearly understand how their actions and behaviors,
on a day to day basis, either support or undermine the effort.
This often raises the issue of the value of investment in "brand engagement." It is a
discretionary expense on the part of the organization. Proponents of brand engagement
would argue that this is an investmentthat is, the benefits to the organization outweigh
the cost of the program.
Within any organization there is competition for resources, so there is a significant need
to demonstrate return on investment in employee engagement/internal communications.
While it is generally accepted that it is important for internal communications professionals to
demonstrate the value this function delivers to the organization, it is difficult to place a
discrete figure on this contribution.
Best practice in internal communications generally adheres to certain principles:
Understanding the stakeholder (audiences)
Knowing what messages and information is appropriate for each audience
Ensuring that there is a feedback mechanism in place so communication is a dialogue
30

Measuring effectiveness
Enhancing participation and collaboration.
An aspect of internal brand engagement is brand orientation which refers to "the degree to
which the organization values brands and its practices are oriented towards building
brand capabilities."
Thought leaders are increasingly placing employee engagement at the forefront of the
fight for greater authenticity in the workplace, increased employee satisfaction and
ultimately greater retention and improved customer service. They are passionate about
the link to bottom line benefits and strongly advocate working on brands from the inside
out. There are a range of experts and service providers who have created offers to bring
the brand to lifeall agree that the employee side of the equation is far more important
than has been historically acknowledged.
Brand engagement among employees is, according to experts, becoming increasingly
important as the speed and volume of customer word of mouth is greater than ever.
Several major brands - including United Airlines, Comcast, and FedEx - have seen
negative customer experiences spark viral videos that are seen by millions of people.
Building an understanding of the brand among employees is seen as a way to avoid these
incidents and, within this environment, as a way to drive positive reviews and word of
mouth. [1]
The measurement angle

Much internal communication and employee engagement practice is based on

measurement of effectiveness or business contribution. The key elements in creating a
model of employee engagement is the measurement of "engagement drivers" -- that is,
what are the factors or combinations of factors which have an impact on productivity and
commitment and can be monitored and addressed through people, process or technology
changes?
Many of the engagement drivers currently in use internally are HR focused, and in
many cases do not delve deeply into the employees role in delivering the brand/ customer
experience as a distinct element.
Example

Probably the most compelling example of this is the service-profit chain. The first real case
study of this appeared in "The Service Profit Chain" (the so-called Sears Model, Harvard
Business Review, 1997). This statistical model tracks increases in employee engagement
drivers to correlated increases in customer satisfaction and loyalty, and then correlates
this to increases in total shareholder return (TSR), revenue and other financial performance
measures.
Since the service-profit chain emerged, its been developed, and criticized, but the general
consensus is that employee engagement can contribute roughly 20% to an organizations
TSR (various Vivaldi, Watson Wyatt, Towers Perrin studies 2004, 2005, 2006).
Collaboration and connectivity vs. content management

While some organizations are realizing the benefits of collaboration and work flow
online, there appears to be significant focus on publishing and managing content,
generally via content management systems.
There is an emerging school of thought that organizational perspectives on technology
are frequently misaligned with the actual requirements and desires of the users of the
technology. That is, the nature (or intention) of a technology may not always determine
the nature of its use the telephone, for example, was originally intended as a broadcast
31

medium[citation needed]. Its designers were focused on delivering content, while its users sought
and still value connectivity(1).
The social media phenomenon presents emerging evidence that this quest for connectivity
is rapidly becoming a core focus of communication technology within organizations. This
potentially creates a disconnect with more traditional content-driven models of internal
communicationdelivering (or making easily available) the right content at the right
time to the right people using the right media.
Therefore, there could be a great deal of potential within organisations, using their
existing technologies, to derive cultural and performance benefits from re-thinking how
they communicate, make decisions and work virtually.
Brand equity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Brand equity is a phrase used in the marketing industry to try to describe the value of
having a well-known brand name, based on the idea that the owner of a well-known brand
name can generate more money from products with that brand name than from products
with a less well known name, as consumers believe that a product with a well-known
name is better than products with less well known names. [1][2][3][4] Another word for "brand
equity" is "brand value".
Some marketing researchers have concluded that brands are one of the most valuable
assets a company has,[5] as brand equity is one of the factors which can increase the
financial value of a brand to the brand owner, although not the only one. [6] Elements that
can be included in the valuation of brand equity include (but not limited to): changing
market share, profit margins, consumer recognition of logos and other visual elements, brand
language associations made by consumers, consumers' perceptions of quality and other
relevant brand values.
Consumers' knowledge about a brand also governs how manufacturers and advertisers
market the brand.[7][8] Brand equity is created through strategic investments in communication
channels and market education and appreciates through economic growth in profit margins, market
share, prestige value, and critical associations[disambiguation needed ]. Generally, these strategic
investments appreciate over time to deliver a return on investment. This is directly related to
marketing ROI. Brand equity can also appreciate without strategic direction. A Stockholm
University study in 2011 documents the case of Jerusalem's city brand.[9] The city organically
developed a brand, which experienced tremendous brand equity appreciation over the course
of centuries through non-strategic activities. A booming tourism industry in Jerusalem has
been the most evident indicator of a strong ROI.
Brand equity is strategically crucial, but famously difficult to quantify. Many experts
have developed tools to analyze this asset, but there is no universally accepted way to
measure it. As one of the serial challenges that marketing professionals and academics
find with the concept of brand equity, the disconnect between quantitative and qualitative
equity values is difficult to reconcile. Quantitative brand equity includes numerical values
such as profit margins and market share, but fails to capture qualitative elements such as
prestige and associations of interest. Overall, most marketing practitioners take a more
qualitative approach to brand equity because of this challenge. In a survey of nearly 200
senior marketing managers, only 26 percent responded that they found the "brand equity"
metric very useful.[10]

32

Contents
1 Purpose
2 Construction
3 Methodologies
4 See also
5 References
Purpose

The purpose of brand equity metrics is to measure the value of a brand. A brand
encompasses the name, logo, image, and perceptions that identify a product, service, or
provider in the minds of customers. It takes shape in advertising, packaging, and other
marketing communications, and becomes a focus of the relationship with consumers. In
time, a brand comes to embody a promise about the goods it identifiesa promise about
quality, performance, or other dimensions of value, which can influence consumers' choices
among competing products. When consumers trust a brand and find it relevant, they may
select the offerings associated with that brand over those of competitors, even at a premium
price. When a brand's promise extends beyond a particular product, its owner may
leverage it to enter new markets. For all these reasons, a brand can hold tremendous
value, which is known as brand equity.[10]
Construction

There are many ways to measure a brand. Some measurements approaches are at the firm
level, some at the product level, and still others are at the consumer level.
Firm Level: Firm level approaches measure the brand as a financial asset. In short, a
calculation is made regarding how much the brand is worth as an intangible asset. For
example, if you were to take the value of the firm, as derived by its market capitalization
and then subtract tangible assets and "measurable" intangible assetsthe residual
would be the brand equity.[5] One high-profile firm level approach is by the consulting
firm Interbrand. To do its calculation, Interbrand estimates brand value on the basis of
projected profits discounted to a present value. The discount rate is a subjective rate
determined by Interbrand and Wall Street equity specialists and reflects the risk profile,
market leadership, stability and global reach of the brand.[11]
Product Level: The classic product level brand measurement example is to compare the
price of a no-name or private label product to an "equivalent" branded product. The
difference in price, assuming all things equal, is due to the brand. [12] More recently a
revenue premium approach has been advocated.[4]
Consumer Level: This approach seeks to map the mind of the consumer to find out what
associations with the brand the consumer has. This approach seeks to measure the
awareness (recall and recognition) and brand image (the overall associations that the
brand has). Free association tests and projective techniques are commonly used to
uncover the tangible and intangible attributes, attitudes, and intentions about a brand. [7]
Brands with high levels of awareness and strong, favorable and unique associations are
high equity brands.[7]
All of these calculations are, at best, approximations. A more complete understanding of
the brand can occur if multiple measures are used.
Positive brand equity vs. negative brand equity
Brand equity is the positive effect of the brand on the difference between the prices that
the consumer accepts to pay when the brand known compared to the value of the benefit
received.

33

There are two schools of thought regarding the existence of negative brand equity. One
perspective states brand equity cannot be negative, hypothesizing only positive brand
equity is created by marketing activities such as advertising, PR, and promotion. A
second perspective is that negative equity can exist, due to catastrophic events to the
brand, such as a wide product recall or continued negative press attention ( Blackwater or
Halliburton, for example).
Colloquially, the term "negative brand equity" may be used to describe a product or
service where a brand has a negligible effect on a product level when compared to a noname or private label product.
Family branding vs. individual branding strategies
The greater a company's brand equity, the greater the probability that the company will
use a family branding strategy rather than an individual branding strategy. This is because
family branding allows them to leverage the equity accumulated in the core brand.
Aspects of brand equity include: brand loyalty, awareness, association [13] and perception
of quality.
Examples
In the early 2000s in North America, the Ford Motor Company made a strategic decision to
brand all new or redesigned cars with names starting with "F." This aligned with the
previous tradition of naming all sport utility vehicles since the Ford Explorer with the letter
"E." The Toronto Star quoted an analyst who warned that changing the name of the well
known Windstar to the Freestar would cause confusion and discard brand equity built up,
while a marketing manager believed that a name change would highlight the new
redesign. The aging Taurus, which became one of the most significant cars in American
auto history, would be abandoned in favor of three entirely new names, all starting with
"F," the Five Hundred, Freestar, and Fusion. By 2007, the Freestar was discontinued without a
replacement. The Five Hundred name was thrown out and Taurus was brought back for
the next generation of that car in a surprise move by Alan Mulally.
In practice, brand equity is difficult to measure. Because brands are crucial assets,
however, both marketers and academic researchers have devised means to contemplate
their value.[10] Some of these techniques are described below.
Methodologies

Brand Equity Ten (Aaker)

David Aaker, a marketing professor and brand consultant, highlights ten attributes of a
brand that can be used to assess its strength. These include Differentiation, Satisfaction or
Loyalty, Perceived Quality, Leadership or Popularity, Perceived Value, Brand Personality,
Organizational Associations, Brand Awareness, Market Share, and Market Price and
Distribution Coverage. Aaker doesn't weight the attributes or combine them in an overall
score, as he believes any weighting would be arbitrary and would vary among brands and
categories. Rather he recommends tracking each attribute separately.[10]
Brand Equity Index (Moran)
Marketing executive Bill Moran has derived an index of brand equity as the product of
three factors:
Effective Market Share is a weighted average. It represents the sum of a brand's market
shares in all segments in which it competes, weighted by each segment's proportion of
that brand's total sales.
Relative Price is a ratio. It represents the price of goods sold under a given brand, divided
by the average price of comparable goods in the market.
34

Durability is a measure of customer retention or loyalty. It represents the percentage of a

brand's customers who will continue to buy goods under that brand in the following year.
[10]

Brand Asset Valuator (Young & Rubicam)

Young & Rubicam, a marketing communications agency, has developed the Brand Asset
Valuator, a tool to diagnose the power and value of a brand. In using it, the agency
surveys consumers' perspectives along four dimensions:
Differentiation: The defining characteristics of the brand and its distinctiveness relative to
competitors.
Relevance: The appropriateness and connection of the brand to a given consumer.
Esteem: Consumers' respect for and attraction to the brand.
Knowledge: Consumers' awareness of the brand and understanding of what it represents.
[10]

Brand Valuation Model (Interbrand and Brand Finance)

Interbrand, a brand strategy agency, draws upon financial results and projections in its own
model for brand valuation. It reviews a company's financial statements, analyzes its
market dynamics and the role of brand in income generation, and separates those earnings
attributable to tangible assets (capital, product, packaging, and so on) from the residual
that can be ascribed to a brand. It then forecasts future earnings and discounts these on
the basis of brand strength and risk. The agency estimates brand value on this basis and
tabulates a yearly list of the 100 most valuable global brands.[10]
The Royalty Relief approach of Brand Finance, an independent brand valuation
consultancy, is based on the assumption that if a company did not own the trademarks
that it exploits, it would need to license them from a third party brand owner instead.
Ownership therefore relieves the company from paying a license fee (the royalty) for
the use of the third party trademarks. The royalty relief method involves estimating likely
future sales, applying an appropriate royalty rate to them and then discounting estimated
future, post-tax royalties, to arrive at a Net Present Value (NPV). This is held to represent
the brand value.[14] The independent consultancy publishes yearly lists by industry sector
and geographic region as well as a top 500 global list.
Conjoint Analysis
Marketers use conjoint analysis to measure consumers' preference for various attributes of a
product, service, or provider, such as features, design, price, or location. By including
brand and price as two of the attributes under consideration, they can gain insight into
consumers' valuation of a brandthat is, their willingness to pay a premium for it.[10]
Note: These customer satisfaction methodologies have not been independently audited by
the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) according to MMAP (Marketing Metric Audit
Protocol).
Brand loyalty
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Marketing

Key concepts
Product marketing
Pricing
Distribution
Service

35

Retail
Brand management
Account-based marketing
Ethics
Effectiveness
Research
Segmentation
Strategy
Activation
Management
Dominance
Marketing operations

Promotional contents
Advertising
Branding
Underwriting spot
Direct marketing
Personal sales
Product placement
Publicity
Sales promotion
Sex in advertising
Loyalty marketing
Mobile marketing
Premiums
Prizes

Promotional media
Printing
Publication
Broadcasting
Out-of-home advertising
Internet
Point of sale
Merchandise
Digital marketing
In-game advertising
Product demonstration
Word-of-mouth
Brand ambassador
Drip marketing
Visual merchandising
v
t
e

The American Marketing Association defines brand loyalty as:

"The situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-originated
product or service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers within
the category" (sales promotion definition).
"The degree to which a consumer consistently purchases the same brand within a product
class" (consumer behavior definition).[1]

36

In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 69 percent responded that they
found the "loyalty" metric very useful.[2]
Contents
1 Purpose
2 Construction
3 Cautions
4 See also
5 References
Purpose

Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase or

otherwise continue using the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a
product or service, or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy.[3]
Examples of brand loyalty promotions
My Coke Rewards
Pepsi Stuff
Marriott Rewards
Construction

Brand loyalty is more than simple repurchasing, however. Customers may repurchase a
brand due to situational constraints (such as vendor lock-in), a lack of viable alternatives, or
out of convenience.[4] Such loyalty is referred to as "spurious loyalty". True brand loyalty
exists when customers have a high relative attitude toward the brand which is then
exhibited through repurchase behavior.[3] This type of loyalty can be a great asset to the
firm: customers are willing to pay higher prices, they may cost less to serve, and can
bring new customers to the firm.[5][6] For example, if Joe has brand loyalty to Company A
he will purchase Company A's products even if Company B's are cheaper and/or of a
higher quality.
From the point of view of many marketers, loyalty to the brand in terms of consumer
usage is a key factor.
Usage rate
Most important of all, in this context, is usually the 'rate' of usage, to which the Pareto 8020 Rule applies. Kotler's 'heavy users' are likely to be disproportionately important to the
brand (typically, 20 percent of users accounting for 80 percent of usage and of
suppliers' profit). As a result, suppliers often segment their customers into 'heavy',
'medium' and 'light' users; as far as they can, they target 'heavy users'.
Loyalty
A second dimension, however, is whether the customer is committed to the brand. Philip
Kotler, again, defines four patterns of behaviour:
Hard-core Loyals - who buy the brand all the time.
Split Loyals - loyal to two or three brands.
Shifting Loyals - moving from one brand to another.
Switchers - with no loyalty (possibly 'deal-prone', constantly looking for bargains or 'vanity
prone', looking for something different).
Factors influencing brand loyalty
37

It has been suggested that loyalty includes some degree of pre-dispositional commitment
toward a brand. Brand loyalty is viewed as multidimensional construct. It is determined
by several distinct psychological processes and it entails multivariate measurements.
Customers' perceived value, brand trust, customers' satisfaction, repeat purchase behavior,
and commitment are found to be the key influencing factors of brand loyalty.
Commitment and repeated purchase behavior are considered as necessary conditions for
brand loyalty followed by perceived value, satisfaction, and brand trust. [7] Fred Reichheld,[8]
One of the most influential writers on brand loyalty, claimed that enhancing customer
loyalty could have dramatic effects on profitability. Among the benefits from brand loyalty
specifically, longer tenure or staying as a customer for longer was said to be lower
sensitivity to price. This claim had not been empirically tested until recently. Recent
research[9] found evidence that longer-term customers were indeed less sensitive to price
increases.
Industrial markets
In industrial markets, organizations regard the 'heavy users' as 'major accounts' to be handled
by senior sales personnel and even managers; whereas the 'light users' may be handled by
the general salesforce or by a dealer.
Portfolios of brands
Andrew Ehrenberg, then of the London Business School said that consumers buy 'portfolios of
brands'. They switch regularly between brands, often because they simply want a change.
Thus, 'brand penetration' or 'brand share' reflects only a statistical chance that the
majority of customers will buy that brand next time as part of a portfolio of brands they
favour. It does not guarantee that they will stay loyal.
Influencing the statistical probabilities facing a consumer choosing from a portfolio of
preferred brands, which is required in this context, is a very different role for a brand
manager; compared with the much simpler one traditionally described of recruiting
and holding dedicated customers. The concept also emphasises the need for managing
continuity.
Cautions

One of the most prominent features of many markets is their overall stability or
marketing inertia. Thus, in their essential characteristics they change very slowly, often
over decades sometimes centuries rather than over months.
This stability has two very important implications. The first is that those who are clear
brand leaders are especially well placed in relation to their competitors and should want
to further the inertia which lies behind that stable position. This, however, still demands a
continuing pattern of minor changes to keep up with the marginal changes in consumer
taste (which may be minor to the theorist but will still be crucial in terms of those
consumers' purchasing patterns as markets do not favour the over-complacent). These
minor investments are a small price to pay for the long term profits which brand leaders
usually enjoy.
The second, and more important, is that someone who wishes to overturn this stability
and change the market (or significantly change one's position in it), massive investments
must be expected to be made in order to succeed. Even though stability is the natural state
of markets, sudden changes can still occur, and the environment must be constantly
scanned for signs of these.
38

Brand tribalism
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adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (April 2010)
Click [show] on right for more details.[show]
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related articles; suggestions may be available. (April 2010)

A brand tribe can be defined as a network of varied persons who are linked by a shared
belief around a brand; its members are not simple consumers, they are also believers and
promoters. A brand tribe is capable of collective action and therefore has implications for
post-modern business.[1].
Contents
1 Origins
2 Potential red flags
3 References
4 Further reading
Origins

The concept of tribal consumption revolves around the research and writings of numerous
academic researchers who have expressed Tribal Based Views of brand. Michel Maffesoli
(1996), Cova (1997), Veloutsou and Moutinho (2007), Cova and Cova (2001, 2002),
Kozinets, Shankar et al. (2007), DAlessandro [2] describes the tribes we belong to as
"determined even less by geography, pedigree, race or religion. Instead, our tribes are
determined largely by education and accomplishment, and they are manifested by the
things we consume. More and more, they are brand tribes."
Much of the research on brand tribalism depicts 21st Century society as a network of
micro-cultures or tribes. A key element of brand tribes is that they are organically and
voluntarily formed through individual identification with a brand. Factors that contribute
to the formation of a brand tribe are perceived brand authenticity, experiences felt
through interaction with the brand and a collective sense of belonging within a group.[3]
Central to the fabric of brand tribes is a deep conviction as to the notion of truth or
rightness (Belief)
Potential red flags

Much in this area is still under-theorised. Academics have explored and discussed the
degree of connectedness between consumers and brands and the implications for postmodern organisations and consumption. Kozinets and Handelman have been amongst
those to call for further conceptualisations (Kozinets and Handelman, 2004).
Branding agency
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A branding agency is a type of a marketing agency which specializes in creating and
launching brands as well as rebranding. Branding agencies create, plan and manage
branding strategies, independent of their clients. Branding agencies may also handle
advertising and other forms of promotion.
As with advertising agencies, typical branding agency clients come from all sectors
including businesses and corporations, non-profit organisations and government agencies.

39

Branding agencies may be hired to produce a brand strategy or, more commonly, a brand
identity, which can then be output via a branding campaign, which is a type of marketing
campaign.
Branding agencies create branding materials that define who a company is to their
customers, differentiate the company from competitors, and communicate the unique
value the company provides.
Co-branding
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Co-branding refers to several different marketing arrangements:
Co-branding, also called brand partnership,[1] is when two companies form an alliance to
work together, creating marketing synergy. As described in Co-Branding: The Science of
Alliance:[2]

"the term 'co-branding' is relatively new to the business vocabulary and is used to
encompass a wide range of marketing activity involving the use of two (and
sometimes more) brands. Thus co-branding could be considered to include
sponsorships, where Marlboro lends it name to Ferrari or accountants Ernst and
Young support the Monet exhibition."

Co-branding is an arrangement that associates a single product or service with more than
one brand name, or otherwise associates a product with someone other than the principal
producer. The typical co-branding agreement involves two or more companies acting in
cooperation to associate any of various logos, color schemes, or brand identifiers to a
specific product that is contractually designated for this purpose. The object for this is to
combine the strength of two brands, in order to increase the premium consumers are
willing to pay, make the product or service more resistant to copying by private label
manufacturers, or to combine the different perceived properties associated with these
brands with a single product. Ultimately, co-branding is a strategy built upon a sharing of
brand equity; two partners each contributing some aspect of their brand (permissions,
expertise, distribution, status, etc.) to create an offering that neither could develop as
effectively on their own.[3]
Contents
1 Intent
2 Forms
3 Examples
4 See also
5 References
Intent

According to Chang, from the Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, states
there are three levels of co-branding: market share, brand extension, and global branding.
Level 1 includes joining with another company to penetrate the market
Level 2 is working to extend the brand based on the company's current market share
Level 3 tries to achieve a global strategy by combining the two brands
Forms

There are many different sub-sections of co-branding. Companies can work with other
companies to combine resources and leverage individual core competencies, or they can
use current resources within one company to promote multiple products at once. The
40

forms of co-branding include: ingredient co-branding, same-company co-branding, joint

venture co-branding, and multiple sponsor co-branding. No matter which form a
company chooses to use, the purpose is to respond to the changing marketplace, build
ones own core competencies, and work to increase product revenues.
One form of co-branding is ingredient co-branding. This involves creating brand equity
for materials, components or parts that are contained within other products.
Examples:
Betty Crockers brownie mix includes Hersheys chocolate syrup
Pillsbury Brownies with Nestle Chocolate
Dell Computers with Intel Processors
Kellogg Pop-tarts with Smuckers fruit
Samsung hardware with Google software (eg Galaxy Nexus)
Another form of co-branding is same-company co-branding. This is when a company
with more than one product promotes their own brands together simultaneously.
Examples
Kraft Lunchables and Oscar Mayer meats
Joint venture co-branding is another form of co-branding defined as two or more
companies going for a strategic alliance to present a product to the target audience.
Example:
British Airways and Citibank formed a partnership offering a credit card where the card
owner will automatically become a member of the British Airways Executive club
Finally, there is multiple sponsor co-branding. This form of co-branding involves two
or more companies working together to form a strategic alliance in technology,
promotions, sales, etc.
Example:
Citibank/American Airlines/Visa credit card partnership
[4]

Examples

An early instance of co-branding occurred in 1956 when Renault had Jacques Arpels of
jewelers Van Cleef and Arpels turn the dashboard of one of their newly introduced Dauphine's
into a work of art.[5]
A successful example of co-branding is the Senseo coffeemaker, which associates the
Philips made appliances with specific coffee brand of Douwe Egberts.
Other examples include the marketing of Gillette M3 Power shaving equipment (which
require batteries) with Duracell batteries (both brands owned by Procter & Gamble).
Co-branding can be between an organization and a product also. An example of cobranding between a charity and a manufacturer is the association of Sephora and Operation
Smile: Sephora markets a product carrying the logo of the charity, the consumer is
encouraged to associate the two brands, and a portion of the proceeds benefit the charity.
Content marketing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Internet marketing
Search engine optimization
Social media marketing
Email marketing
Referral marketing

41

Content marketing
Search engine marketing
Pay per click
Cost per impression
Search analytics
Web analytics
Display advertising
Contextual advertising
Behavioral targeting
Affiliate marketing
Cost per action
Revenue sharing
Mobile advertising
v
t
e

Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve
the creation and sharing of content in order to engage current and potential consumer
bases. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant
and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action.
Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand
loyalty.
The idea of sharing content as a means of persuading decision-making has driven content
marketers to make their once-proprietary informational assets available to selected
audiences. Alternatively, many content marketers choose to create new information and
share it via any and all media. Content marketing products frequently take the form of
custom magazines, print or online newsletters, digital content, websites or microsites, white papers,
webcasts/webinars, podcasts, video portals or series, in-person roadshows, roundtables,
interactive online, email, events. The purpose of this information is not to spout the virtues
of the marketers own products or services, but to inform target customers and prospects
about key industry issues, sometimes involving the marketers products. The motivation
behind content marketing is the belief that educating the customer results in the brands
recognition as a thought leader and industry expert.
Marketers may use content marketing as a means of achieving a variety of business goals.
These may include: thought leadership, lead generation, increasing direct sales, introducing
specific brand language and improving customer retention. The term "content engineer" is
being used to describe a new breed of marketer who creates, optimizes, and distributes
the different types of content required to engage customers on the social web, based on
the data of many analysis tools.
Content marketing is the underlying philosophy driving techniques such as custom media,
custom publishing, database marketing, brand marketing, branded entertainment and branded content.
Green brands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

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Green brands are those brands that consumers associate with environmental conservation and
sustainable business practices.
Such brands appeal to consumers who are becoming more aware of the need to protect
the environment. A green brand can add a unique selling point to a product and can boost
corporate image. However, if a company is found or perceived to overstate its green practices
its green brand may be criticised as greenwash.[1][2]
Contents
1 Increase in green brands
2 Packaging
3 Advertisement and marketing standards concerns
4 See also
5 References
Increase in green brands
Ethical consumerism has led to an increase in

green brands. In the food and drinks industry

only 5 green brand products were launched in 2002, increasing to 328 in 2007 (Mintel
global database).[3][4]
Packaging

In the case of consumer brands packaging can be a key element in communicating a green
brand. This is because packaging communicates information to the consumer at the pointof-sale, and because of the environmental impact of the packaging itself.
Companies may claim sustainable packaging, recycled and/or recyclable material, or reduce
excess packaging.[5][6] Packaging is of especially high brand importance when the
packaging is part of the aesthetic appeal of the product and brand, as in the case of the
cosmetics and toiletries sector. Packaging material may have to not only reinforce
environmental credentials, but also communicate the high-quality and luxury image of
the brand.[7]
Advertisement and marketing standards concerns

In Europe concerns have been raised that consumers might be confused or mislead as a
result of a recent increase in green brands. Because green brands can add a unique selling
point there is little consistency from brand to brand. In the food and drinks industry it has
been observed that companies are reluctant to use existing and widely recognised green
logos, such as the mobius loop, because using their own makes the brand more easily
distinguishable for the consumer.[3]
In Britain, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has warned consumers in mid 2007, that
some "green" claims might not be authentic. The ASA stated that green claims have
become noticeably more prevalent in advertisement, and has investigated and upheld
several complaints regarding "unsubstantiated environmental claims". The ASA Director
General has stated that "the ASA needs to see robust evidence to back up any eco-friendly
claims".[8]
The ASA in Britain has also raised concerns that as awareness about climate change
increase among consumers, the cases of unsubstantiated carbon claims (e.g. carbon
emissions and carbon neutral claims) rises.[9] The ASA has upheld a number of complaints
against energy companies, including Scottish and Southern Energy[10] car manufacturers,
including Toyota,[11] Lexus[12] and Volkswagen,[13] and airlines, including EasyJet,[14] for
misleading claims regarding carbon emissions and carbon neutrality.
Recent cases before the British ASA involved environmental claims such as "local". In
December 2006 for example the ASA upheld a complaint against Tesco, where the
company advertised British products as "local", which the ASA ruled to be misleading
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because in this particular case the consumers were likely to interpret local as referring
to their immediate surrounding region.[15]
In August 2008 the British ASA ruled that Shell had misled the public in an advertisement
which claimed that a $10bn oil sands project in Alberta, northern Canada, was a
"sustainable energy source". The ASA upheld a complaint by the World Wide Fund for Nature
about Shell's advert in the Financial Times. Explaining the ruling the ASA stated that "We
considered that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) best practice
guidance on environmental claims stated that green claims should not 'be vague or
ambiguous, for instance by simply trying to give a good impression about general
concern for the environment. Claims should always avoid the vague use of terms such as
'sustainable', 'green', 'non-polluting' and so on." Furthermore the ASA ruling stated "Defra
had made that recommendation because, although 'sustainable' was a widely used term,
the lack of a universally agreed definition meant that it was likely to be ambiguous and
unclear to consumers. Because we had not seen data that showed how Shell was
effectively managing carbon emissions from its oil sands projects in order to limit climate
change, we concluded that the ad was misleading"[16]
In the United States the Federal Trade Commission issues the "Green Guides" (last updated
1998) - environmental marketing guidelines. The guidelines give advice on the types of
substantiation needed to support environmental claims, and give examples of claims that
are to be avoided. The Federal Trade Commission has recognised that these guidelines
need updating, as for example they currently contain no guidance on carbon neutrality, or
the terms sustainable or renewable. The Green Guides do contain guidance on the term
recyclable, recycled and biodegradable.[17]
The marketing and brand building experiences of many American green brands was
documented in the book The Gort Cloud by Richard Seireeni, 2009. The gort cloud refers
to the green community that provides support and a market to green brands.
Integrated marketing communications
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Marketing communications.
(Discuss) Proposed since October 2009.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is defined as customer centric, data

driven method of communicating with the customers. IMC is the coordination and
integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, functions and sources within
a company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact on consumers and other
end users at a minimal cost.[1] This management concept is designed to make all aspects
of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and
direct marketing work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in
isolation.
Contents
1 What is IMC?
2 IMC Components
3 Marketing mix component
4 Importance of IMC
5 4 P's vs. 4 C's
6 Effective communications elements
7 Promotions Opportunity Analysis
8 Accountability

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9 Barriers to IMC
10 References
What is IMC?
This section appears to contain a large number of buzzwords. Specific concerns can be found on
the talk page. Please help improve this section if you can. (July 2011)

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a process for managing customer

relationships that drive brand value primarily through communication efforts. Such
efforts often include cross-functional processes that create and nourish profitable
relationships with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or
influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful
dialog with them. IMC includes the coordination and integration of all marketing
communication tools, avenues, and sources within a company into a seamless program in
order to maximize the impact on end users at a minimal cost. This integration affects all
firm's business-to-business, marketing channel, customer-focused, and internally directed
communications.[2] Integrated Marketing Communications is a simple concept. It ensures
that all forms of communications and messages are carefully linked together.
IMC Components

The Foundation - corporate image and brand management; buyer behavior; promotions
opportunity analysis.
Advertising Tools - advertising management, advertising design: theoretical frameworks
and types of appeals; advertising design: message strategies and executional frameworks;
advertising media selection. Advertising also reinforces brand and firm image.[3]
Promotional Tools - trade promotions; consumer promotions; personal selling, database
marketing, and customer relations management; public relations and sponsorship
programs.
Integration Tools - Internet Marketing; IMC for small business and entrepreneurial
ventures; evaluating and integrated marketing program.[4]
Marketing mix component

The Internet has changed the way business is done in the current world. The variables of
segmentation, targeting and positioning are addressed differently. The way new products
and services are marketed have changed even though the aim of business in bringing
economic and social values remain unchanged. Indeed, the bottom line of increasing
revenue and profit are still the same. Marketing has evolved to more of connectedness,
due to the new characteristics brought in by the Internet. Marketing was once seen as a
one way, with firms broadcasting their offerings and value proposition. Now it is seen
more and more as a conversation between marketers and customers. [5] Marketing efforts
incorporate the "marketing mix". Promotion is one element of marketing mix. Promotional
activities include advertising (by using different media), sales promotion (sales and trades
promotion), and personal selling activities. It also includes Internet marketing,
sponsorship marketing, direct marketing, database marketing and public relations.
Integration of all these promotional tools, along with other components of marketing mix,
is a way to gain an edge over a competitor.
The starting point of the IMC process is the marketing mix that includes different types of
marketing, advertising, and sales efforts. Without a complete IMC plan there is no
integration or harmony between client and customers. The goal of an organization is to
create and maintain communication throughout its own employees and throughout its
customers.
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Integrated marketing is based on a master marketing plan. This plan should coordinate
efforts in all components of the marketing mix. A marketing plan consists of the
following six steps:[6]
Situation analysis
Marketing objectives
Marketing budget
Marketing strategies
Marketing tactics
Evaluation of performance
Integrated marketing communications aims to ensure consistency of message and the
complementary use of media. The concept includes online and offline marketing
channels. Online marketing channels include any e-marketing campaigns or programs,
from search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click, affiliate, email, banner to latest web
related channels for webinar, blog, micro-blogging, RSS, podcast, Internet Radio, and
Internet TV. Offline marketing channels are traditional print (newspaper, magazine), mail
order, public relations, industry relations, billboard, traditional radio, and television. A
company develops its integrated marketing communication program using all the
elements of the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion). Integrated
marketing communications plans are vital to achieving success. The reasons for their
importance begin with the explosion of information technologies. Channel power has
shifted from manufacturers to retailers to consumers.
Using outside-in thinking, Integrated Marketing Communications is a data-driven
approach that focuses on identifying consumer insights and developing a strategy with
the right (online and offline combination) channels to forge a stronger brand-consumer
relationship. This involves knowing the right touch points to use to reach consumers and
understanding how and where they consume different types of media. Regression
analysis and customer lifetime value are key data elements in this approach.
Importance of IMC

Several shifts in the advertising and media industry have caused IMC to develop into a
primary strategy for marketers:
From media advertising to multiple forms of communication.
From mass media to more specialized (niche) media, which are centered on specific
target audiences.
From a manufacturer-dominated market to a retailer-dominated, consumer-controlled
market.
From general-focus advertising and marketing to data-based marketing.
From low agency accountability to greater agency accountability, particularly in
advertising.
From traditional compensation to performance-based compensation (increased sales or
benefits to the company).
From limited Internet access to 24/7 Internet availability and access to goods and
services.
1. It can create competitive advantage, boost sales and profits, while saving money, time
and stress. 2. IMC wraps communications around customers and helps them move
through the various stages of the buying process. The organisation simultaneously
consolidates its image, develops a dialogue and nurtures its relationship with customers.
3. This 'Relationship Marketing' cements a bond of loyalty with customers which can
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protect them from the inevitable onslaught of competition. The ability to keep a customer
for life is a powerful competitive advantage. 4. IMC also increases profits through
increased effectiveness 5. Carefully linked messages also help buyers by giving timely
reminders, updated information and special offers which, when presented in a planned
sequence, help them move comfortably through the stages of their buying process 6.
Finally, IMC saves money as it eliminates duplication in areas such as graphics and
photography since they can be shared and used in say, advertising, exhibitions and sales
literature. 7. IMC also makes messages more consistent and therefore more credible. This
reduces risk in the mind of the buyer which, in turn, shortens the search process and helps
to dictate the outcome of brand comparisons.
4 P's vs. 4 C's

Not PRODUCT, but CONSUMER

You have to understand what the consumers' wants and needs are. Times have changed
and you can no longer sell whatever you can make. The product characteristics have to
match the specifics of what someone wants to buy. And part of what the consumer is
buying is the personal "buying experience."
Not PRICE, but COST
Understand the consumer's cost to satisfy the want or need. The product price may be
only one part of the consumer's cost structure. Often it is the cost of time to drive
somewhere, the cost of conscience of what you buy, the cost of guilt for not treating the
kids, the investment a consumer is willing to make to avoid risk, etc.
Not PLACE, but CONVENIENCE
As above, turn the standard logic around. Think convenience of the buying experience
and then relate that to a delivery mechanism. Consider all possible definitions of
"convenience" as it relates to satisfying the consumer's wants and needs. Convenience
may include aspects of the physical or virtual location, access ease, transaction service
time, and hours of availability.
Not PROMOTION, but COMMUNICATION
Communicate,many mediums working together to present a unified message with a
feedback mechanism to make the communication two-way. And be sure to include an
understanding of non-traditional mediums, such as word of mouth and how it can
influence your position in the consumer's mind. How many ways can a customer hear (or
see) the same message through the course of the day, each message reinforcing the earlier
images? [7]
Effective communications elements

The goal of selecting the elements of proposed integrated marketing communications is

to create a campaign that is effective and consistent across media platforms. Some
marketers may want only ads with greatest breadth of appeal: the executions that, when
combined, provide the greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and motivational
moments. Others may only want ads with the greatest depth of appeal: the ads with the
greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and motivational points within each.
Although integrated marketing communications is more than just an advertising
campaign, the bulk of marketing dollars is spent on the creation and distribution of
advertisements. Hence, the bulk of the research budget is also spent on these elements of
the campaign. Once the key marketing pieces have been tested, the researched elements
can then be applied to other contact points: letterhead, packaging, logistics, customer service
training, and more, to complete the IMC cycle.
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One common type of integrated marketing communication is personal selling. Personal

selling can be defined as "face to face selling in which a seller attempts to persuade a
buyer to make a purchase."
Personal selling is occasionally called the "last 3 feet" of the marketing functions. It is
called the "last 3 feet" because this is usually the distance between a salesperson and his
customer on the retail sales floor. The last 3 feet also applies to the distance across the
desk from a sales representative to his prospective business customer. Personal selling
occurs in two main categories:
1. Retail sales
2. Business-to-business selling [8]
Promotions Opportunity Analysis

A major task that guides the way in creating an effective Integrated Marketing
Communications plan is the promotions opportunity analysis. A promotions opportunity
analysis is the process marketers use to identify target audiences for a companys goods
and services and the communication strategies needed to reach these audiences. [9] A
message sent by a marketer has a greater likelihood of achieving the intended results if
the marketer has performed a good analysis and possesses accurate information
pertaining to the target audience. There are five steps in developing a promotions
opportunity analysis:[10]
Conduct a communication market analysis
Competitors
Opportunities
Target markets
Customers
Product positioning
Establish communication objectives
Develop brand awareness
Increase category demand
Change customer belief or attitude
Enhance purchase actions
Encourage repeat purchases
Build customer traffic
Enhance firm image
Increase market share
Increase sales
Reinforce purchase decisions
Create communications budget Several factors influence the relationship between
expenditures on promotions and sales:
The goal of the promotion
Threshold effects
Carryover effects
Wear-out effects
Decay effects
Random events
Prepare promotional strategies
The fourth step of a promotions opportunity analysis program is to prepare a general
communication strategy for the company and it products. Strategies are sweeping
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guidelines concerning the essence of the company's marketing efforts. Strategies provide
the long term direction for all marketing activities.[11]
It is critical that the company's communication strategy mesh with the overall message
and be carefully linked to the opportunities identified by a communication market
analysis. Communications strategies should be directly related to a firm's marketing
objectives. Strategies must be achievable using the allocations available in the marketing
and communications budgets. Once strategies have been implemented, they are not
changed unless major new events occur. Only changes in the marketplace, new
competitive forces, or new promotional opportunities should cause companies to alter
strategies.[12]
Match tactics with strategies
Advertisements based on the major theme or a subtheme
Personal selling enticements (bonuses and prizes for sales reps)
Sales promotions (posters, point-of-purchase displays, end-of-aisle displays, freestanding
displays)
Special product packaging and labeling
Price changes
Other enticements companies may include in their tactical efforts includes: Coupons, gift
certificates, bonus packs (a second product attached to a first), special containers (e.g.,
holiday decanters or soft-drink glasses), contests and prizes, rebates and volume
discounts (large-size packages, "buy two, get one free" promotions, etc.)[13]
Throughout these steps, marketers should consistently review and analyze the actions and
tools that major competitors are utilizing.
Accountability

Accountability in marketing is increasing a result of tight economic restraints and an ever

evolving society. Companies realize that they cannot spend large amounts of money on
unproductive marketing campaigns. Companies look for programs that will have a
measurable impact on business at minimal cost. Marketing agencies must be able to
provide companies with desired and effective results.[14]
Barriers to IMC

Despite its many benefits, Integrated Marketing Communications, or IMC, has many
barriers.
In addition to the usual resistance to change and the special problems of communicating
with a wide variety of target audiences, there are many other obstacles which restrict
IMC. These include: Functional Silos; Stifled Creativity; Time Scale Conflicts and a lack
of Management know-how.
Take functional silos. Rigid organisational structures are infested with managers who
protect both their budgets and their power base.
Sadly, some organisational structures isolate communications, data, and even managers
from each other. For example the PR department often doesn't report to marketing. The
sales force rarely meet the advertising or sales promotion people and so on. Imagine what
can happen when sales reps are not told about a new promotional offer!
And all of this can be aggravated by turf wars or internal power battles where specific
managers resist having some of their decisions (and budgets) determined or even
influenced by someone from another department.
Here are two difficult questions - What should a truly integrated marketing department
look like? And how will it affect creativity?
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It shouldn't matter whose creative idea it is, but often, it does. An advertising agency may
not be so enthusiastic about developing a creative idea generated by, say, a PR or a direct
marketing consultant.
IMC can restrict creativity. No more wild and wacky sales promotions unless they fit into
the overall marketing communications strategy. The joy of rampant creativity may be
stifled, but the creative challenge may be greater and ultimately more satisfying when
operating within a tighter, integrated, creative brief.
Time horizons add one more barrier to IMC as different time scales affect a creative brief.
For example, image advertising that is designed to nurture the brand over the longer term
may conflict with shorter term advertising or sales promotions designed to boost
quarterly sales. However, the two objectives of improving the brand and sales can be
accommodated with IMC planning.
But this kind of planning is not common. A survey in 1995, revealed that most managers
lack expertise in IMC. But its not just managers, but also agencies. There is a
proliferation of single discipline agencies. There appear to be very few people who have
real experience of all the marketing communications disciplines. This lack of know how
is then compounded by a lack of commitment.
For now, understanding the barriers is the first step in successfully implementing IMC.
Visual brand language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Starbucks original Visual Brand Language, circa 1995.

Visual brand language is branding terminology for a unique "alphabet" of design
elements such as shape, color, materials, finish, typography and composition which
directly and subliminally communicate a company's values and personality through
compelling imagery and design style. This "alphabet", properly designed, results in an
emotional connection between the brand and the consumer. Visual brand language is a key
ingredient necessary to make an authentic and convincing brand strategy that can be
applied uniquely and creatively in all forms of brand communications to both employees
and customers.[1][2] Successful Visual Brand Language creates a memorable experience for
the consumer, encouraging repeat business and boosting the company's economic health.
It is a long-term creative solution that can be leveraged by an executive team to showcase
their brand's unique personality. [3]
For example, as shown, a Starbucks constant, main design ingredient was black and white
icons. The icons represent elements of the "alphabet". Each year, the promotional
campaigns would use the same icons but the color palette and the featured icons would
change. Another distinguishing iconic design element is the BMW 'split grill' continually
employed to represent the brand. While the grill size and design details evolve over time,

50

the underlying idea is constant and memorable. The use of color is also a powerful
associative element for consistent imagery, as exemplified by the comprehensive
application of orange by The Home Depot across all its brand materials.

Band management See also

Brand orientation
Chief brand officer
Employer branding
Predictive analytics
Brand community
Brand engagement
Brand implementation
Customer engagement
Emory Brand Institute at Emory University
Naming firms
Product naming
Visual brand language
Visual merchandising
5.

Brand management begins with having a thorough knowledge of the term brand.
It includes developing a promise, making that promise and maintaining it. It means
defining the brand, positioning the brand, and delivering the brand. Brand management is
nothing but an art of creating and sustaining the brand. Branding makes customers
committed to your business. A strong brand differentiates your products from the
competitors. It gives a quality image to your business.
Brand management includes managing the tangible and intangible characteristics of
brand. In case of product brands, the tangibles include the product itself, price,
packaging, etc. While in case of service brands, the tangibles include the customers
experience. The intangibles include emotional connections with the product / service.
Branding is assembling of various marketing mix medium into a whole so as to give you
an identity. It is nothing but capturing your customers mind with your brand name. It
gives an image of an experienced, huge and reliable business.
It is all about capturing the niche market for your product / service and about creating a
confidence in the current and prospective customers minds that you are the unique
solution to their problem.
The aim of branding is to convey brand message vividly, create customer loyalty,
persuade the buyer for the product, and establish an emotional connectivity with the
customers. Branding forms customer perceptions about the product. It should raise
customer expectations about the product. The primary aim of branding is to create
differentiation.
Strong brands reduce customers perceived monetary, social and safety risks in buying
goods/services. The customers can better imagine the intangible goods with the help of
brand name. Strong brand organizations have a high market share. The brand should be
given good support so that it can sustain itself in long run. It is essential to manage all
brands and build brand equity over a period of time. Here comes importance and
usefulness of brand management. Brand management helps in building a corporate

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image. A brand manager has to oversee overall brand performance. A successful brand
can only be created if the brand management system is competent.
Following are the important concepts of brand management:
Definition of Brand
Brand Name
Brand Attributes
Brand Positioning
Brand Identity
Sources of Brand Identity
Brand Image
Brand Identity vs Brand Image
Brand Personality
Brand Awareness
Brand Loyalty
Brand Association
Building a Brand
Brand Equity
Brand Equity & Customer Equity
Brand Extension
Co-branding

Brand Management
Understanding Brand - What is a Brand ?
inShare2

Brands are different from products in a way that brands are what the consumers buy,
while products are what concern/companies make. Brand is an accumulation of
emotional and functional associations. Brand is a promise that the product will perform
as per customers expectations. It shapes customers expectations about the product.
Brands usually have a trademark which protects them from use by others. A brand gives
particular information about the organization, good or service, differentiating it from
others in marketplace. Brand carries an assurance about the characteristics that make the
product or service unique. A strong brand is a means of making people aware of what the
company represents and what are its offerings.
To a consumer, brand means and signifies:
Source of product
Delegating responsibility to the manufacturer of product
Lower risk
Less search cost
Quality symbol
Deal or pact with the product manufacturer
Symbolic device

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Brands simplify consumers purchase decision. Over a period of time, consumers discover
the brands which satisfy their need. If the consumers recognize a particular brand and
have knowledge about it, they make quick purchase decision and save lot of time. Also,
they save search costs for product. Consumers remain committed and loyal to a brand as
long as they believe and have an implicit understanding that the brand will continue
meeting their expectations and perform in the desired manner consistently. As long as the
consumers get benefits and satisfaction from consumption of the product, they will more
likely continue to buy that brand. Brands also play a crucial role in signifying certain
product features to consumers.
To a seller, brand means and signifies:
Basis of competitive advantage
Way of bestowing products with unique associations
Way of identification to easy handling
Way of legal protection of products unique traits/features
Sign of quality to satisfied customer
Means of financial returns
A brand, in short, can be defined as a sellers promise to provide consistently a unique set
of characteristics, advantages, and services to the buyers/consumers. It is a name, term,
sign, symbol or a combination of all these planned to differentiate the goods/services of
one seller or group of sellers from those of competitors. Some examples of well known
brands are Mc Donalds, Mercedes-Benz, Sony, Coca Cola, Kingfisher, etc.
A brand connects the four crucial elements of an enterprise- customers, employees,
management and shareholders. Brand is nothing but an assortment of memories in
customers mind. Brand represents values, ideas and even personality. It is a set of
functional, emotional and rational associations and benefits which have occupied target
markets mind. Associations are nothing but the images and symbols associated with the
brand or brand benefits, such as, The Nike Swoosh, The Nokia sound, etc. Benefits are
the basis for purchase decision.
Brand Name
inShare1

Brand name is one of the brand elements which helps the customers to identify and
differentiate one product from another. It should be chosen very carefully as it captures
the key theme of a product in an efficient and economical manner. It can easily be
noticed and its meaning can be stored and triggered in the memory instantly. Choice of a
brand name requires a lot of research. Brand names are not necessarily associated with
the product. For instance, brand names can be based on places (Air India, British
Airways), animals or birds (Dove soap, Puma), people (Louise Phillips, Allen Solly). In
some instances, the company name is used for all products (General Electric, LG).
Features of a Good Brand Name
A good brand name should have following characteristics:
It should be unique / distinctive (for instance- Kodak, Mustang)
It should be extendable.

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It should be easy to pronounce, identified and memorized. (For instance-Tide)

It should give an idea about products qualities and benefits (For instance- Swift,
Quickfix, Lipguard).
It should be easily convertible into foreign languages.
It should be capable of legal protection and registration.
It should suggest product/service category (For instance Newsweek).
It should indicate concrete qualities (For instance Firebird).
It should not portray bad/wrong meanings in other categories. (For instance NOVA is a
poor name for a car to be sold in Spanish country, because in Spanish it means doesnt
go).
Process of Selecting a renowned and successful Brand Name
Define the objectives of branding in terms of six criterions - descriptive, suggestive,
compound, classical, arbitrary and fanciful. It Is essential to recognize the role of brand
within the corporate branding strategy and the relation of brand to other brand and
products. It is also essential to understand the role of brand within entire marketing
program as well as a detailed description of niche market must be considered.
Generation of multiple names - Any potential source of names can be used; organization,
management and employees, current or potential customers, agencies and professional
consultants.
Screening of names on the basis of branding objectives and marketing considerations so
as to have a more synchronized list - The brand names must not have connotations,
should be easily pronounceable, should meet the legal requirements etc.
Gathering more extensive details on each of the finalized names - There should be
extensive international legal search done. These searches are at times done on a
sequential basis because of the expense involved.
Conducting consumer research - Consumer research is often conducted so as to confirm
management expectations as to the remembrance and meaningfulness of the brand names.
The features of the product, its price and promotion may be shown to the consumers so
that they understand the purpose of the brand name and the manner in which it will be
used. Consumers can be shown actual 3-D packages as well as animated advertising or
boards. Several samples of consumers must be surveyed depending on the niche market
involved.
On the basis of the above steps, management can finalize the brand name that maximizes
the organizations branding and marketing objectives and then formally register the brand
name.
Brand Attributes
inShare1

Brand Attributes portray a companys brand characteristics. They signify the basic nature
of brand. Brand attributes are a bundle of features that highlight the physical and
personality aspects of the brand. Attributes are developed through images, actions, or
presumptions. Brand attributes help in creating brand identity.
A strong brand must have following attributes:

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Relevancy- A strong brand must be relevant. It must meet peoples expectations and
should perform the way they want it to. A good job must be done to persuade consumers
to buy the product; else inspite of your product being unique, people will not buy it.
Consistency- A consistent brand signifies what the brand stands for and builds customers
trust in brand. A consistent brand is where the company communicates message in a way
that does not deviate from the core brand proposition.
Proper positioning- A strong brand should be positioned so that it makes a place in
target audience mind and they prefer it over other brands.
Sustainable- A strong brand makes a business competitive. A sustainable brand drives an
organization towards innovation and success. Example of sustainable brand is Marks and
Spencers.
Credibility- A strong brand should do what it promises. The way you communicate your
brand to the audience/ customers should be realistic. It should not fail to deliver what it
promises. Do not exaggerate as customers want to believe in the promises you make to
them.
Inspirational- A strong brand should transcend/ inspire the category it is famous for. For
example- Nike transcendent Jersey Polo Shirt.
Uniqueness- A strong brand should be different and unique. It should set you apart from
other competitors in market.
Appealing- A strong brand should be attractive. Customers should be attracted by the
promise you make and by the value you deliver.
Brand Positioning - Definition and Concept
inShare3

Brand positioning refers to target consumers reason to buy your brand in

preference to others. It is ensures that all brand activity has a common aim; is guided,
directed and delivered by the brands benefits/reasons to buy; and it focusses at all points
of contact with the consumer.
Brand positioning must make sure that:
Is it unique/distinctive vs. competitors ?
Is it significant and encouraging to the niche market ?
Is it appropriate to all major geographic markets and businesses ?
Is the proposition validated with unique, appropriate and original products ?
Is it sustainable - can it be delivered constantly across all points of contact with the
consumer ?
Is it helpful for organization to achieve its financial goals ?
Is it able to support and boost up the organization ?
In order to create a distinctive place in the market, a niche market has to be carefully
chosen and a differential advantage must be created in their mind. Brand positioning is a
medium through which an organization can portray its customers what it wants to
achieve for them and what it wants to mean to them. Brand positioning forms customers
views and opinions.

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Brand Positioning can be defined as an activity of creating a brand offer in such a manner
that it occupies a distinctive place and value in the target customers mind. For instanceKotak Mahindra positions itself in the customers mind as one entity- Kotak - which
can provide customized and one-stop solution for all their financial services needs. It has
an unaided top of mind recall. It intends to stay with the proposition of Think
Investments, Think Kotak. The positioning you choose for your brand will be influenced
by the competitive stance you want to adopt.
Brand Positioning involves identifying and determining points of similarity and
difference to ascertain the right brand identity and to create a proper brand image. Brand
Positioning is the key of marketing strategy. A strong brand positioning directs marketing
strategy by explaining the brand details, the uniqueness of brand and its similarity with
the competitive brands, as well as the reasons for buying and using that specific brand.
Positioning is the base for developing and increasing the required knowledge and
perceptions of the customers. It is the single feature that sets your service apart from your
competitors. For instance- Kingfisher stands for youth and excitement. It represents brand
in full flight.
There are various positioning errors, such asUnder positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have a blurred and unclear
idea of the brand.
Over positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have too limited a awareness
of the brand.
Confused positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have a confused
opinion of the brand.
Double Positioning- This is a scenario in which customers do not accept the claims of a
brand.
Brand Identity - Definition and Concept
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Brand identity stems from an organization, i.e., an organization is responsible for

creating a distinguished product with unique characteristics. It is how an organization
seeks to identify itself. It represents how an organization wants to be perceived in the
market. An organization communicates its identity to the consumers through its branding
and marketing strategies. A brand is unique due to its identity. Brand identity includes
following elements - Brand vision, brand culture, positioning, personality, relationships,
and presentations.
Brand identity is a bundle of mental and functional associations with the brand.
Associations are not reasons-to-buy but provide familiarity and differentiation thats
not replicable getting it. These associations can include signature tune(for example Britannia ting-ting-ta-ding), trademark colours (for example - Blue colour with Pepsi),
logo (for example - Nike), tagline (for example - Apples tagline is Think
different),etc.

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Brand identity is the total proposal/promise that an organization makes to consumers. The
brand can be perceived as a product, a personality, a set of values, and a position it
occupies in consumers minds. Brand identity is all that an organization wants the brand
to be considered as. It is a feature linked with a specific company, product, service or
individual. It is a way of externally expressing a brand to the world.
Brand identity is the noticeable elements of a brand (for instance - Trademark colour,
logo, name, symbol) that identify and differentiates a brand in target audience mind. It is
a crucial means to grow your companys brand.
Brand identity is the aggregation of what all you (i.e. an organization) do. It is an
organizations mission, personality, promise to the consumers and competitive
advantages. It includes the thinking, feelings and expectations of the target
market/consumers. It is a means of identifying and distinguishing an organization from
another. An organization having unique brand identity have improved brand awareness,
motivated team of employees who feel proud working in a well branded organization,
active buyers, and corporate style. Brand identity leads to brand loyalty, brand preference,
high credibility, good prices and good financial returns. It helps the organization to
express to the customers and the target market the kind of organization it is. It assures the
customers again that you are who you say you are. It establishes an immediate connection
between the organization and consumers. Brand identity should be sustainable. It is
crucial so that the consumers instantly correlate with your product/service.
Brand identity should be futuristic, i.e, it should reveal the associations aspired for the
brand. It should reflect the durable qualities of a brand. Brand identity is a basic means of
consumer recognition and represents the brands distinction from its competitors.
Sources of Brand Identity
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SYMBOLS- Symbols help customers memorize organizations products and services.

They help us correlate positive attributes that bring us closer and make it convenient for
us to purchase those products and services. Symbols emphasize our brand expectations
and shape corporate images. Symbols become a key component of brand equity and help
in differentiating the brand characteristics. Symbols are easier to memorize than the
brand names as they are visual images. These can include logos, people, geometric
shapes, cartoon images, anything. For instance, Marlboro has its famous cowboy,
Pillsbury has its Poppin Fresh doughboy, Duracell has its bunny rabbit, Mc Donald has
Ronald, Fed Ex has an arrow, and Nikes swoosh. All these symbols help us remember
the brands associated with them.
Brand symbols are strong means to attract attention and enhance brand personalities by
making customers like them. It is feasible to learn the relationship between symbol and
brand if the symbol is reflective/representative of the brand. For instance, the symbol of
LG symbolize the world, future, youth, humanity, and technology. Also, it represents
LGs efforts to keep close relationships with their customers.
LOGOS- A logo is a unique graphic or symbol that represents a company, product,
service, or other entity. It represents an organization very well and make the customers

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well-acquainted with the company. It is due to logo that customers form an image for the
product/service in mind. Adidass Three Stripes is a famous brand identified by its
corporate logo.
Features of a good logo are :
It should be simple.
It should be distinguished/unique. It should differentiate itself.
It should be functional so that it can be used widely.
It should be effective, i.e., it must have an impact on the intended audience.
It should be memorable.
It should be easily identifiable in full colours, limited colour palettes, or in black and
white.
It should be a perfect reflection/representation of the organization.
It should be easy to correlate by the customers and should develop customers trust in the
organization.
It should not loose its integrity when transferred on fabric or any other material.
It should portray companys values, mission and objectives.
The elements of a logo are:
Logotype - It can be a simple or expanded name. Examples of logotypes including only
the name are Kelloggs, Hyatt, etc.
Icon - It is a name or visual symbol that communicates a market position. For exampleLIC hands, UTI kalash.
Slogan - It is best way of conveying companys message to the consumers. For instanceNikes slogan Just Do It.
TRADEMARKS- Trademark is a unique symbol, design, or any form of identification
that helps people recognize a brand. A renowned brand has a popular trademark and that
helps consumers purchase quality products. The goodwill of the dealer/maker of the
product also enhances by use of trademark. Trademark totally indicates the commercial
source of product/service. Trademark contribute in brand equity formation of a brand.
Trademark name should be original. A trademark is chosen by the following symbols:
(denotes unregistered trademark, that is, a mark used to promote or brand goods);
SM
(denotes
unregistered
service
mark)
(denotes registered trademark).
Registration of trademark is essential in some countries to give exclusive rights to it.
Without adequate trademark protection, brand names can become legally declared
generic. Generic names are never protectable as was the case with Vaseline, escalator and
thermos.
Some guidelines for trademark protection are as follows:
Go for formal trademark registration.
Never use trademark as a noun or verb. Always use it as an adjective.
Use correct trademark spelling.
Challenge each misuse of trademark, specifically by competitors in market.
Capitalize first letter of trademark. If a trademark appears in point, ensure that it stands
out from surrounding text.

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Brand Image
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Brand image is the current view of the customers about a brand. It can be defined as a
unique bundle of associations within the minds of target customers. It signifies what the
brand presently stands for. It is a set of beliefs held about a specific brand. In short, it
is nothing but the consumers perception about the product. It is the manner in which a
specific brand is positioned in the market. Brand image conveys emotional value and not
just a mental image. Brand image is nothing but an organizations character. It is an
accumulation of contact and observation by people external to an organization. It should
highlight an organizations mission and vision to all. The main elements of positive
brand image are- unique logo reflecting organizations image, slogan describing
organizations business in brief and brand identifier supporting the key values.
Brand image is the overall impression in consumers mind that is formed from all
sources. Consumers develop various associations with the brand. Based on these
associations, they form brand image. An image is formed about the brand on the basis of
subjective perceptions of associations bundle that the consumers have about the brand.
Volvo is associated with safety. Toyota is associated with reliability.
The idea behind brand image is that the consumer is not purchasing just the
product/service but also the image associated with that product/service. Brand images
should be positive, unique and instant. Brand images can be strengthened using brand
communications like advertising, packaging, word of mouth publicity, other promotional
tools, etc.
Brand image develops and conveys the products character in a unique manner different
from its competitors image. The brand image consists of various associations in
consumers mind - attributes, benefits and attributes. Brand attributes are the functional
and mental connections with the brand that the customers have. They can be specific or
conceptual. Benefits are the rationale for the purchase decision. There are three types of
benefits: Functional benefits - what do you do better (than others ),emotional benefits how do you make me feel better (than others), and rational benefits/support - why do I
believe you(more than others). Brand attributes are consumers overall assessment of a
brand.
Brand image has not to be created, but is automatically formed. The brand image includes
products' appeal, ease of use, functionality, fame, and overall value. Brand image is
actually brand content. When the consumers purchase the product, they are also
purchasing its image. Brand image is the objective and mental feedback of the
consumers when they purchase a product. Positive brand image is exceeding the
customers expectations. Positive brand image enhances the goodwill and brand value of
an organization.
To sum up, Brand image is the customers net extract from the brand.

Brand Identity vs Brand Image

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Brand Identity

Brand Image

Brand identity develops from the

source or the company.

Brand image is perceived by the receiver

or the consumer.

Brand message is tied together in

terms of brand identity.

Brand message is untied by the consumer

in the form of brand image.

The general meaning of brand identity

is who you really are?

The general meaning of brand image is

How market perceives you?

Its nature is that it is substance

oriented or strategic.

Its nature is that it is appearance oriented

or tactical.

Brand identity
reality.

symbolizes

firms

Brand image symbolizes perception of

consumers

Brand identity
desire.

represents

your

Brand image represents others view

It is enduring.

It is superficial.

Identity is looking ahead.

Image is looking back.

Identity is active.

Image is passive.

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It signifies where you want to be.

It signifies what you have got.

11

It is total promise that a company

makes to consumers.

It is total consumers perception about the

brand.

Focus on shaping your brand identity, brand image will follow.

What is Brand Personality ?

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Brand personality is the way a brand speaks and behaves. It means assigning human
personality traits/characteristics to a brand so as to achieve differentiation. These
characteristics signify brand behaviour through both individuals representing the brand
(i.e. its employees) as well as through advertising, packaging, etc. When brand image or
brand identity is expressed in terms of human traits, it is called brand personality. For
instance - Allen Solley brand speaks the personality and makes the individual who wears
it stand apart from the crowd. Infosys represents uniqueness, value, and intellectualism.
Brand personality is nothing but personification of brand. A brand is expressed either as
a personality who embodies these personality traits (For instance - Shahrukh Khan and
Airtel, John Abraham and Castrol) or distinct personality traits (For instance - Dove as
honest, feminist and optimist; Hewlett Packard brand represents accomplishment,
competency and influence). Brand personality is the result of all the consumers
experiences with the brand. It is unique and long lasting.
Brand personality must be differentiated from brand image, in sense that, while
brand image denote the tangible (physical and functional) benefits and attributes of a
brand, brand personality indicates emotional associations of the brand. If brand image is
comprehensive brand according to consumers opinion, brand personality is that aspect of
comprehensive brand which generates its emotional character and associations in
consumers mind.
Brand personality develops brand equity. It sets the brand attitude. It is a key input into
the look and feel of any communication or marketing activity by the brand. It helps in
gaining thorough knowledge of customers feelings about the brand. Brand personality
differentiates among brands specifically when they are alike in many attributes. For
instance - Sony versus Panasonic. Brand personality is used to make the brand strategy
lively, i.e, to implement brand strategy. Brand personality indicates the kind of
relationship a customer has with the brand. It is a means by which a customer
communicates his own identity.
Brand personality and celebrity should supplement each other. Trustworthy celebrity
ensures immediate awareness, acceptability and optimism towards the brand. This will
influence consumers purchase decision and also create brand loyalty. For instance Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra is brand ambassador for J.Hampstead, international
line of premium shirts.
Brand personality not only includes the personality features/characteristics, but also the
demographic features like age, gender or class and psychographic features. Personality
traits are what the brand exists for.

What is Brand Awareness?

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Brand awareness is the probability that consumers are familiar about the life and
availability of the product. It is the degree to which consumers precisely associate the
brand with the specific product. It is measured as ratio of niche market that has former
knowledge of brand. Brand awareness includes both brand recognition as well as brand

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recall. Brand recognition is the ability of consumer to recognize prior knowledge of

brand when they are asked questions about that brand or when they are shown that
specific brand, i.e., the consumers can clearly differentiate the brand as having being
earlier noticed or heard. While brand recall is the potential of customer to recover a
brand from his memory when given the product class/category, needs satisfied by that
category or buying scenario as a signal. In other words, it refers that consumers should
correctly recover brand from the memory when given a clue or he can recall the specific
brand when the product category is mentioned. It is generally easier to recognize a brand
rather than recall it from the memory.
Brand awareness is improved to the extent to which brand names are selected that is
simple and easy to pronounce or spell; known and expressive; and unique as well as
distinct. For instance - Coca Cola has come to be known as Coke.
There are two types of brand awareness:
Aided awareness- This means that on mentioning the product category, the customers
recognize your brand from the lists of brands shown.
Top of mind awareness (Immediate brand recall)- This means that on mentioning the
product category, the first brand that customer recalls from his mind is your brand.
The relative importance of brand recall and recognition will rely on the degree to which
consumers make product-related decisions with the brand present or not. For instance - In
a store, brand recognition is more crucial as the brand will be physically present. In a
scenario where brands are not physically present, brand recall is more significant (as in
case of services and online brands).
Building brand awareness is essential for building brand equity. It includes use of
various renowned channels of promotion such as advertising, word of mouth publicity,
social media like blogs, sponsorships, launching events, etc. To create brand awareness, it
is important to create reliable brand image, slogans and taglines. The brand message to be
communicated should also be consistent. Strong brand awareness leads to high sales and
high market share. Brand awareness can be regarded as a means through which
consumers become acquainted and familiar with a brand and recognize that brand.

Brand Loyalty
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Brand Loyalty is a scenario where the consumer fears purchasing and consuming
product from another brand which he does not trust. It is measured through methods like
word of mouth publicity, repetitive buying, price sensitivity, commitment, brand trust,
customer satisfaction, etc. Brand loyalty is the extent to which a consumer constantly
buys the same brand within a product category. The consumers remain loyal to a specific
brand as long as it is available. They do not buy from other suppliers within the product
category. Brand loyalty exists when the consumer feels that the brand consists of right
product characteristics and quality at right price. Even if the other brands are available at
cheaper price or superior quality, the brand loyal consumer will stick to his brand.
Brand loyal consumers are the foundation of an organization. Greater loyalty levels

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lead to less marketing expenditure because the brand loyal customers promote the brand
positively. Also, it acts as a means of launching and introducing more products that are
targeted at same customers at less expenditure. It also restrains new competitors in the
market. Brand loyalty is a key component of brand equity.
Brand loyalty can be developed through various measures such as quick service, ensuring
quality products, continuous improvement, wide distribution network, etc. When
consumers are brand loyal they love you for being you, and they will minutely
consider any other alternative brand as a replacement. Examples of brand loyalty can be
seen in US where true Apple customers have the brand's logo tattooed onto their bodies.
Similarly in Finland, Nokia customers remained loyal to Nokia because they admired the
design of the handsets or because of user- friendly menu system used by Nokia phones.
Brand loyalty can be defined as relative possibility of customer shifting to another
brand in case there is a change in products features, price or quality. As brand
loyalty increases, customers will respond less to competitive moves and actions. Brand
loyal customers remain committed to the brand, are willing to pay higher price for that
brand, and will promote their brand always. A company having brand loyal customers
will have greater sales, less marketing and advertising costs, and best pricing. This is
because the brand loyal customers are less reluctant to shift to other brands, respond less
to price changes and self- promote the brand as they perceive that their brand have unique
value which is not provided by other competitive brands.
Brand loyalty is always developed post purchase. To develop brand loyalty, an
organization should know their niche market, target them, support their product, ensure
easy access of their product, provide customer satisfaction, bring constant innovation in
their product and offer schemes on their product so as to ensure that customers repeatedly
purchase the product.

Brand Association
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Brand Associations are not benefits, but are images and symbols associated with a brand
or a brand benefit. For example- The Nike Swoosh, Nokia sound, Film Stars as with
Lux, signature tune Ting-ting-ta-ding with Britannia, Blue colour with Pepsi, etc.
Associations are not reasons-to-buy but provide acquaintance and differentiation thats
not replicable. It is relating perceived qualities of a brand to a known entity. For instanceHyatt Hotel is associated with luxury and comfort; BMW is associated with
sophistication, fun driving, and superior engineering. Most popular brand associations
are with the owners of brand, such as - Bill Gates and Microsoft, Reliance and Dhirubhai
Ambani.
Brand association is anything which is deep seated in customers mind about the
brand. Brand should be associated with something positive so that the customers relate
your brand to being positive. Brand associations are the attributes of brand which come
into consumers mind when the brand is talked about. It is related with the implicit and

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explicit meanings which a consumer relates/associates with a specific brand name. Brand
association can also be defined as the degree to which a specific product/service is
recognized within its
product/service class/category. While choosing a brand name, it is essential that the name
chosen should reinforce an important attribute or benefit association that forms its
product positioning. For instance - Power book.
Brand associations are formed on the following basis:
Customers contact with the organization and its employees;
Advertisements;
Word of mouth publicity;
Price at which the brand is sold;
Celebrity/big entity association;
Quality of the product;
Products and schemes offered by competitors;
Product class/category to which the brand belongs;
POP ( Point of purchase) displays; etc
Positive brand associations are developed if the product which the brand depicts is
durable, marketable and desirable. The customers must be persuaded that the brand
possess the features and attributes satisfying their needs. This will lead to customers
having a positive impression about the product. Positive brand association helps an
organization to gain goodwill, and obstructs the competitors entry into the market.

Brand Promise - Our brand is a promise of what we deliver

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Brand evokes the responses. There are many people who love their Apple iPod or love
their car etc. There are certain feelings that come to your mind when you think about
your favorite brands. People expect that these brands should demonstrate brand
promises every time whenever they are, encountered. Inconsistencies in the
performance of services can lead to damage in further relations. This can cause a
customer to select some other brand.
Brand promise is what you say to the customer and what is to be delivered. If you
are not able to meet the expectations of the customer, your business will either flounder
or die. If you are not able to deliver the brand promise you will not be able to meet the
expectations that have been created in the customers mind.
There are three major mistakes that the business leaders make while executing and
developing the brand promise:
The first mistake is when you refuse to recognize the customer expectations that are
created in customers mind before it comes in contact with that particular brand. The
customers are very easily able to realize your brand promise by the business you are
dealing with. For example, if you have a gourmet restaurant then the customers will
have a image in their mind that it will different from the local restaurant. This is one of

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the major reason, why one should work for every smallest detail. For example, the
image of a gourmet restaurant does not include plastic menus or paper placemats.
The second major mistake is to implement a system which gives a negative
experience to the customer. Business leaders work on creating efficient results for
saving time and money. Human beings are self-centered creatures with a thought in
their mind to save money and time for us. For example, a customers asks do you
accept credit card? Do you accept all credit cards or only master card and visa? If you
dont accept these cards, does it make any difference in the cost? Its just that you are
losing sales. Then what are the other services you are giving to the customer in place
which is the attraction for the customers. Any small inconvenience which will force
the customer to say that you are not completely service oriented and encourages the
customer to some other brand.
The third major mistake is that when you are not able to hire the best candidate. You
easily hire anyone who applies and dont even put some efforts to train them gives a
really terrible experience to the customers. Brand promises are delivered by the staff.
If your goal is to be a business leader you will invest time to train the staff. If you
select a person who is very polite and does not even know how to dress up for an
interview then you competition should send a thank you card for all the business you
will send his way.
People who want to become the business leader understand they are a great product
brands. They are authentic, dependable and reliable. Their icon is their name. Delivering
the best of themselves is their brand promise. Do you want to become winner at working?
Then, deliver the brand promise.

Steps in Building a Brand Name Product or Service

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At times, organizations are often inspired by a variety of ideas to create products and
services which can be offered locally or globally. Generally, such products or services
require the establishment of a brand or company name. Often these brands include both
logo and lettering and can do a long way in advertising such products or services.
Therefore, one of the most important steps in building a Brand is decide upon a brand
name for the product or service one wishes to sell.
Branding is a process that allows an individual or a group of individuals the ability
to provide a brand image and lettering to an idea. Upon doing so, one has a better
chance of selling such items to a broader audience whether that be on a local or global
level. Therefore, while the old adage nothing happens until somebody sells something,
still stands true to some extent, at times almost seems as if the process of advertising and
branding has overtaken the desire to sell.
Although branding generally identifies the company and philosophies behind same, it can
also be representative of those working for such a company. This is a good thing as it
generates the right type of audience to the product or service being sold based on
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personal relationships with those running the company. Therefore, benefiting both the
organizations selling the branded product or service and the dealers buying same.
One of the most important steps in selling any product or service is the belief one holds
in relation to the item. Therefore, only those who strongly believe in the products and
services offered by the company are going to be good at selling same. Otherwise, one
may want to work from an advertising or graphic artist perspective in relation to
advertising rather than sales when it comes to time to market same.
Another step is to build a brand that maintains loyalty with its customer base and has a
strong customer service department. For, having such a department in today's world
where one is both experienced and knowledgeable when it comes to helping others can be
a rare find. So, companies who represent oneself has having a strong customer base and
even stronger customer service department are often more successful than those who do
not.
A very important step in marketing a brand is to identify the target audience before
creating the logo and lettering in relation to marketing. This is because different age
groups react differently to a variety of logo and lettering especially as so much is
misrepresented by a variety of gangs and others using such material inappropriately.
Therefore, if one can define the brand name, logo and lettering and present same to a
marketing research review panel or the like, one may be able to gain a better
understanding of which audience one needs to direct their product or service to in order
to create the most sales.
Still, if one can communicate the use of their product or service clearly, establish trust
within the community, be that locally or globally, aim marketing at the right audience,
build a base of buyers and customer loyalty and offer great customer service, then one is
on their way to not only creating and advertising an excellent brand but selling one as
well.
Therefore, when looking for steps in building a brand, there are many steps which one
can complete to help make the creation of such brand an easier task. These include,
knowing your audience, building your brand, finding a great logo and lettering to
represent same, targeting the appropriate audience and placing a number of ads in as
many online and offline advertising venues one can find. For, after doing so, one may just
find that they are selling even more products and services than one had ever dreamed
possible.

Brand Equity - Meaning and Measuring Brand Equity

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Brand Equity is the value and strength of the Brand that decides its worth. It can also be
defined as the differential impact of brand knowledge on consumers response to the
Brand Marketing. Brand Equity exists as a function of consumer choice in the market
place. The concept of Brand Equity comes into existence when consumer makes a choice
of a product or a service. It occurs when the consumer is familiar with the brand and
holds some favourable positive strong and distinctive brand associations in the memory.

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Brand Equity can be determined by measuring:

Returns to the Share-Holders.
Evaluating the Brand Image for various parameters that are considered significant.
Evaluating the Brands earning potential in long run.
By evaluating the increased volume of sales created by the brand compared to other
brands in the same class.
The price premium charged by the brand over non-branded products.
From the prices of the shares that an organization commands in the market
(specifically if the brand name is identical to the corporate name or the consumers
can easily co-relate the performance of all the individual brands of the organization
with the organizational financial performance.
OR, An amalgamation of all the above methods.
Factors contributing to Brand Equity
Brand Awareness
Brand Associations
Brand Loyalty

Perceived Quality: refers to the customers perception about the total quality of the
brand. While evaluating quality the customer takes into account the brands performance
on factors that are significant to him and makes a relative analysis about the brands
quality by evaluating the competitors brands also. Thus quality is a perceptual factor and
the consumer analysis about quality varies. Higher perceived quality might be used for
brand positioning. Perceived quality affect the pricing decisions of the organizations.
Superior quality products can be charged a price premium. Perceived quality gives the
customers a reason to buy the product. It also captures the channel members interest. For
instance - American Express.
Other Proprietary Brand Assets: Patents, Trademarks and Channel Inter-relations are
proprietary assets. These assets prevent competitors attack on the organization. They also
help in maintaining customer loyalty as well as organizations competitive advantage.
Brand Equity & Customer Equity
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Brand Equity is defined as value and strength of the Brand that decides its worth whereas
Customer Equity is defined in terms of lifetime values of all customers.
Brand Equity and Customer Equity have two things in commonBoth stress on significance of customer loyalty to the brand
Both stress upon the face that value is created by having as many customers as
possible paying as high price as possible.
But conceptually both brand equity and customer equity differ.
While customer equity puts too much emphasis on lower line financial value got from
the customers, brand equity attempts to put more emphasis on strategic issues in
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managing brands.
Customer Equity is less narrow alternative. It can overlook a brands optional value
and their capacity effect revenues and cost beyond the present marketing environment.
Just as customer equity can persist without brand equity, brand equity may also exist
without customer equity. For instance I may have positive attitude towards brands McDonald and Burger King, but I may only purchase from McDonalds brand
consistently.
To conclude, we can say brands do not exist without consumer and consumer do not exist
without brands. Brands serve as a temptation that utilizes other intermediaries to lure the
customers from whom value is extracted. Customers serve as a profit-medium for brands
to encash their brand value. Both the concepts are highly co-related.
Brand Extension - Meaning, Advantages and Disadvantages
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Brand Extension is the use of an established brand name in new product categories.
This new category to which the brand is extended can be related or unrelated to the
existing product categories. A renowned/successful brand helps an organization to launch
products in new categories more easily. For instance, Nikes brand core product is shoes.
But it is now extended to sunglasses, soccer balls, basketballs, and golf equipments. An
existing brand that gives rise to a brand extension is referred to as parent brand. If the
customers of the new business have values and aspirations synchronizing/matching those
of the core business, and if these values and aspirations are embodied in the brand, it is
likely to be accepted by customers in the new business.
Extending a brand outside its core product category can be beneficial in a sense that it
helps evaluating product category opportunities, identifies resource requirements, lowers
risk, and measures brands relevance and appeal.
Brand extension may be successful or unsuccessful.
Instances where brand extension has been a success areWipro which was originally into computers has extended into shampoo, powder, and
soap.
Mars is no longer a famous bar only, but an ice-cream, chocolate drink and a slab of
chocolate.
Instances where brand extension has been a failure areIn case of new Coke, Coca Cola has forgotten what the core brand was meant to stand
for. It thought that taste was the only factor that consumer cared about. It was wrong. The
time and money spent on research on new Coca Cola could not evaluate the deep
emotional attachment to the original Coca- Cola.
Rasna Ltd. - Is among the famous soft drink companies in India. But when it tried to
move away from its niche, it hasnt had much success. When it experimented with fizzy
fruit drink Oranjolt, the brand bombed even before it could take off. Oranjolt was a
fruit drink in which carbonates were used as preservative. It didnt work out because it
was out of synchronization with retail practices. Oranjolt need to be refrigerated and it
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also faced quality problems. It has a shelf life of three-four weeks, while other softdrinks assured life of five months.
Advantages of Brand Extension
Brand Extension has following advantages:
It makes acceptance of new product easy.
It increases brand image.
The risk perceived by the customers reduces.
The likelihood of gaining distribution and trial increases. An established brand name
increases consumer interest and willingness to try new product having the established
brand name.
The efficiency of promotional expenditure increases. Advertising, selling and
promotional costs are reduced. There are economies of scale as advertising for core brand
and its extension reinforces each other.
Cost of developing new brand is saved.
Consumers can now seek for a variety.
There are packaging and labeling efficiencies.
The expense of introductory and follow up marketing programs is reduced.
There are feedback benefits to the parent brand and the organization.
The image of parent brand is enhanced.
It revives the brand.
It allows subsequent extension.
Brand meaning is clarified.
It increases market coverage as it brings new customers into brand franchise.
Customers associate original/core brand to new product, hence they also have quality
associations.
Disadvantages of Brand Extension
Brand extension in unrelated markets may lead to loss of reliability if a brand name is
extended too far. An organization must research the product categories in which the
established brand name will work.
There is a risk that the new product may generate implications that damage the image of
the core/original brand.
There are chances of less awareness and trial because the management may not provide
enough investment for the introduction of new product assuming that the spin-off effects
from the original brand name will compensate.
If the brand extensions have no advantage over competitive brands in the new category,
then it will fail.

6.
Defining Brand Meaning At A Strategic Crossroad

69

As brands grow and evolve, they will face defining moments of change and find
themselves at a strategic crossroads. This challenging moment has been called a
strategic inflection point by Andrew Grove, the former Intel CEO who wrote the
modern classic Only the Paranoid Survive.
The idea here is that these are times when brand owners find themselves faced with a
great self-defining challenge, which can only be met by answering, in some introspective
detail, these types of questions:
1. What is most important to us right now that serves our customers?
2. Whereand whatdo we hope to be in three, five, ten years into the future?
3. What do we do when we get there?
4. How we will measure our success along the way?
Sometimes the strategic direction is clear, other times its far from apparent even to those
at the top of the organization. In the mad rush to manage change, to create powerful
brands and brand images, companies spend tons of money reinventing themselves with
ambitious marketing and advertising plans long before taking the most important first
step -- knowing exactly what it is they are seeking to build upon -- their brands
foundation.
This substructure of a brands foundation is not built on physical materials, product
features and the like, but fashioned from the intangible, dynamic forces that are nearly
impossible to define and quantify, yet hold the keys to greater brand meaning and
understanding. The intuitive process of brand re-alignment and re-definition is often
under-valued by metrics obsessed financial managers.
May 28, 2012
An Open Letter To Marketers

70

Dear Marketers:
Im much smarter than your marketing gives me credit for. I dont like to be sold...I dont
care about your advertising, your free samples, your promotions, your special offers. I
dont like to be told whats cool, new, improved, last-longer, smells better, tastes better, or
is less filling...I dont care about your brand, it doesnt matter to me. I avoid your
interruptions to my busy day whenever and wherever I can...I dont have time to pay
attention to your sales pitch...You are white noise to me and I have tuned you out. If you
want to be a part of my life, heres what youll need to do:
Be honest with me
Keep your promises
Treat me with respect
Provide me with more use value than you take from me in cash value
Teach me better ways to grow and expand my life experience
Help make my day-to-day easier, lighter, more relaxed and enjoyable
Help me to experience greater connection to whats important to me
Do these things for me and you will win my trust and devotion. Then I will gladly
welcome you into my life, and share the value of our relationship with others who are
important to me.
Sincerely,
A. Consumer
March 07, 2012
Global Brand Strategy And Consistent Brand Messaging

71

We are happy to answer marketing questions of all types here on Branding Strategy
Insider. Today, Jennifer, a business reporter in New York, New York asks several
questions on brand management and how companies can maintain a consistent brand
message across diverse markets...
1. Explain brand management and why it's important to effective brand messaging?
Brands promise relevant differentiated benefits to their customers. Put another way, they
make unique value propositions. In this way, they increase brand preference and purchase
intent. But the promises must be delivered on consistently over time at every point of
customer contact. This is where brand management comes in. Not only is brand
management responsible for the brand messaging but also for the organization's (and
product's) delivery against the brand promise. This requires active management.
2. How can a company maintain a consistent brand message, while tailoring its
communication to local markets, whether they be regional or global?
Messages need to be tested in each market and in every language to gauge the following:
How understandable the message is
How believable the message is
Whether the message translates properly to the other language
Whether the message is still unique and compelling (purchase motivating) in the new
market
Then, changes should be made accordingly, while remaining as consistent as possible
with the global brand essence and positioning.

72

January 30, 2012

Brand Management: Process And Responsibilities

Brand Management Process: Key Components

Identifying/defining your most important customers
Understanding what motivates your customers and what could cause them to choose your
brand over your competitors brands
Carefully selecting a brand position that could provide your organization with marketplace
advantages
Translating that position to a strong and consistent brand identity, including:
Intuitive
brand
architecture
Strong
name
and
icon
- Tagline that succinctly reinforces brand promise
Developing brand messaging including an elevator speech
Educating employees about the brand promise, elevator speech and identity standards and
giving them the incentives, tools and training to become effective brand champions
Developing an integrated launch and ongoing marketing plan
Reinforcing your brands promise at each point of customer contact
Measuring the ongoing equity of the brand and making adjustments as necessary
December 21, 2011
Brand Strategy: The Rudder That Steers The Ship

73

In many business organizations, there is still much confusion about the role of strategic
brand development and brand management and who within the organization should lead
it.
Brand strategy and brand management is too important to be left to marketing people.
Thats my spin on the famous David Packard quote (as in Hewlett Packard) about marketing
being too important an activity to the well-being of a business enterprise to be left in the
hands of marketing people alone.
Business leaders have notoriously looked at marketing with a critical eye. Marketing is
not a hard discipline like engineering, sales and finance. Business leaders love
quantified activities that facilitate a predictable return. Marketing doesnt provide
predictable returns.
And in todays social media, permission and privacy driven world, marketing is even
more suspect by consumers. Customers want real, authentic connections and engagement
to brands, not more marketing and selling.
Brand strategy and brand management is not a sub-discipline of marketing.

As brand strategy and brand management becomes more essential for marketplace
success, enlightened business leaders have moved it further away (and upstream) from
the core competencies within marketing organizations.
September 17, 2011
3 Keys To Building A Competitive Brand Advantage

74

In many conversations with my client colleagues, hands down, the most important brand
building challenges they say they are facing is vision, innovation, and alignment.
No doubt, the stakes for marketplace success are growing ever higher for marketers.
Consumers have more choice than their minds can process. Against the backdrop of a
dicey economy, over-crowded retail channels, and price pressure driving nearly every
decision these days, marketers are neck deep and choking on more short-term marketing
tactics
to
sell
more
stuff.
Few are granted the luxury of stepping back and making big picture assessments with
clarity and confidence that the future they are busy creating will matter to anyone by time
they get there. Brand building is like riding a bullet train these days. Its easy to feel like
your being left behind. Regardless, I believe its a good idea to be looking up and out
right
now.
In listening to my client colleagues conversations, heres my take on what may be the
most important areas of focus for many marketing decision-makers and brand managers
to pursue their best opportunities now and in the future.
September 12, 2011
Targeting Your Best Customer Is Just The Start

75

Targeting your value proposition to the right consumer is a basic marketing function.
Knowing where to aim your creativity and money is the essential first step in any
productive initiative to grow the value of your brand. Yet as important as defining the
right target consumer is for your value proposition, it doesnt automatically mean that
defined segment will engage with your brand. Targeting is a means, not an end.
Brand managers are passionate about targeting! Many use a variety of techniques and
methods for defining consumer segments. They know its better to generally get the
definition of their customer mostly right. Targeting is not an exercise in precision as
much as it is having a navigational aid to aim the trajectory of your marketing. Its worth
noting your most perfect and profitable customers most likely will not comprise the
largest majority of people who will make up your customer base. So effective targeting
needs to include those consumers who may be just outside the descriptive attributes of
your high yield customers.
Like a game of darts, you can score points and win without hitting the bulls eye with each
throw.
To gain a comprehensive picture and an actionable perspective on defining your best
target consumer profile, consider all these criteria:
Demographics

The basic and fundamental starting point, critical for segmenting the market to identify
the highest potential target groups, usually defined by sex, age, household characteristics,
occupation, origin, income, and education. The most useful aspect of demographics is
these attributes are concrete and without bias.
August 18, 2011
The Brand Audit: Key For Determining Brand Health

76

When brands reach the tipping point where sales begin to slide because customers no
longer resonate with the brands value proposition, its time to put your finger on the
pulse of your brand and determine the long-term outlook for brand health.
Brands have life cycles. They begin with excitement and promise, enter their growth
phase, reach a plateau, and then slowly lose relevance as customers move on to the latest
and greatest new thing. This is as natural as life itself. Thats why its a good idea to
monitor brand health along the waybefore sales slip.
Brand managers these days are heads down managing the urgent daily business of the
brand. Rarely are they offered the opportunity to step back and make an informed high
altitude assessment of brand health.
Completing a brand audit is a chance to take a fresh and objective look at your brand from
a number of critical perspectives.
A comprehensive brand audit will often reveal new grow opportunities for your brands,
and new ways to make your brand resonate with a new generation of target customers
who will represent your brands bigger future.
If you believe your brand could use a check up, take the time to make a close
examination of the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats facing brand health. A
comprehensive brand audit will include a thoughtful examination of the following:
August 06, 2011
Victory At Shelf Requires More Than Words

77

The big battle for packaged goods success has always been at the shelf, and nobody will
deny the influence packaging has on winning this battle. But it takes more than words on
a label to win.
Right now consumers are shocked and paralyzed, and it shows in their purchase behavior.
In response, marketers are in hyper mode tweaking their packaging, discounting their
prices and promoting their brands doing whatever it takes to get their share of a
diminishing wallet. Winning at shelf keeps getting tougher.
A case in point.

The inspiration for this post came as a result of a recent conversation with a brand owner
(who had experienced early distribution and sales success with their start-up ready-todrink health beverage line) about the effectiveness of their current packaging to
communicate the product benefits to influence purchase.
They were concerned about the descriptive words used to convey the benefits of the
products attributes. They believed people cared about function, and they wanted to use
better words. They believed the words on the label were the cause of a sales slide. They
asked us for some advice on how to fix their copywriting problem.
The brand owners could not see the real cause of their sales slide. They were too
emotionally invested in what theyve been doing thus far, even though it was clearly no
longer working. They were more interested in selling tactics without any deep concern
or strategy for connecting with people. The desire for immediate sales was having the
opposite effect.
July 28, 2011
Brand Strategy: Win By Creating New Value

78

Many marketing people are obsessive about the urgent work of competing rather than the
more
important
work
of
creating.
Brand owners and managers are busy people! Theyre busy everyday in back-to-backmeetings. Theyre under increasing pressure to create more revenue, and get more stuff
done as cost effectively (cheap) as possible. Theyre thinking about supply-chain
logistics, product development, pricing, channel strategy, promotions, customer service
and their competitors.
Managers are hyper-focused on their marketing ROI the urgent metrics executive
management values most and forms the basis of reward and compensation. Its easy to
see why the focus is on the urgent rather than the important. Only a select few of
enlightened marketers are afforded the luxury of paying much attention to the more
important
work
creating!
One of the important principals we hold near and dear in our brand strategy practice
needs
to
be
mentioned:
Tis

better

to

create

new

value

than

compete

for

the

value

created

by

others.

Why on earth do really smart people invest tens of millions of dollars bringing me-too
products to market? It makes no sense at all, yet it happens all the time in every product
category.

79

Brand

80

Brand name

Attributes:

81

Positioning

82

Identity

Personality

83

Awareness

84

Loyalty

Association

85

Building a brand

86

brand. equity

87

Brand extention

88

Co branding

89

90

91

92

93

Department
Accounts Department

Function
To prepare monthly, quarterly and annually Accounts,
Costing, Budgeting & Forecasting. To handle payable and
insurance, Inventory & Stores etc.
Finance Department
Arranging Finance and negotiate over coat of finance, To
handle sale, receivable, debtor aging, cash and bank etc.
Internal Audit
To monitor the implementation of internal procedures,
policies internal control systems and repot any violation.
Detection and control of financial risk and frauds.
Information
TechnologyDevelopment of SAP program, Networking, Hardware
Department
Maintenance
Human Resource
Hiring new manpower, satisfaction, Motivation, Appraisals
etc
Health Environment &ISO Audit and ISO implementation, Internal safety &
Security (HEC)
environmental awareness and health improvement.
Production Department
To undertake production activity and maintain desired
production volume
Electrical & Instrument
Maintain and economies electricity consumption,
Installation and maintenance of Electrical & Electronics
Instruments
Mechanical Department
Installation and maintenance of plant and machinery.
Research and DevelopmentProduct development, product improvement and economies
(R&D)
production cost by discovering raw material substitute or
change in production process.
Quality Control
Maintain quality and deal with complaints
Project Department
To design and build structural design of new plant to be
installed.
Marketing & Sale
To increase existing demand, to work as organizations
intelligence in large outer environment, customer
satisfaction, advertisement, smooth dispatch, rationing of
products in case of excess demand
Executive Summary
The Coca-Cola Company is the world's leading manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of
nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, with world headquarters in Atlanta,
Georgia. The Company and its subsidiaries employ nearly 31,000 people around the
world. Syrups, concentrates and beverage bases for Coca-Cola, the Company's flagship

94

brand, and over 230 other Company soft-drink brands are manufactured and sold by The
Coca-Cola Company and its subsidiaries in nearly 200 countries around the world.
Coca-Cola is the world's leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of nonalcoholic
beverage concentrates and syrups. Company manufactures beverage concentrates and
syrups and, in certain instances, finished beverages, which we sell to bottling and canning
operations, authorized fountain wholesalers and some fountain retailers. They also market
and distribute juice and juice-drink products. In addition, they also have ownership
interests in numerous bottling and canning operations.
They compete in the nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverage business. Their offerings in
this category include some of the world's most valuable brands, 232 in all. These include
soft drinks and non-carbonated beverages such as sports drinks, juice and juice drinks,
water products, teas and coffees. As discussed earlier, to meet their long-term growth
objectives, they make significant investments to support their brands. This involves
investments to support existing brands and to acquire new brands, when appropriate.
The coca-cola company started his business in Pakistan in 1960.All business activities in
Pakistan are monitored by The coca-cola export corporation (TCCEC). Head office of
TCCEC is in Karachi at that time but now days it is shifted to Lahore. But this TCCEC
only monitored business activities, this company issued license for plants in different
cities of Pakistan to start production according to company standard.
In 1990 decided for acquisition worldwide. Actually they are operated their business
through joint venture, now they decided for acquisition. Thats why in 1996 The CocaCola Company buys the Karachi plant, at that time TCCEC decided to form a new
company to monitor the operation of bottling in Pakistan. So Coca-Cola beverages
Pakistan limited (CCBPL) is the company, which is responsible to monitor the
operations of bottling in Pakistan. Some time people says that there is no difference in
CCBPL and TCCEC, but the basic difference between both companies is that CCBPL is
responsible for bottling operations and TCCEC is responsible for marketing and
corporate decision world wide.
On the whole Accounts Department is consisting of about 14 permanent employees. As
mentioned in the organ gram of the CCBPL, Multan Plant Mr. Aamir Ahmad Jan was the
Head of the department during my internship program. He is a competent person in the
field of Accounting. As mentioned in the organ gram of Marketing Department it is
basically a subpart of Sales and Marketing Department. Basically the task is divided into
two parts on is Sales and the other is Marketing. Marketing in CCBPL means the coordination of the sales department. The basic task of the marketing department is the
distribution and checking of company assets in the market in the form of Deep Freezer,
Visi Cooler, and Chest Cooler or in the form of Cabins, boards, hoardings etc.
Accounts Department is responsible for proper flow of cash and for the controlling of
financial assets of the organization. The budget is allocated by TCCEC (The Coca-Cola
Export Corporation) for the period of month or two and finance manager of TCCEC used
to come there to check the financial activities. On the whole Finance Department consists
of 25 (Twenty five Employees).
Logistic department is basically the combination of two departments these are Fleet and
shipping department. The whole transports and vehicles are arranged and maintained by
Fleet department. And shipping department is responsible for the maintenance of

95

inventory of empty bottles. On the whole logistic department is consists of 27 permanent

employees. And rest of the employees work on daily wages.
After take over of the company in late 90s, progressive management enables the
organization to increase the profitability continuously in last many years and the
company is continuously increasing its market share consistently. Increase in profits and
sales volume is shown in financial analysis of the firm and it is indicating that firm is
achieving more and more effectiveness day by day.
I spent about 6weeks in the plant. During this period, I got a lot of practical knowledge in
various fields. Especially I got a chance to practically work in Accounts & Finance
Department and apply all those concepts in reality that I learnt in my MBA program. I
worked as an active member of the team that was working on Accounts Assistant. This
project was basically a check on the Market Development Officers to see whether the
assets of the company are present in market in proper shape or not. Another objective was
to minimize the misuse of these assets.
Career Planning
The company provides attractive salary packages as well as good career progressions to
its employees. Special attention is given to Succession plans to fill up gaps required at the
time of need. The employees are made aware of their career progressions profile right at
the time of induction.
Chairmans Message
I am pleased with the progress we made in 2005 toward our goal of delivering consistent,
sustainable growth. In 2005, both profits and unit case volume reached a record high, and
our employee morale improved. Our Manifesto for Growth has set our strategic road
map, and the engagement of our people has given us a solid start.
Sustainable growth is how The Coca-Cola Company will regain its position as the
beverage provider of choice for consumers, the employer of choice for our people, the
partner of choice for our customers and the investment of choice for our shareowners.
We understand the unspoken agreement between our Company and those who choose to
purchase and consume our products every day around the world. We understand our
responsibilities as an engaged citizen of the world. We believe we lead a system that
creates value and makes a positive difference everywhere it does business. Taken as a
whole, the Coca-Cola system--comprising The Coca-Cola Company and our bottling
partners--is one of the largest consumer products enterprises in the world, with hundreds
of thousands of employees and an estimated $80 billion in revenue.
My priority in 2010 was to continue building on this unrivaled foundation to deliver longterm sustainable growth while being mindful of our short-term commitments. Our work
is far from finished, but as we've moved from words to deeds and from plans to actions,
the initial impact of our efforts shows clearly in our 2005 results.
In 2005, our Company earned $2.04 per share, an increase of $0.04--2 percent--over
2004. Volume grew 4 percent to 20.6 billion unit cases, and net operating revenues grew
6 percent to $23.1 billion. Through Our Manifesto for Growth, we identified strategic
corridors for expansion to complement our core carbonated soft-drink business. We more
effectively integrated marketing, strategy and innovation while reinvesting an

96

incremental $400 million in those capabilities. And we introduced new products-capturing greater share--in juice and juice drinks, water, energy drinks and sports drinks.
Beverage Industry in Pakistan
The beverage industry of Pakistan has become a play ground for many firms like Coke,
Pepsi, RC Cola, Amrat Cola, Gourmet Cola and many others newly introduced local
companies. But only two companies share most of the market share, Pepsi and Coke.
These two companies jointly are enjoying a market share of more than 90%. But still a
very huge share of this market is still uncovered. But in covered areas, it can be said both
the dominant companies are facing very stiff competition from each one another.
The newly introduced brands are still disabling to find a stable position yet and still most
of them are not considered as real competitors of these two players on any base, product
quality, availability, visibility or promotion.
The positioning of these two well-known brands is almost same. A huge part of the
market is still unable to differentiate between these two products and they are considered
as perfect substitute of one another. On the other hand the other new brands like Gourmat
Cola, Amrat Cola, Double Cola, and Makkah Cola etc. are still considered as inferior on
basis of quality. This is one of the reasons why these brands are still unable to create their
market and capture the share of these two giants of the industry.
The religious campaigns against these two brands that were carried on by some of the
religious groups in near-past acted as a break-through for these newly introduced brands
but they could not make the best use of this opportunity and therefore they are still
struggling in the market. But it cannot be said that these campaigns were wholly failed
and could not disturb the business of these two firms. A negative image of Pepsi has
created in minds of some religious people dew to its affiliation with Israel.
So, it can be said that there are only two main competitors in this industry in Pakistan like
most of the other countries of the world. But the statistics of this industry are very much
different in this market from most of the other countries. Coca Cola is unlikely not the
biggest player and Pepsi is having a very clear lead as it is having in most of the South
Asian countries. Pepsi is claiming a market share of about 60% of the total market; on the
other hand Coke is claiming a market share of about 37% to 40%. And both the
competitors are also claiming that their market share is increasing rapidly.
Introduction of Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company is the worlds largest beverage company, The Coca-Cola
Company markets four of the worlds top-five soft-drink brandsCoca-Cola, diet Coke,
Sprite and Fanta. And now currently the company has offered two new products in this
market, Sprite 3G and Fanta Citrus. Sprite 3G is doing its business successfully and
meeting the expectations of the management by capturing market share of Dew quickly
but on the other hand the second newly introduced product is not meeting the
expectations and still struggling to find out a proper place in the market but it is expected
that the company may stop its production of this product in near future. Their beverage
offerings encompass nearly 400 brands, including coffees and teas, juices and juice
drinks, sports drinks and waters as well as carbonated soft drinks. With operations in more
than 200 countries, they have a diverse workforce of approximately 50,000 individuals.
Together with their subsidiaries and bottling partners, they strive to be an integral and
contributing member of each of the communities where they operate.

97

The Coca-Cola Company is the world's leading manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of
nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, with world headquarters in Atlanta,
Georgia. The Company and its subsidiaries employ nearly 31,000 people around the
world. Syrups, concentrates and beverage bases for Coca-Cola, the Company's flagship
brand, and over 230 other Company soft-drink brands are manufactured and sold by The
Coca-Cola Company and its subsidiaries in nearly 200 countries around the world.
By contract with The Coca-Cola Company or its local subsidiaries, local businesses are
authorized to bottle and sell Company soft drinks within certain territorial boundaries and
under conditions that ensure the highest standards of quality and uniformity.
Operational Structure All Over the World
The Company's operating management structure consists of five geographic groups. The
North America Group comprises the United States and Canada. The Latin America Group
includes the Company's operations across Central and South America, from Mexico to
the tip of Argentina. The Greater Europe Group stretches from Greenland to Russia's Far
East, including some of the most established markets in Western Europe and the rapidly
growing nations of Eastern and Central Europe. The Africa and Middle East Group
encompasses the Middle East and the entire continent of Africa. The Asia Pacific Group
has operations from India through the Pacific region including China, Japan, and
Australia.
In past it was seen that the company was paying more attention to European and
American region but now it is recognized that the Middle East region is much more
attractive as compare to those areas due to intensity of population and some such markets
which are still not captured by any of the firm. So, now the firm is paying more attention
towards these areas to increase market share of the company in these countries. The visit
of chairman in 2005 is an evidence of this fact that company is now focusing on this
region to maximize its share in this market. According to the management of the firm,
they are working on a plan to achieve about 50% of the market share by 2011.
Mission of Coca-Cola Company
From their heritage to their mission to the people who bring their products to thirsty
consumers, The Coca-Cola Company is a part of lives everywhere.
Their Mission is
To Maximize Share-Owner Value over Time.
In order to achieve this mission, they must create value for all the constituents they serve,
including their consumers, their customers, their bottlers and their communities. The
Coca-Cola Company creates value by executing a comprehensive business strategy
guided by six key beliefs:
Consumer demand drives everything they do.
Brand Coca-Cola is the core of their business.
They will serve consumers a broad selection of the nonalcoholic ready-to-drink
beverages they want to drink throughout the day.
They will be the best marketers in the world.
They will think and act locally.
They will lead as a model corporate citizen
Objective

98

The ultimate objectives of their business strategy are to increase volume, expand their
share of worldwide nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverage sales, maximize their long-term
cash flows, create economic-value-added by improving economic profit and creating
such an image of the company that the consumers start differentiating their product from
other competitors.
The Coca-Cola system has more than 16 million customers around the world that sell or
serve their products directly to consumers. They keenly focus on enhancing value for
these customers and helping them grow their beverage businesses. They strive to
understand each customer's business and needs, whether that customer is a sophisticated
retailer in a developed market or a kiosk owner in an emerging market.
There are nearly six billion people in the world who are potential consumers of their
Company's products.
Their success in achieving their mission depends on their ability to satisfy more of their
beverage consumption demands and their ability to add value for their customers. They
achieve this when they place the right products in the right markets at the right time.
Ultimately, their basic task to perform in a market like Pakistan should be to confirm the
availability the products all over the country because it is observed that one of the main
reason of low market share of this brand in Pakistan is unavailability of the products in
most of the areas.
The company stock
The Coca-Cola Company stock, with ticker symbol KO, is listed and traded in the United
States on the New York Stock Exchange. Common stock also is traded on the Boston,
Cincinnati, Chicago, Pacific and Philadelphia exchanges. Outside the United States,
Company common stock is listed and traded on German and Swiss stock exchanges.
Social Responsiveness
The Coca-Cola Company has a commitment, more than a century old, to social
responsibility through philanthropy and good citizenship. The Company's reputation for
good corporate citizenship results from charitable donations, employee volunteerism,
technical assistance and other demonstrations of support in thousands of communities
worldwide.
The Coca-Cola Company continues to sponsor the world's most exciting sports events,
including World Cup Soccer, the National Football League, National Basketball
Association, NASCAR, the Tour de France, the Rugby World Cup, COPA America and
numerous local sports teams. The Coca-Cola Company has sponsored the Olympic
Games since 1928.
Bottlers System
One of The Coca-Cola Company's greatest strengths lies in its ability to conduct business
on a global scale while maintaining a local approach. At the heart of this approach is
the bottler system.
Their Company has business relationships with three types of bottlers:
1. Independently owned bottlers, in which they have no ownership interest;
2. Bottlers in which they have invested and have a no controlling ownership interest; and
3. Bottlers in which they have invested and have a controlling ownership interest.

99

During 1999, independently owned bottling operations produced and distributed

approximately 27 percent of our worldwide unit case volume. Bottlers in which they own
a no controlling ownership interest produced and distributed approximately 58 percent of
our 1999 worldwide unit case volume. Controlled bottling and fountain operations
produced and distributed approximately 15 percent.
They view certain bottling operations in which they have a no controlling ownership
interest as key or anchor bottlers due to their level of responsibility and performance. The
strong commitment of both key and anchor bottlers to their own profitable volume
growth help them meet their strategic goals and further the interests of their worldwide
production, distribution and marketing systems. These bottlers tend to be large and
geographically diverse, with strong financial resources for long-term investment and
strong management resources. These bottlers give them strategic business partners on
every major continent.
Brands of The coca-cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is the worlds largest beverage company. The Coca-Cola
Company markets four of the worlds top-five soft-drink brandsCoca-Cola, diet Coke,
Sprite and Fanta. Their beverage offerings encompass nearly 400 brands, including
coffees and teas, juices and juice drinks, sports drinks and waters as well as carbonated soft
drinks with operations in more than 200 countries. The products of The Coca-Cola
Company touch lives everywhere. Their core brands have made an impact around the
world; brands such as Fanta, Sprite and off course, Coca-Cola, are available and
recognized in many countries. Each of their other brands is distributed in one or more
countries, and is tailored to the cultures and tastes of those consumers. So wherever you
are, you're sure to find a Coca-Cola product to enjoy. The main product range is as
fellows:
Coca-Cola classic
Diet coke
Cherry coke
Diet cherry coke
Minute maid orange
Minute maid Mango
Minute maid Pulpy
Sprite
Sprite 3G
Fanta
And many others, which are still not introduced in subcontinent due to several reasons
History of The Coca-Cola Company
Dr. John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-cola in 1886. It was the doctors second drink
with coca leaves and the kola nut as a basis. The doctors first coca leaf drink,
Pemberton's French Wine Coca, was actually an imitation of Vin Mariani, a coca-wine
drink invented by Angelo Mariani in 1883. Although there were several imitators of the
French Coca-Wine, Pemberton's formula was superior. He was actually quoted saying
"I believe that I am now producing a better preparation than that of Mariani."
Pemberton was not very good health, not to mention he was a morphine addict. So in
1887 he began to sell parts of the company off. On July 8th he sold a third of the
company to Willis Venable and another third to George Lowndes. Either man had the

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time to market, make or sell Coke so they sold their portion of the company to Woolfolk
Walker and his younger sister Margaret Dozier. Dozier owned two-ninths and Walker
four-ninths of the formula rights. Now here is where it gets interesting. Venable somehow
disposed off his portion of Coca-cola twice. During some time in 1887, he gave his share
of Coca-cola to Joseph Jacobs, owner of Jacobs' Pharmacy. In early October 1887
Pemberton ran a blind ad looking for additional investors.
He was able to get three investors with this ad. He took $2,000 from each of them. Their
names were J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey and E.H. Bloodworth. In late December the
three new partners moved to Atlanta, ready to produce all of Pemberton's wonderful
medicines.
At this point Pemberton, Walker and Dozier officially owned the formula of Coca-cola,
but several others had interest in it. Enter Asa Candler, an ambitious Atlanta druggist.
Candler some how acquired control of the company later in the month of December
although he probably didn't own any part of the company until 1888. He acquired the
drink in return for debts owed him by certain "gentlemen." Things got a little sticky for a
while with Charley Pemberton (John's son) claiming his right to the drink. This kicked off
two coke clones by the names of: Yum Yum and Koke.
Pemberton grew even more ill, but continued with his work. He was developing a new
drink, a modified cola with celery extract. The drink was never finished. Pemberton died
on August 16, 1888. Candler served as a pallbearer at Pemberton's funeral and spoke very
highly of him. In later years he was quoted saying "Why, I suppose Dr. Pemberton felt I
was one of his best friends in town."
Exactly two weeks after Pemberton died Candler bought the remaining interest of Walker
and Dozier for $1,000. With the exception of the Walker, Candler & Company ownership,
Asa Candler had legal rights to Coca-Cola. He was calling himself the drink's sole
proprietor by May 1, 1889.
By the turn of the century Candler would become one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta
and Coca-Cola would become the most popular soft drink in America. After this the main
events and improvements in this firm are summarized below:
In 1906, Coca Cola was launched outside the United States for the first time. It was
launched in two countries simultaneously, Cuba and Panama.
In 1917, another milestone was completed, 3 million Cokes bottles were sold
per day and it was also observed that had become the worlds most recognized trademark.

In 1925, sales volume was increased to 6 millions Cokes

bottles per day.
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In 1927, Coca Cola was firstly advertised through radio.

In 1929, Coca-Cola was made available through vending machine
The Coca-Cola bell glass was made available.
In 1934, Johnny Weiss Muller, and Olympic champion swimmer, and Maureen
O'Sullivan, a motion-picture star, appeared on a metal serving tray for Coca-Cola.
In 1940, Coke was operating in more than 40 countries of the world.
In 1943, On June 29, an urgent cablegram arrived from General Dwight Eisenhower's
Allied Headquarters in North Africa, requesting 10 Coca-Cola bottling plants to serve
American servicemen overseas. Eventually, 64 plants were set up during World War2.
In 1950, Advertising on the television began. Currently Coca-Cola is advertised on over
five hundred TV channels around the world.
In 1952, William T. Campbell wrote The Big Beverage, the first novel about CocaCola.
In 1960, Coke was introduced in a size of twelve ounces.
In 1961, another product of the Coke was introduced Sprite.

In 1971, a very famous song "I'd like to Buy the World a Coke"
was released.
In 1977, the unique contour bottle, familiar to consumers everywhere, is granted
registration as a trademark by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, an honor awarded to
only a few other packages
In 1978, company launched the product in plastic bottles and in the same year large size
of two litters was also launched.
In 1979, Fifteen hundred employees moved to the new corporate headquarters in Atlanta
located on North Avenue. The new corporate headquarters came to be known as "The
Tower."
In 1982, Diet Coke was introduced in July.
In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company made what has been known as one of the biggest
marketing blunder. They stumbled onto a new formula in efforts to produce diet Coke.
They put 4 million dollars of research to come up with the new formula.
In 1988, Coca-Cola became the first independent operator in Soviet Union.
In 1993, Coca-Cola completed another milestone by increasing their sales volume to 10
billion cases worldwide. The company also started its advertisement with new slogan of
"Always Coca-Cola".
In 1995, Coke was consumed aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery -- marking the third
trip into space for Coca-Cola and the first for Diet Coke.

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In 1996, The Summer Olympics was held in Atlanta, Georgia, the home of Coca-Cola.
For more than 65 years, Coca-Cola has been a sponsor of the Olympics.
In 1997, World of Coca-Cola Las Vegas opens, complete with a hundred-foot-tall CocaCola contour bottle. The Coca-Cola Company sponsors the Winter Olympics in Nagano,
Japan, marking the 70th anniversary of the Company's Olympic partnership. New
products Citra and Surge hit the market. And M. Douglas Ivester was named chairman of
the Board of Directors and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company. He was
the tenth chairman of the board in the Company's history.
In 1998, Sales of Coca-Cola and other Company products exceed 1 billion servings per
day.
Introduction to Coca-cola beverages Pakistan Limited (CCBPL)
Coca Cola is being produced and sold in most of the countries of the world. For better
control, world is divided into various regions. Pakistan is the part of South West Region.
South West Asia region includes:
Pakistan, India, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Burma, Maldives
Coca-Cola beverages Pakistan limited (CCBPL) is responsible for all operations about
production and sale of coca-cola brands in Pakistan.
Difference between CCBPL and TCCEC:
The coca-cola company started his business in Pakistan in 1960. All business activities in
Pakistan are monitored by The coca-cola export corporation (TCCEC). Head office of
TCCEC was in Karachi at that time but now days it is shifted to Lahore. But this TCCEC
only monitored business activities, this company issued license for plants in different
cities of Pakistan to start production according to company standard. In 1990, company
decided for acquisition worldwide. Actually they were operating their business through
joint venture, now they decided for acquisition. Thats why in 1996 The coca-cola
company buys the Karachi plant, at that time TCCEC decided to form a new company to
monitor the operation of bottling in Pakistan. So coca-cola beverages Pakistan limited
(CCBPL) is the company, which is responsible to monitor the operations of bottling in
Pakistan. Some time people says that there is no difference in CCBPL and TCCEC, but
the basic difference between both companies is that CCBPL is responsible for bottling
operations and TCCEC is responsible for marketing and corporate decision world wide.
CCBPL units in Pakistan
There are eight units in Pakistan for production and selling of coca-cola brands. These
units are situated in eight cities of Pakistan.
Karachi
Rahim Yar Khan
Multan
Lahore
Faisalabad
Gujranwala
Rawalpindi
Peshawar
But some of these plants are currently not operating these days. For example, the
Peshawar plant could not start its operations after the take over of the company in 1990
because it was working under too much burdens of debts in the past and it was declared

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insolvent. Therefore, it was not profitable for the company to pay all the debts and start
operations again.
CCBPL Management Structure:
CCBPL has divided the whole Pakistan in two regions named as Southern business unit
(SBU) and Central business unit (CBU). Karachi, Rahim Yar Khan and Multan plants
are monitored by SBU General Manager (GM) while the other plants Lahore, Faisalabad,
Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and Peshawar are monitored by CBU General Manager (GM).
You can better understand from this organization chart.
It is shown in this diagram that the whole country is divided in to two parts on the basis
of geographical regions. And the whole country is controlled and monitored by a
Country

Manager.
CCBPL Vision
CCBPL vision is to have a strong, dominant and profitable business in Pakistan.
Mission of CCBPL
CCBPL mission is to create value for our shareholders. They are committed to
Building preference & market leadership for their brands
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Achieve quality excellence and serve their customers with quality products
Maximizing profits
Developing their people
Optimum utilization of assets
CCBPL Values
CCBPL give value and respect to their people
They communicate openly
They have integrity
They are committed to winning.
History of Multan Plant
In Multan, the franchise unit was established in 1964, with the wish or struggle to make it
easy to distribute Coke in different areas and to make it No. 1 in the market, and with the
hope that it will play a great role in increasing the production and to make it popular in all
over the country. Mr. Haider Zeman was the owner of this Plant. After 20 years Mr.
Haider sold this plant to Mr. Akbar in 1984 that is one of the famous industrialist in
Multan city. Mr. Akbar couldnt give his proper attention to this beverage business
because he is more interested in Textile business. For that reason Multan plant couldnt
get a big market share in Multan territory. In 1996 coca-cola company decided for
acquisition and it buy first time Karachi plant in Pakistan. After four year coca-cola
company purchase and take over Multan plant on January 18, 2000. After acquisition
some major changes were made by CCBPL in Multan plant.
Changes in Multan Plant after acquisition
After the purchase of plants in Pakistan CCBPL fire almost all of the employees working
in the old setups. And they rehired some of these and other personnel on the basis of their
competencies they have from other organizations of beverages field and experienced
people from other multinational organizations e.g. Liver Brothers etc.
Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited made number of changes in the Multan Plant and
in other plants. Some of these changes were structural in nature and some were related to
operations of the system.
Now instead of Managing Director of organization, Business Operations Manager (BOM)
is the head of organization. And Mr. Aamir Altaf Qureshi was appointed as the BOM in
Multan in 2000.
He made number of changes in Production system, marketing system etc. for the
improvement in quality. They purchased new foolproof bottles washing system in which
almost every bottle remains in the process for one and a half hour. That step increased the
quality of the product and shows the concern of the company for the society and
consumers in Pakistan.
But now, after departure of Mr. Altaf Qureshi, Muhammad Usman But was appointed as
BOM of plant, who was previously handling the Sales & Marketing Department of the
company. He is also continuing the policies of the company towards improving the
quality of the products.
Product Range
In their product range, they had three categories, i.e. Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite, which
are further divided into different packing units. They are 175ml, 250ml, 300NR, 1 liter,
1.5 liter plastic and 2.0 liter plastic. Now they are also introducing Plastic bottle of 1 liter.

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But now two new products are launched currently to improve the market standings of the
company. These are Sprite 3G and Fanta Citrus. Sprite 3G has recorded a very good start
but unfortunately, the second one, Fanta Citrus could not get success in the market of
Multan. However it is doing a very good business in Peshawar and other nearby areas.
TERRITORY OF MULTAN PLANT
Multan plant is covering a very huge area and according to Assistant production manager
of plant, we are still having a capacity cousin available and the plant is enough to support
the increasing demand of the products till 2009, if demand rises according to the
expectations of the management but after that, there will be a requirement of another
plant, for which the management is planning these days. Multan Plant covers the areas of:
Multan City
Pak-patan
Sahiwal
Bahawalnagar
Dera Ghazi Khan
Rajan Pur
Ziarat in Balochistan.
It covers some other urban and rural areas in Punjab and Balochistan also.
They are managing the distribution of the products through a well-defined channel of
distributors.
Data Flow Diagram
System Decomposition

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Context level Diagram

107

First Level Diagram

108

Second Level Diagram

109

110

Second Level Diagram (Cont)

111

Second Level Diagram (Cont)

112

Second Level Diagram (Cont)

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Operational and Managing Structure of Multan Plant

Business Operations Manager (BOM)
Business Operations Manager is responsible for all the operations of Multan Plant. In
Multan Plant Mr. Usman Butt is BOM of the organization. He was appointed on this
designation after departure of Mr. Aamir Altaf. He has done MBA in marketing from IBA
Karachi and very experienced in the field of Beverages as doing work in that field for
almost 10 years. He was previously performing the duties as Sales and Marketing
Manager in the same organization and plant as well. He is 2 nd BOM of Multan plant after
acquisition. He is considered as the big boss of the Multan plant.
Now we shall discuss responsibilities and structure of each department one by one:
Structure of Multan plant
We can divide the whole organization of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited Multan
Plant into 5 (Five) major departments these are
Sales and Marketing Department
HRIR Department
Finance Department
Logistic Department
Technical Department
Sale & Marketing Department

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On the whole sales and marketing department is consisting of thirty-seven (37)

employees and three MROs that are working on daily wages basis. It is mentioned in the
organ gram of the CCBPL, Multan Plant Mr. Irfan Butt is the Head of the department. He
is a competent person in the field of marketing but now he has left the organization and
joined a research organization as a manager of whole Gulf countries and now the position
of Sales and Marketing Manager is still to be occupied by someone else. You may able to
better understand the structure of Sales and Marketing Department of CCBPL, by that
figure
Sales & Marketing Department

Sale & Marketing Manager

Mr. Irfan Butt was the head of the Sales and Marketing Department of Multan Plant. He
is a very competent person. His responsibilities are to co-ordinate the activities of sales
department and of Marketing Department. He assists the regional sales managers for the
sale in their regions. And also assist marketing manager for running the marketing
activities smoothly. He used to perform his responsibilities by maintaining a well115

balanced formal and informal relationship with his subordinates. He was also having a
sufficient record of each employee of his department.
Sales area of Multan Plant
The whole area of Multan plant is divided into three major divisions. These are as
follows:
Multan Region.
Sahiwal Region.
Dera Ghazi Khan Region.
Multan Region
Mr. Ali Navaiz is the Sales Manager of the Multan. He is responsible for the sale in
Multan Region. The whole Multan region is further divided into two areas,
These are named as
Multan Base.
Multan District.
The whole Multan city including old city is the part of Multan Base.
While Multan District consists of all neighboring areas of Multan city e.g. Bodla,
Makhdoom Rasheed, Muzaffar Garh etc.
For the co-ordination of Mr. Ali Navaiz there are two Area Sales Managers for each area
of Multan Region.
These are:
Rafeeq Meo for Multan Base and
Mr. Sabir for Multan District.
And these both have number of Market Development Officers (MDOs) for the
development of the market.
Basically for sales purposes the whole territory of Multan region and other regions is
divided into many small parts and for each part we have a separate distributor i.e. for
Multan Cant we have Bismillah Agency. and for MDA. Chowk we have Niazi Traders as
distributors. For every two distributors normally the company offers the services of one
Marketing Development Officer. For that company get two types of benefits
With the help of these MDOs Company come to know the actual situation of the market
from the mouth of their own employees.
And company provides assistance to the distributor for achieving the sales targets.
Company issues all the chillers and other assets to retailers and distributors after the
guarantee and approval of concerned MDO.
It helps in maintaining direct relationships with the retailers, so that company should not
any critical situation if any distributor is not coordinating properly.
If MDOs are not sent, distributors will be in better position to blackmail the company and
it may damage the profitability and market standings of the company.
Sahiwal Region
Iftikhar Ahmad Choudhary is Sales Manager of that region. He is also a graduate from
our department. He completed his studies from the department in 1989. He is really a cooperative man. During my stay at Coca-Cola he really helps me in understanding the
culture of the organization. This remains helpful for me for the period. Sahiwal Region
covers the area of Sahiwal City, Jahanian, Khanewal etc.

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As in Multan region there are two Area Sales Managers for the co-ordination of Regional
Sales Manager similarly there are also two Area Sales Manager in Sahiwal. According to
the sale Sahiwal Region is best among the whole territory of Multan Plant.
These two ASMs are
Mr. Shahid Habib.
Mr. Rao Azam.
They are hard working people. Due to their hard work distributors of that region are able
to achieve the sale targets.
The remaining departmental structure of the Sahiwal Region is exactly similar to that of
Multan Region.
Dera Ghazi Khan Region
Dera Ghazi Khan is another region that is controlled by Multan plant. Sales team in this
region is also controlled by same sort of team consisting of a RSM and his team of ASMs
and MDOs.
Ahmad Daniyal is the RSM of this region. He is a young man who started his career a
few years back as an MDO. His other fellows are still on same designation but in this
short period, he became ASM and now working as RSM of a whole region.
Wali Lodhi is coordinating him as an ASM and a team of MDOs is coordinating to
achieve the sales targets.
Marketing Department
As mentioned in the organ gram of Sales and Marketing Department it is basically a
subpart of Sales and Marketing Department. Basically the task is divided into two parts
on is sales and the other is Marketing. Marketing in CCBPL means the co-ordination of
the sales department. The basic task of the marketing department is the distribution of
company assets in the market in the form of Deep Freezer, Visi Cooler, and Chest Cooler
or in the form of Cabins, boards, hoardings etc. And they are also responsible for the
proper maintenance of the record of these assets i.e. they have to maintain the record that
which asset is where and in which condition and how many assets we have in the store,
they also responsible for the distribution of assets among different regions. When a new
lot of deep freezer came to plant by TCCEC then marketing department distribute these
assets among different regions according to their requirement and their sale.
Functions of MROs:
Market department also contains Market Research Officers (MROs). These people are
used to have a check on MDOs in a way that the physical verification of assets is the
responsibility of these people. They people also check whether the assets are properly
used or not. Misuse of assets means that the shopkeeper should not use the assets of the
company, for the products of the competitors or for private purpose.
These days four MROs are working in this department. These are:
M. Yousaf
Najam-ul-Hassan
M. Naveed
M. Naeem
These people are working on daily wages basis but these are very experienced people in
their field and they are having a very good know how about the market.

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During my internship, I spend some time with these people and got very valuable
knowledge about the market. These people act as representatives of the company during
their visits to the market.
Now a day it was under consideration that there should be a separate department for these
people, which are concerned with the audit of the assets of the company.
These people are also used to record the feedback for the services of the MDOs and to
check whether the customers are satisfied with the services of MDOs or not. On the basis
of this report the performance of the MDOs is evaluated.
Finance Department
Finance Department is responsible for proper flow of cash and for the controlling of
financial assets of the organization. The budget is allocated by TCCEC (The Coca-Cola
Export Corporation) for the period of month or two and finance manager of TCCEC of
and on came

Accounts Department Operations

Accounts Department perform verity of function these includes

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Preparation of monthly quarterly and annually financial performance.

Handling payables against purchases of raw material, store and spares and services.
Preparation of organization budget.
Keeping record of fixed assets.
Preparation of RFA, s Capex (Request for Authorization) to capitalized Assets.
Preparation of daily base Bank Reconciliation.
Keeping store inventory.
Preparing monthly Budget monitoring report.
Keeping Insurance record and pursuing insurance claim.
Submitting weekly Income tax challan to Income tax Office to deducted vendors
payments. and keeping tax record.
Submitting every month Employees tax challan to Income tax Officer to deduct from
Employees Salaries.
Verification of salary prepared by Human Resource Department.
Costing and viability of all the products.
Keeping check and balance / internal control in all financial transaction.
Coordinate in conduct of statutory audit.
FUNCTIONS OF THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT
Finance and Accounts Departments play a key role in success or failure of any
organization. A fair or exaggerated picture of financial affairs can leads to winning or
disastrous decision. To present a true and fair picture of companys financial affairs,
company has developed some systems discussed below.
As it is shown in above diagram that Accounts Department is controlling Purchase and
MIS department as well. This structure is different from other organizations where all
these departments are usually working separately but here, in this organization Accounts
department is controlling the other two important departments. This is one of the reasons
why all the purchase transactions are required to approve by the Accounts Manager.
Different individuals are assigned different responsibilities in this department like, some
are concerned with Cash, and some are with Route settlement, Accounts Receivables,
Excise and other relative tasks.
Finance & Accounts Software
Its function is divided in three level or stages.
Data Entry Stage
Report Extraction Stage
Advance Reporting Level
1- Data Entry Stage
Data is fended at this stage. There are basically three types of vouchers used to record
transaction
I Bank Vouchers - used for recording bank transaction
II Cash Voucher - Used to record cash transaction
III Journal Vouchers - Used to record adjusting entries in which no cash or bank
transaction involved
Transaction Procedure
Every voucher has some distinct number, debit and credit Ledger Account number and
amount to be debited or credited against each Ledger Account number. Particular voucher
cannot be saved unless debit amount and credit amount becomes equal. After saving

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transaction voucher is printer, support is attached and signed by the preparing person.
This voucher is forwarded to next signatories for checking and approval. After checking
and approval voucher is posted by a simple authorized click.
2- Report Extraction Stage
General Ledger are instantly updated after posting, however trial balance is updated after
periodical monthly processing General Ledger, Sub Ledger, Trial Balance are generated
at report extraction stages.
3- Advance Reporting Level
Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, Cash flow Statement, Statement of Changes In Equity is
generated at advance report stages.
Inventory Management System Software
Inventory System is used in handling of store spares and raw material. Store issues and
inventory cost is booked with Weighted Average system. This system is used to prepare
item wise detail along with cost of relevant item in different scenarios. Following reports
are commonly used.
Item wise consumption
Period range (From To)
Code of Item Description of Items Cost of items
Total
Item wise Stock
Time (At Date)
Code Of Item Description of Items Cost of items
Total
Cost Centre wise consumption
Period (From To) Cost Centre ..
Code of Item Description of Items Cost of items
Total .....
Other Software are
Fixed Asset Management System
It provides asset wise type wise following detail of all the assets
Original cost, written down value, date of acquiring, accumulated depreciation, location,
its purchase authorization No. etc.
Software Used in Organization
Different applications are used in different parts of the organization for different
purposes.
Three main applications are given below:
SAP (System Application Program)
BASIS (Beverages Advanced Standard Information System)
ISCIMS (Indirect Sales & Cooler Impact Monitoring System)
SAP is used to allocate the cost on the basis of Average Cost Method. It sometimes create
problem because due to this a huge fluctuation results in cost. It mostly happens when
same sort of product is purchased from various firms at different prices but in the end all
the goods are recorded at same cost due to average cost method.
BASIS is used for cash related matters. It is specialized software for beverages but now it
has become outdated and it is expected that the firm will replace it with a new one in the
start of next year.

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ISCIMS is used for having a contact with the distributors. Information is shared between
company and an employee that used to send information from distributors end. Company
is using this software for indirect sales. An operator used to send information on daily
basis through mail. Information is usually related about;
Stock at Distributor.
Discount Allowed by distributor to various customers.
Low fills and burst allowances.
Free sampling.
Through this software, Mr. Farooq of Accounts Department is controlling about 78
distributors in different areas.
Route settlement documents flow
When Route settlement documents flow is basically flow of documents started from
entrance of empty at gate to the distribution of filled bottles to the distributors with all
basic entries of account.
vehicle with empty bottles enter into the gate then gate man entered this empty into the
register with party name, vehicle no, qty of vehicle and time in. One copy of this form is
send to gate office and the other one is send to shipping office. After that shipping officer
count these empty bottles and prepare a verified list. This list is send to sales cocoordinator in DPG. After that sales coordinator prepare demand form and verified this
demand from shipping department in DPG. After verification from shipping department
out load is prepared and this load is send to distributor. The copy of this load is sending to
finance department and finance department prepare an invoice for distributor. With this
invoice account officer is responsible to prepare cash copies, EDS copies and A/R slips
according to current condition of payment and empty. These copies send to RSA where
he prepares route header copy, this copy send to distributor after signature and stamp of
guard. I think its not easy to understand the flow of route settlement documents therefore
I prepare a diagram so that reader can easily understand the route settlement document
flow.
Route Settlement Document Flow

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122

Store
The stores in charge give the present situation of the equipments and material in the store.
There are three types of stores in Coca-Cola.

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One is located in the factory where company stores equipments and material like tissue
paper boxes, soaps, ballpoints, crowns of bottles, ink etc. of daily usage. And every
purchase, which comes into the factory premises, first added to the store registers. Then it
is submitted to the concerned department.
Second store is located near to the factory in a separate building. This is called the store
for marketing assets. Every type of breakage of bottles is submitted in that store and new
assets of company like D/F, V/C are also stored in that store. New crates of wood are also
manufactured there. For that purpose there is a small workshop. The in charge of that
store gives report to the store in charge of factory, which then submit that report to the
Accounts Manager.
Third store is located on the Vehari Road near the B.C.G. Chowk at approximately half
kilometers distance. That is a store of finished goods i.e. filled bottles came there from
the factory and from there the distributors get their orders. The in charge of that store is
directly reporting to Accounts Manager.
MIS (Management Information System) Department
MIS department is responsible for the generation of reports for each department i.e. for
production department about the situation of empty and syrup, report of manufactured
stock for the sales coordinator. And these reports are also submitted to the TGM and to
the Accounts Manager. On the basis of these reports Management make decisions about
the production, sales and different matters.
This department is also responsible for the development of computer programs for all
departments. That department is consists of only 5 employees one is MIS Manager and
remaining four are his assistants.
Cash Room
Cash Room is like a bank. It makes the transaction of cash possible for the company. Mr.
Javaid Iqbal Khan controls that department. Coca-Cola made payments in two ways one
through check and other in the form of cash. If the payment is less than Rs.5000 then it is
made through cash and if it is greater than Rs.5000 then it is paid through check. The
payment which is made through check is issued by Accounts department itself while cash
payments are given to the vendors from that cash room. For example Coca-Cola pay to
daily wagers in the form of cash and that payment is made through that cash room while
the salary of permanent employees is automatically transferred to their Bank accounts.
And cash room is also responsible for the collection of cash from distributors for their
purchases.
Technical Department
Technical department consists of three major divisions;
Production
Quality Control
Maintenance
On the whole there are thirty-five permanent employees working in the Technical or
Production department. And also number of daily wagers is also working in the
department. There are number of processes takes place in Technical department like
washing of empty bottles, preparation of syrup, chilling and filling plant. That is purely a
technical department most of the employees in the department are technical and others
are operative people. The structure of Technical or Production Department is given on
next page.

124

There is also two Shift Chemists separate for day and night shifts. There is a lab in the
production department, which is responsible for the assurance of proper quantity of sugar,
syrup, waters in each bottle after every 500 regular bottles they check one bottle for the
assurance.
Mr. Malik Jaffer is the manager of the technical department.
Production of this plant is about 600 cases per hour but number of hours worked used to
change depending on the season. Normally two shifts are used for production. In normal
or down season, duration of shift is reduced to 8 hours but in peak season this duration is
increased to 12 hours to meet the demand of the market.
Production Process
The environment of the production hall is very clean unlike of other players of the
industry.
In Multan plant, there are two lines of production in which all the products can be
produced by making an adjustment in syrup and concentrate.
Production process starts with washers where all the bottles are washed before filling.
In washer 24 bottles are entered in a row at a time and the washer is capable of containing
300 cases at a time.
This washer consists of 3 tanks:
Tank 1: Caustic 1 to 1.5%
Temperature 45 to 85 centigrade
Tank 2: Caustic 3 to 4%
Temperature 65 to 75 centigrade
Stabilon 0.4 to0.5%
Tank 3: Cold water and air
Below 0 centigrade
Due to too many fluctuations in temperature, all the germs are killed and removed. After
this some light men inspect all the bottles. These people are performing jobs for
maximum of 20 minutes at a time then a next pair comes in their place and so on.
Next step is of mixing the syrup and water and filling them in bottles. For this purpose
water is obtained from a depth of more than 510 ft. Carbo Cooler is used for mixing the
syrup and water and then bottles are filled. After filling and marking date and time of
production light men again check bottles.
Three light men are working in the plant and their duties are given below:
First -----check brand, breakage and dirtiness.
Second---check cleanliness.
Third ---- level of liquid after production.
Due to such an effective system of quality controlling, plant is certified by ISO. The more
important certificate is TCCQS (The Coca Cola Quality System), which is awarded by
the company itself to a limited number of plants. It is given to only 65 plants out of
1000units and Multan plant is one of them.
The last function of maintenance is performed in down season of November, December
or January by shutting down the plant for 15 to 30 days depending on the situation.
According to production department, current capacity is sufficient to meet the increasing
demand by 2009 but after that there will be a need for expansion.

125

Technical Department

Purchase Department
The responsibility of Purchase Department is to purchase every sort of requirements of
different department but they are not responsible for some technical requirement like
TCCEC or shipping department itself manages empty. The work procedure of purchase
126

department is like that if a department wants to purchase any thing he will prepare a
purchase requisition on this requisition the signature of departmental head, TGM and of
Financial Manager is necessary. Then this requisition will sent to the Purchase
department where they prepare a work order and give one copy of this work order to the
shopkeeper who is producing the product on credit and one copy will sent to concerned
department and one will remain in the purchase department to receive the amount of that
work vendor should contact to the finance department for the payment or for the check
with the slip of work order.
Purchase department consists of only three employees one is Purchase Manager and
others is his Assistants. Purchase Manager of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited
Multan Plant is Mr. Nasir Abbas, Mr. Rana Kashif Ali and Mr. Muhammad Bilal are his
Assistant.
HRIR Department
The responsibility of HRIR department in Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited,
Multan Plant is the administration of all sort of formal and informal activities. In formal
activities the maintenance of attendance sheet of daily wagers, which is then shifted to
the finance department where they made salaries for these employees on the basis of
there attendance at the end of the week or month. For that purpose there are gate keepers
who are also responsible for the issuance of entry cards to the visitors and they maintain
the record when an employee comes in the factory and when he leaves either he is on
official duty or going out for his private work.
On the whole HRIR Department is consisting of eleven employees. The structure of
Administration Department is given on next Page
HRIR Department

This department also maintains attendance record .The automatic thumb machine is used
for attendance for permanent employees. And attendance is sent to TGM after to 20
127

minutes, so that he becomes able to take some corrective actions against regular late
comers.
Logistics Department
Logistic department is basically the combination of two departments. These are:
Fleet Department
Shipping department.
The whole transports and vehicles are arranged and maintained by Fleet department. And
shipping department is responsible for the maintenance of inventory of empty bottles. On
the whole logistic department is consists of 27 permanent employees. And rest of the
employees work on daily wages.
The structure of Logistic Department is given on next Page.
Responsibilities of Fleet Department
As I mentioned earlier logistic department is basically for the purchase and maintenance
of new vehicles. For that purpose they have a workshop for heavy-duty vehicles and for
cars in the factory. And for the motorcycles they made arrangement with a workshop
from where employees get work done and the factory will make payment at the end of the
month.
Logistics Department

Types of Vehicles in Multan Plant

There are basically four major types of vehicles in the factory. .These are as.
Motor Cycles for Market Development Officers (Sales & Marketing Staff)
Cars for Management
Vans for Loading
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 Loader Machine
All types of vehicles already insured by the Insurance Company. Coca-Cola offers a
motorbike and 70 liters of petrol per month to each Market Development officer (MDO).
And the maintenance of the motorbike is also the responsibility of company. The issuance
and maintenance of these motorbikes is also the responsibility of logistic department. If a
new employee is employed in the sales department as MDO then marketing or sales
department send a request for motorbike to the logistic department and if logistic
department has any extra motorbike then they issue that one to that employee otherwise
they purchase a new motorbike for that employee.
Coca-Cola also offers cars for the management. Coca-Cola Multan plant has
approximately 15 cars for management. 1300 CC car is only allowed to TGM (Territory
General Manager) and all departmental heads can use 1000 CC car. The issuance and
maintenance of these cars is the responsibility of logistic department. Logistic department
is also responsible to maintain the record of petrol consumption of each motorbike and
car. For the purpose of petrol Coca-Cola Company Multan Plant arranged an agreement
with a petrol pump of Total and Cultus near the factory from where any employ can fill
his vehicle by giving a slip, which is issued by logistic department.
Vans are also there in the Coca-Cola Multan Plant. These are for the purpose of supply of
crates to the places where cases are issued directly by the factory such as Police
Commissioners and these vans are also used to supply assets of factory to the shops like
Deep Freezers, Visi Coolers and Chest Coolers etc.
Loader Machines are used in shipping department. These are used to load and unload the
trucks etc. For the maintenance of these vehicles and cars a workshop is present in the
factory where many competent mechanics were employed to assure the proper
maintenance and working of these vehicles.
But in the end it should be made clear that fleet department is not concerned with the
purchase of vehicles. If any vehicle is to be issued to any person then the concerned
department will send a requisition to purchase department and purchase department will
continue further.
FMS (Fleet Management System)
It is the application that is used in fleet department to keep updated record about fuel and
maintenance of the vehicles.
Following are the fuel limitations for different sort of vehicles
Bikes Vehicles
Base people 50 liters. 250 liters.
Outside people 75 liters. 300 liters.
But these are not very rigid rules, for example, when MROs visit the outside areas like
Sahiwal and DG Khan, they people are allowed to consume more but after getting
approval from manager of their concerned department.
Following are different types of slips that are used in fleet department for some spare
parts.
1. Demand Slip
It is used when goods are available in store and fleet department is going to use it. Store
department will issue the desired parts against this slip. These parts can be installed
within or outside the organization depending on the situation.

129

For outside repair, a returnable or non-returnable pass is given which indicates whether it
is necessary to return the damaged goods to factory or not.
2. Purchase Requisition
It is issued for the purchase of any thing, which is already not available in the store. PR is
sent to purchase department. Purchase Department will have to receive three or four
quotations from various vendors according to rates and quality offered and will be select
one vendor which rates & quality is suitable. After this it will be made comparative
statement for further process.
But PR must be approved by
Department in charge that is in need.
Accounts Manager.
TGM.
After purchase, goods are sent to store and GRN (Goods Received Note) is issued that is
also authorized by
Store In charge.
Department in charge that is in need.
Three copies of GRN are kept by Store, Purchase and Accounts Departments.
3. Complaint Document
It is filled by anyone who is having any problem regarding his automobile and then it is
checked by concerned authorities whether this problem con be solved inside factory or
not.
4. Repair Work Requisition
Fleet department sends it to any company like Honda for some repair. It is approved by
TGM and initiated and authorized by Fleet In charge and Logistic Manager respectively.
If fleet department is in need of any thing, whether it is available in store or not, the
whole procedure is shown in following diagram:
Procedure of Issuance from Store to Fleet Department
Issuance

Purchase
department
Store
PR
Demand slip
Availability
Need origination

130

Financial Statements
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY AND
SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF
INCOME
Year Ended December 31,
($) 2009
(In millions except per share data)
NET OPERATING REVENUES
30,990
Cost of goods sold
11,088
GROSS PROFIT
19,902
Selling, general and administrative
expenses
11,358
Other operating charges
313
OPERATING INCOME
8,231
Interest income
249
Interest expense
355
Equity income (loss) net
781
Other income (loss) net
40
INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES 8,946
Income taxes
2,040
CONSOLIDATED NET INCOME
6,906
Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests
82
NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO
SHAREOWNERS OF THE COCACOLA COMPANY
6,824

($) 2008

BASIC NET INCOME PER SHARE1 3

DILUTED NET INCOME PER
SHARE1
3
AVERAGE
SHARES
OUTSTANDING
2,314

31,944
11,374
20,570
11,774
350
8,446
333
438
-874
39
7,506
1,632
5,874
67
5,807

2
2,315

131

Effect of dilutive securities

15
AVERAGE
SHARES
OUTSTANDING
ASSUMING
DILUTION
2,329

21
2,336

Basic net income per share and diluted

net income per share are calculated based
on
net
income
attributable
to
shareowners
of
The Coca-Cola Company.
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
December 31,
($) 2009($) 2008
(In millions except par value)
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents
7,021 4,701
Short-term investments
2,130 TOTAL CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND SHORT-TERM
INVESTMENTS
9,151 4,701
Marketable securities
62
Trade accounts receivable, less allowances of $55 and $51,
respectively
3,758

278

Inventories
Prepaid expenses and other assets
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS
EQUITY METHOD INVESTMENTS
OTHER
INVESTMENTS,
PRINCIPALLY
COMPANIES

2,354
2,226
17,551
6,217

2,187
1,920
12,176
5,316

538

463

1,976
9,561
6,183
4,224
2,421
48,671

1,733
8,326
6,059
4,029
2,417
40,519

OTHER ASSETS
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT net
TRADEMARKS WITH INDEFINITE LIVES
GOODWILL
OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS
TOTAL ASSETS
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accounts payable and accrued expenses
Loans and notes payable
Current maturities of long-term debt

3,090

BOTTLING

6,657
6,749
51

6,205
6,066
465

132

Accrued income taxes

264
TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES
13,721
LONG-TERM DEBT
5,059
OTHER LIABILITIES
2,965
DEFERRED INCOME TAXES
1,580
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY SHAREOWNERS EQUITY
Common stock, $0.25 par value; Authorized 5,600 shares;
Issued 3,520 and 3,519 shares, respectively
880
Capital surplus
8,537
Reinvested earnings
41,537
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)
-757
Treasury stock, at cost1,217 and 1,207 shares, respectively
-25,398
EQUITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO SHAREOWNERS OF THE COCACOLA COMPANY
24,799

252
12,988
2,781
3,011
877

EQUITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO NONCONTROLLING INTERESTS 547

390

TOTAL EQUITY
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

20,862
40,519

Financial Statements Analysis

Liquidity Ratios
Current Ratio
2009
1.28

25,346
48,671

880
7,966
38,513
-2,674
-24,213
20,472

2008
0.94

Coca-Colas current ratio has increased in 2009. This increase represents the good
position of the company liquidity-wise. It provides a margin of safety to the creditors, so
this means more investors will invest in this company.
Quick Ratio
2009
2008
0.95
0.62

133

Quick ratio or the Acid-test ratio has increased in 2009 to 0.95. This increase represents
that the company is much more liquid than before and it has the ability to meet its
liabilities in time much better than before.
Debt Ratios
Debt to Equity
2009
2008
0.48
0.45

Debt-to-equity ratio is high in 2009, and a high ratio means that company is aggressively
financing its growth by debt. A growth can cause trouble to the company in case if it
suffer any losses.
Debt to Capital
2009
2008
0.32
0.31

134

Coca-Cola has higher debt-to-capital ratio in 2009 as compared to 2008. A higher ratio
means that Coca-Cola has now increased amount of debt as compared to its liabilities.
Interest Coverage
2009
2008
26.20
18.14

This ratio basically indicates the extent to which earnings are available to meet its interest
payments. So an increase in 2009 means that Coca-Cola is now in better position to meet
its interest payments as compared to 2008.
Long-term (investment) Activity Ratio
Net Fixed Assets Turnover
2009
2008
3.24
3.84

Coca-Colas net fixed asset turnover has decreased in 2009. This ratio indicates ability to
generate sales from its fixed assets. So the decrease in this ratio means that Coca-Cola
has been less effective in using its fixed assets to generate its revenues.
Total Asset Turnover
2009
0.64

2008
0.79

135

Coca-Colas total asset turnover ratio has decreased in 2009, and it indicates that its net
sales have decreased or investment made into business is not paying out as desired.
Equity Turnover
2009
1.25

2008
1.56

This ratio is used to measure how well Coca-Cola company uses its stockholder equity to
generate revenues. The decrease in this ratio means that the companys efficiency has
decreased.
Turnover Ratios
Inventory Turnover
2009
2008
13.16
14.61

Coca-Colas inventory turnover has decreased in 2009. This means that either the sales
are going poor than before or the company has excess of inventory. Either way CocaCola need to improve its inventory turnover.
136

Receivables Turnover
2009
8.25

2008
10.34

Coca-Colas ratio has dropped in 2009 which is not a good sign. A low ratio means that
company is now operating on credit more than it did before. In 2008, it was operating
more on cash than now.
Payables Turnover
2009
21.98

2008
23.32

This ratio indicates the times a company pays back its payables. The decrease in CocaColas ratio shows that now the company is taking more time to pay back its suppliers.
Working Capital Turnover
2009
6.59

2008
8.18

137

Working Capital turnover ratio has decreased in 2009. This means that company is not
generating enough sales as compared to the capital it uses to fund the sales.
Profitability Ratios
Return on Sales (%)
Operating Profit Margin
2009
2008
26.56
26.44

Coca-Colas ratio has increased in 2009. This means that it is earn from its sales as per
dollar than it did in previous year. Higher ratio is better.
Net Profit Margin
2009
22.02

2008
18.18

Coca-Colas profit margin is higher in 2009 than in 2008. So this higher profit margin
means that the company is more profitable and it has more control over its costs than
before.
Return on Investment (%)
Return on Equity (ROE)
2009
27.52

2008
28.37

138

ROE has decreased in 2008. A lower return on equity means that the company is now less
capable of generating cash internally. With a higher ratio it would have been the case
otherwise.
Return on Assets
2009
14.02

2008
14.33

Coca-Colas ROA has decreased in 2009 as compared to 2008. This ratio tells us how
much company is earning on its investments. A lower ratio in 2009 means that company
is now earning relatively less money on it investments than it did before.

Vertical Analysis Balance Sheets

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
December 31,
2009
(In millions except par value)
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents
14.43%
Short-term investments
4.38%
TOTAL CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND SHORT-TERM
INVESTMENTS
18.80%

2008

11.60%
11.60%

139

Marketable securities
0.13%
Trade accounts receivable, less allowances of $55 and $51,
respectively
7.72%

0.69%

Inventories
Prepaid expenses and other assets
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS
EQUITY METHOD INVESTMENTS
OTHER
INVESTMENTS,
PRINCIPALLY
COMPANIES

4.84%
4.57%
36.06%
12.77%

5.40%
4.74%
30.05%
13.12%

1.11%

1.14%

7.63%

BOTTLING

OTHER ASSETS
4.06%
4.28%
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT net
19.64% 20.55%
TRADEMARKS WITH INDEFINITE LIVES
12.70% 14.95%
GOODWILL
8.68%
9.94%
OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS
4.97%
5.97%
TOTAL ASSETS
100.00% 100.00%
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accounts payable and accrued expenses
13.68% 15.31%
Loans and notes payable
13.87% 14.97%
Current maturities of long-term debt
0.10% 1.15%
Accrued income taxes
0.54% 0.62%
TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES
28.19% 32.05%
LONG-TERM DEBT
10.39% 6.86%
OTHER LIABILITIES
6.09% 7.43%
DEFERRED INCOME TAXES
3.25% 2.16%
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY SHAREOWNERS EQUITY
Common stock, $0.25 par value; Authorized 5,600 shares;
Issued 3,520 and 3,519 shares, respectively
1.81% 2.17%
Capital surplus
17.54% 19.66%
Reinvested earnings
85.34% 95.05%
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)
-1.56% -6.60%
Treasury stock, at cost1,217 and 1,207 shares, respectively
-52.18% -59.76%
EQUITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO SHAREOWNERS OF THE COCACOLA COMPANY
50.95% 50.52%
EQUITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO NONCONTROLLING INTERESTS1.12%
TOTAL EQUITY
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

0.96%

52.08% 51.49%
100.00%100.00%

Vertical Analysis Income Statements

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

140

Year Ended December 31,

2009
2008
(In millions except per share data)
NET OPERATING REVENUES
100.00% 100.00%
Cost of goods sold
35.78% 35.61%
GROSS PROFIT
64.22% 64.39%
Selling, general and administrative expenses
36.65% 36.86%
Other operating charges
1.01% 1.10%
OPERATING INCOME
26.56% 26.44%
Interest income
0.80% 1.04%
Interest expense
1.15% 1.37%
Equity income (loss) net
2.52% -2.74%
Other income (loss) net
0.13% 0.12%
INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES
28.87% 23.50%
Income taxes
6.58% 5.11%
CONSOLIDATED NET INCOME
22.28% 18.39%
Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests
0.26% 0.21%
NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO SHAREOWNERS OF
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY
22.02% 18.18%
BASIC NET INCOME PER SHARE1
DILUTED NET INCOME PER SHARE1
AVERAGE SHARES OUTSTANDING
Effect of dilutive securities
AVERAGE
SHARES
OUTSTANDING
DILUTION

0.01%
0.01%
7.47%
0.05%

0.01%
0.01%
7.25%
0.07%

7.52%

7.31%

ASSUMING

Horizontal Analysis Balance Sheet

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
December 31,
(In millions except par value)
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents
Short-term investments
TOTAL CASH, CASH
INVESTMENTS

2009

49.35%
100.00%
EQUIVALENTS

AND

SHORT-TERM
94.66%

Marketable securities
Trade accounts receivable, less allowances of $55 and $51, respectively

-77.70%
21.62%

Inventories
Prepaid expenses and other assets
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS
EQUITY METHOD INVESTMENTS

7.64%
15.94%
44.14%
16.95%

141

OTHER INVESTMENTS, PRINCIPALLY BOTTLING COMPANIES

16.20%

OTHER ASSETS
14.02%
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT net
14.83%
TRADEMARKS WITH INDEFINITE LIVES
2.05%
GOODWILL
4.84%
OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS
0.17%
TOTAL ASSETS
20.12%
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accounts payable and accrued expenses
7.28%
Loans and notes payable
11.26%
Current maturities of long-term debt
-89.03%
Accrued income taxes
4.76%
TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES
5.64%
LONG-TERM DEBT
81.91%
OTHER LIABILITIES
-1.53%
DEFERRED INCOME TAXES
80.16%
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY SHAREOWNERS EQUITY
Common stock, $0.25 par value; Authorized 5,600 shares;
Issued 3,520 and 3,519 shares, respectively
0.00%
Capital surplus
7.17%
Reinvested earnings
7.85%
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)
-71.69%
Treasury stock, at cost1,217 and 1,207 shares, respectively
4.89%
EQUITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO SHAREOWNERS OF THE COCACOLA COMPANY
21.14%
EQUITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO NONCONTROLLING INTERESTS 40.26%
TOTAL EQUITY
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

21.49%
20.12%

Horizontal Analysis Income Statement

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
Year Ended December 31,
(In millions except per share data)
NET OPERATING REVENUES
Cost of goods sold
GROSS PROFIT
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Other operating charges
OPERATING INCOME
Interest income

2009
-2.99%
-2.51%
-3.25%
-3.53%
-10.57%
-2.55%
-25.23%

142

Interest expense
-18.95%
Equity income (loss) net
-189.36%
Other income (loss) net
2.56%
INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES
19.18%
Income taxes
25.00%
CONSOLIDATED NET INCOME
17.57%
Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests
22.39%
NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO SHAREOWNERS OF THE
COCA-COLA COMPANY
17.51%
BASIC NET INCOME PER SHARE1
DILUTED NET INCOME PER SHARE1
AVERAGE SHARES OUTSTANDING
Effect of dilutive securities
AVERAGE SHARES OUTSTANDING ASSUMING DILUTION

17.53%
17.67%
-0.04%
-28.57%
-0.30%

SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis enables us to find out a better way of utilizing the strengths of an
organization to get maximum benefits of the opportunities available in the industry and it
also helps in dealing with threats that may adversely affect the business of the firm in
future. So, the policy of any firm should be to focus on strengths to get better results from
opportunities, deal with threats by using your strengths and try to convert your
weaknesses in your strengths. According to my limited analysis of the company,
following are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the Coca Cola:
Strengths
One of the main strengths of CCBPL is the financial strength of the company because it
is supported and controlled by Coca Cola International. Therefore, unlike past, now they
can start any long term project without concerning too much about finances available.
Coca Cola is enjoying a positive image in the minds of the consumers. They normally
think that it is better in quality as compare to other competitors available in the market.
Better workforce is strength of the company. Due to better availability of finance they can
hire quality workforce and get better results.
Established Nation-wide infrastructure is helping the organization to increase the sales
volume of the company.
CCBPL has up to date technology in its production. As coca-cola company claims that
they are very sensitive about hygienic conditions, so thats why they using up to date
technology to achieve this objective.
Another strength of the brand is the quality that they are offering to customers.
Another important strength of CCBPL is the working environment that they are offering
to their employees. Due to this environment, the employees that are working here are
loyal to the organization and it is resulting in improving the motivation level of the
employees, which in the end results in high productivity and better performance.
Weaknesses
The major weakness of the company is its distribution channel. It is one of the main
reasons of its slow progress and low market share in this market. Due to lack of

143

availability of the products and less differentiation from competitors, it has become very
difficult to capture a big market share.
The company is also lacking in utilization of the resources, especially in Multan plant.
People are having various facilities but they dont know their best use. For example,
people working in fleet department dont know to make the best use of Fleet
Management System and usually performing tasks in very difficult manner manually that
can be easily performed by using FMS.
Opportunities
The best opportunity for CCBPL is to increase market share through increasing the
availability of the products in the market.
The company can also produce better results by creating awareness in the society about
the quality of the products they are offering.
The successful introduction of Sprite 3G has proved that greater market share can be
captured by introducing some new products. So, the company should introduce some of
the products that are running successfully in other markets but are not available in
Pakistan.
A huge part of the market is still waiting for first entry. Coca Cola can gat the advantage
of first entry if it focus on such areas.
Threats
High production capacity of the main competitor is a threat for Coke, because they are
having a better chance to increase the production and availability of the products and
further increase the market share.
The local manufacturers can also disturb the market share due to their low price offerings.
PEST Analysis
Pest Analysis is basically an environmental analysis which covers these four dimensions
of environment.
Political
As far as political environment is concerned company is very worried about it. Pakistan is
not a political stable country. Even after the18 February election political environment is
still not friendly for business. Coca Cola Company cannot heavily invest in the Pakistani
market due to this factor.
Economical
As far as the economic conditions are concerned they are also not favorable the
purchasing power of people is decreasing due to high inflation and there is a threat that
this condition may directly hit the sales of the company.
Social
Due to its American origin people in Pakistan have a little bit cultural clash with the coca
cola company specially after Iran and Iraq war but the participation of company in social
responsibilities is appreciating which have build a good reputation in the market.
Technological
Market of Pakistan is passing through a technological revolution which provides
opportunity to all the industries to modify their process. For example if the Coca cola
Company would start selling its beverages through automatic vending machines it would
be a healthy change for the company and the market.

144

New.wikipidia

Coca-Cola
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Cocacola)
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the beverage. For its manufacturer, see The Coca-Cola Company.
"Coca-Cola Classic" redirects here. For the NCAA football game, see Coca-Cola Classic
(college football).
Coca-Cola

Soft drink
Type
Manufacturer The Coca-Cola Company
Country
of
United States
origin
Introduced
1886
Color
Caramel E-150d
Cola, Cola Cherry, Cola Vanilla,
Cola Green Tea, Cola Lemon, Cola
Flavor
Lemon Lime, Cola Lime, Cola
Orange and Cola Raspberry.
Variants
See Brand portfolio section below

Related
products

Pepsi
RC
Cola
Zam
Mecca-Cola
Virgin
Parsi
Qibla
Evoca
Corsica
Breizh
Afri Cola

Zam

Cola
Turka
Cola
Cola
Cola
Cola
Cola
Cola
Cola

145

Website

www.coca-cola.com

The Las Vegas Strip World of Coca-Cola museum in 2003

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more
than 200 countries.[1] It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is
often referred to simply as Coke (a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company in
the United States since March 27, 1944). Originally intended as a patent medicine when it
was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by
businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the
world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.
The company produces concentrate, which is then sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers
throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the
company, produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in
combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and
merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores and vending machines. Such bottlers include CocaCola Enterprises, which is the largest single Coca-Cola bottler in North America and
western Europe. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for soda fountains to major
restaurants and food service distributors.
The Coca-Cola Company has, on occasion, introduced other cola drinks under the Coke
brand name. The most common of these is Diet Coke, with others including Caffeine-Free
Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Vanilla, and
special versions with lemon, lime or coffee.
Based on Interbrand's best global brand 2011, Coca-Cola was the world's most valuable
brand.[2]
Contents
1 History
1.1 19th century historical origins
1.2 20th century landmarks
1.3 New Coke
1.4 21st century
2 Use of stimulants in formula

146

2.1 Coca cocaine

2.2 Kola nuts caffeine
3 Production
3.1 Ingredients
3.2 Formula of natural flavorings
3.3 Franchised production model
4 Brand portfolio
4.1 Logo design
4.2 Contour bottle design
4.3 Designer bottles
5 Competitors
6 Advertising
6.1 Holiday campaigns
6.2 Sports sponsorship
6.3 In mass media
7 Health effects
8 Criticism
9 Use as political and corporate symbol
10 References
11 See also
12 External links
History
19th century historical origins

Coca-Cola founders Asa G. Candler and Dr. John S. Pemberton are seen together at Asa
G. Candler & Co. pharmacy, 47 Peachtree St., Atlanta in the only extant albumen
photograph from 1888. Also shown is the biography of Candler written by his son,
Charles Howard Candler.

Old German Coca-Cola bottle opener

147

Believed to be the first coupon ever, this ticket for a free glass of Coca-Cola was first
distributed in 1888 to help promote the drink. By 1913, the company had redeemed 8.5
million tickets.[3]

This Coca-Cola advertisement from 1943 is still displayed in the small city of Minden,
Louisiana.
The prototype Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at the Eagle Drug and Chemical
Company, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia, by John Pemberton, originally as a coca wine
called Pemberton's French Wine Coca.[4][5][6] He may have been inspired by the formidable
success of Vin Mariani, a European coca wine.[7]
In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton
responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a nonalcoholic version of French Wine
Coca.[8] The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886.[9] It
was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents[10] a glass at soda fountains, which were
popular in the United States at the time due to the belief that carbonated water was good for
the health.[11] Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine
addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence. Pemberton ran the first
advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the Atlanta Journal.[12]
By 1888, three versions of Coca-Cola sold by three separate businesses were on the
market. A copartnership had been formed on January 14, 1888 between Pemberton and
four Atlanta businessmen: J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey; C.O. Mullahy and E.H.
Bloodworth. Not codified by any signed document, a verbal statement given by Asa
Candler years later asserted under testimony that he had acquired a stake in Pemberton's
company as early as 1887.[13]
Asa Candler, however, eventually took on a more formal position by being part of the
Coca-Cola Company incorporation filed in the Fulton County Superior Court on March
24, 1888. This action included Charley Pemberton and Woolfolk Walker, along with the
latter's sister, Margaret Dozier. The four made up the original shareholders for "CocaCola Company," a Georgia corporation. All parties held copies of the Coca-Cola recipe
and could continue to use the formula separate of each other.
148

Pemberton, though, had declared that the name "Coca-Cola" belonged solely to his son
Charley. The situation was quite agitating to both Candler and Walker, and quickly placed
the two at odds with Charley Pemberton. What further caused friction over this issue was
that John Pemberton variously forgot he had actually signed over the sole rights to the
"Coca-Cola" name to his son Charley earlier. Pemberton's ongoing health problems,
compounded by his morphine addiction brought about from his old Civil War injury,
made the situation difficult.
Charley Pemberton's record of control over the "Coca-Cola" name was the underlying
factor that allowed for him to participate as a major shareholder in the March 1888 CocaCola Company incorporation filing made in his father's place. [14] More so for Candler
especially, Charley's position holding exclusive control over the "Coca Cola" name
continued to be a thorn in his side.
Asa Candler's oldest son, Charles Howard Candler, authored a book in 1950 published by
Emory University. In this definitive biography about his father, Candler specifically states:
"..., on April 14, 1888, the young druggist [Asa Griggs Candler] purchased a one-third
interest in the formula of an almost completely unknown proprietary elixir known as
Coca-Cola."[15]
The deal was actually between John Pemberton's son Charley and Walker, Candler & Co.
- with John Pemberton acting as cosigner for his son. For $50 down and $500 in 30 days,
Walker, Candler & Co. obtained all of the one-third interest in the Coca-Cola Company
that Charley held, all while Charley still held on to the name. After the April 14th deal, on
April 17, 1888, one-half of the Walker/Dozier interest shares were acquired by Candler
for an additional $750.[16]
Charles Howard Candler's statement that April 14, 1888 was the date his father secured a
"one-third interest in the formula" held by Charley Pemberton for the then obscure CocaCola elixir, none-the-less confirms this event was a major turning point for Asa Candler
and his interests in Coca-Cola. This, too, was a most auspicious occasion that Asa
Candler would have especially wanted to preserve in an 'official' photograph. By this time
the "Coca-Cola" syrup-making apparatus had already been moved from Joe Jacob's
pharmacy to the basement of Candler's larger 47 Peachtree Street location, where the
drink's ever increasing syrup-bottling demands could be better handled.
In 1910, Asa Candler had ordered all corporate documents pertaining to the first CocaCola Company burned.[17] The original 1888 photograph shows the very beginnings of the
Coca Cola Company, and formerly was the personal property of Asa Griggs Candler.
In 1914, Margaret Dozier, as co-owner of the original Coca-Cola Company in 1888,
brazenly came forward to claim her signature on the 1888 Coca-Cola Company bill of
sale had been forged. Subsequent analysis of certain similar transfer documents had also
indicated John Pemberton's signature was most likely a forgery, as well, which some
accounts claim was precipitated by his son Charley.[18]
In 1892, Candler set out to incorporate a second company; "The Coca-Cola Company"
(the current corporation). However, in 1910, Candler had the earliest records of the
"Coca-Cola Company" burned. This was claimed to have been made during a move to
new corporation offices around this time.[19]
The loss of the early corporate records further obscured the 1888 corporation's legal
origins. Only one sole original "ASA G. CANDLER & CO." photograph from 1888

149

remains, and that example Candler at one time kept at his private home outside of
Atlanta.
After Candler had gained a better foothold of Coca-Cola in April 1888, he never-the-less
was forced to sell the beverage he produced with the recipe he had under the names "Yum
Yum" and "Koke". This was while Charley Pemberton was selling the elixir, although a
cruder mixture, under the name "Coca-Cola", all with his father's blessing. After both
names failed to catch on for Candler, by the summer of 1888, the Atlanta pharmacist was
quite anxious to establish a firmer legal claim to Coca-Cola, and hoped he could force his
two competitors, Walker and Dozier, completely out of the business, as well.[20]
When Dr. John Stith Pemberton suddenly died on August 16, 1888, Asa G. Candler now
sought to move swiftly forward to attain his vision of taking full control of the whole
Coca-Cola operation.
Charley Pemberton, an alcoholic, was the one obstacle who unnerved Asa Candler more
than anyone else. Candler is said to have quickly maneuvered to purchase the exclusive
rights to the name "Coca-Cola" from Pemberton's son Charley right after Dr. Pemberton's
death. One of several stories was that Candler bought the title to the name from Charley's
mother for $300; approaching her at Dr. Pemberton's funeral. Eventually, Charley
Pemberton was found on June 23, 1894, unconscious, with a stick of opium by his side.
Ten days later, Charley died at Atlanta's Grady Hospital at the age of 40.[21]
In Charles Howard Candler's 1950 book about his father, he stated: "On August 30th
{1888}, he {Asa Candler} became sole proprietor of Cola-Cola, a fact which was stated
on letterheads, invoice blanks and advertising copy."[22]
With this action on August 30, 1888, Candler's sole control became technically all true.
Candler had negotiated with Margaret Dozier and her brother Woolfolk Walker a full
payment amounting to $1,000, which all agreed Candler could pay off with a series of
notes over a specified time span. By May 1, 1889, Candler was now claiming full
ownership of the Coca-Cola beverage, with a total investment outlay by Candler for the
drink enterprise over the years amounting to $2,300.[23]
Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time on March 12, 1894. The first outdoor wall
advertisement was painted in the same year, in Cartersville, Georgia.[24]
20th century landmarks

By the time of its 50th anniversary, the soft drink had reached the status of a national icon
in the USA. In 1935, it was certified kosher by Atlanta Rabbi Tobias Geffen, after the
company made minor changes in the sourcing of some ingredients.[25]
On July 12, 1944, the one-billionth gallon of Coca-Cola syrup was manufactured by The
Coca-Cola Company.

150

Original framed Coca-Cola artist's drawn graphic presented by The Coca-Cola Company
on July 12, 1944 to Charles Howard Candler on the occasion of Coca-Cola's "1 Billionth
Gallon of Coca-Cola Syrup."
Cans of Coke first appeared in 1955.[26] The first bottling of Coca-Cola occurred in
Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the Biedenharn Candy Company in 1891. Its proprietor was
Joseph A. Biedenharn. The original bottles were Biedenharn bottles, very different from
the much later hobble-skirt design now so familiar. Asa Candler was tentative about
bottling the drink, but two entrepreneurs from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Benjamin F. Thomas
and Joseph B. Whitehead, proposed the idea and were so persuasive that Candler signed a
contract giving them control of the procedure for only one dollar. Candler never collected
his dollar, but in 1899, Chattanooga became the site of the first Coca-Cola bottling
company.[27] The loosely termed contract proved to be problematic for the company for
decades to come. Legal matters were not helped by the decision of the bottlers to
subcontract to other companies, effectively becoming parent bottlers.[28]
Coke concentrate, or Coke syrup, was and is sold separately at pharmacies in small
quantities, as an over-the-counter remedy for nausea or mildly upset stomach.
New Coke

Main article: New Coke

Coca-Cola sign in Colorado City, Texas

On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola, amid much publicity, attempted to change the formula of
the drink with "New Coke". Follow-up taste tests revealed most consumers preferred the
151

taste of New Coke to both Coke and Pepsi, but Coca-Cola management was unprepared
for the public's nostalgia for the old drink, leading to a backlash. The company gave in to
protests and returned to a variation of the old formula, under the name Coca-Cola Classic,
on July 10, 1985.
21st century

On July 5, 2005, it was revealed that Coca-Cola would resume operations in Iraq for the
first time since the Arab League boycotted the company in 1968.[29]
In April 2007, in Canada, the name "Coca-Cola Classic" was changed back to "CocaCola". The word "Classic" was removed because "New Coke" was no longer in
production, eliminating the need to differentiate between the two.[30] The formula
remained unchanged.
In January 2009, Coca-Cola stopped printing the word "Classic" on the labels of 16-USfluid-ounce (470 ml) bottles sold in parts of the southeastern United States. [31] The change
is part of a larger strategy to rejuvenate the product's image. [31] The word "Classic" was
removed from all Coca-Cola products by 2011.
In November 2009, due to a dispute over wholesale prices of Coca-Cola products, Costco
stopped restocking its shelves with Coke and Diet Coke. However, some Costco locations
(such as the ones in Tucson, Arizona), sell imported Coca-Cola from Mexico.[32]
Coca-Cola introduced the 7.5-ounce mini-can in 2009, and on September 22, 2011, the
company announced price reductions, asking retailers to sell eight-packs for $2.99. That
same day, Coca-Cola announced the 12.5-ounce bottle, to sell for 89 cents. A 16-ounce
bottle has sold well at 99 cents since being re-introduced, but the price was going up to
$1.19.[33]
In 2012, Coca-Cola would resume business in Burma after 60 years of absence due to
U.S.-imposed investment sanctions against the country.[34]
Use of stimulants in formula

When launched, Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were cocaine and caffeine. The cocaine
was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nut, leading to the name CocaCola (the "K" in Kola was replaced with a "C" for marketing purposes).[35][36]
Coca cocaine

Pemberton called for five ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, a significant dose; in
1891, Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from Pemberton's original)
contained only a tenth of this amount. Coca-Cola once contained an estimated nine
milligrams of cocaine per glass. In 1903, it was removed.[37]
After 1904, instead of using fresh leaves, Coca-Cola started using "spent" leaves the
leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process with trace levels of cocaine.[38] Coca-Cola now
uses a cocaine-free coca leaf extract prepared at a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New
Jersey.
In the United States, the Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by
the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant, [39] which it obtains mainly
from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for
Coca-Cola, the Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to
Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouri pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the
United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use.[40]
Kola nuts caffeine

Kola nuts act as a flavoring and the source of caffeine in Coca-Cola. In Britain, for
example, the ingredient label states "Flavourings (Including Caffeine)." [41] Kola nuts

152

contain about 2.0 to 3.5% caffeine, are of bitter flavor and are commonly used in cola soft
drinks. In 1911, the U.S. government initiated United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of
Coca-Cola, hoping to force Coca-Cola to remove caffeine from its formula. The case was
decided in favor of Coca-Cola. Subsequently, in 1912, the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act
was amended, adding caffeine to the list of "habit-forming" and "deleterious" substances
which must be listed on a product's label.
Coca-Cola contains 34 mg of caffeine per 12 fluid ounces (9.8 mg per 100 ml).[42]
Production

Coca-Cola 375 mL cans 24 pack (AU)

Ingredients

Carbonated water
Sugar (sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup depending on country of origin)
Caffeine
Phosphoric acid
Caramel color (E150d)

Natural flavorings[43]
A can of Coke (12 fl ounces/355 ml) has 39 grams of carbohydrates (all from sugar,
approximately 10 teaspoons),[44] 50 mg of sodium, 0 grams fat, 0 grams potassium, and
140 calories.[45]
Formula of natural flavorings
Main article: Coca-Cola formula

The exact formula of Coca-Cola's natural flavorings (but not its other ingredients, which
are listed on the side of the bottle or can) is a trade secret. The original copy of the formula
was held in SunTrust Bank's main vault in Atlanta for 86 years. Its predecessor, the Trust
Company, was the underwriter for the Coca-Cola Company's initial public offering in 1919. On
December 8, 2011, the original secret formula was moved from the vault at SunTrust
Banks to a new vault containing the formula which will be on display for visitors to its
World of Coca-Cola museum in downtown Atlanta.[46]
A popular myth states that only two executives have access to the formula, with each
executive having only half the formula. [47] The truth is that while Coca-Cola does have a
rule restricting access to only two executives, each knows the entire formula and others,
in addition to the prescribed duo, have known the formulation process.[48]
153

On February 11, 2011, Ira Glass revealed on his PRI radio show, This American Life, that the
secret formula to Coca-Cola had been uncovered in a 1979 newspaper. The formula
found basically matched the formula found in Pemberton's diary.[49][50][51][52]
Franchised production model

The actual production and distribution of Coca-Cola follows a franchising model. The
Coca-Cola Company only produces a syrup concentrate, which it sells to bottlers
throughout the world, who hold Coca-Cola franchises for one or more geographical areas.
The bottlers produce the final drink by mixing the syrup with filtered water and
sweeteners, and then carbonate it before putting it in cans and bottles, which the bottlers
then sell and distribute to retail stores, vending machines, restaurants and food service
distributors.[53]
The Coca-Cola Company owns minority shares in some of its largest franchises, such as
Coca-Cola Enterprises, Coca-Cola Amatil, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company and Coca-Cola
FEMSA, but fully independent bottlers produce almost half of the volume sold in the
world. Independent bottlers are allowed to sweeten the drink according to local tastes.[54]
The bottling plant in Skopje, Macedonia, received the 2009 award for "Best Bottling
Company".[55]
Brand portfolio

This is a list of variants of Coca-Cola introduced around the world. In addition to the
caffeine-free version of the original, additional fruit flavors have been included over the
years. Not included here are versions of Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero; variant versions of
those no-calorie colas can be found at their respective articles.
Name
Launched Discontinued Notes
Picture

Coca-Cola

1886

The original version of Coca-Cola.

Caffeine-Free
Coca-Cola

1983

The caffeine free version of CocaCola.

154

Coca-Cola
Cherry

1985

New
Coke/"Coca-

1985

Cola II"

Coca-Cola with
2001
Lemon

Coca-Cola
Vanilla

2002;
2007

Coca-Cola with
2005
Lime

Was available in Canada starting in

1996. Called "Cherry Coca-Cola
(Cherry Coke)" in North America
until 2006.

2002

Still available in Yap and American

2005

Available in:
Australia, American Samoa, Austria,
Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark,
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ,
Finland, France, Germany, Hong
Kong, Iceland, Korea, Luxembourg,
Macau,
Malaysia,
Mongolia,
Netherlands, New Caledonia, New
Zealand, Norway, Runion, Singapore,
Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia,
United Kingdom, United States, and
West Bank-Gaza

2005

Available in: Austria, Australia,

China, Finland, Germany, Hong
Kong, New Zealand, Malaysia,
Sweden, United Kingdom and
United States. It was reintroduced in
June 2007 by popular demand.

Samoa

Available in Belgium, Netherlands,

Singapore, Canada, the United
Kingdom, and the United States.

155

Coca-Cola
Raspberry

June 2005 End of 2005

Coca-Cola
Black Cherry 2006
Vanilla

Coca-Cola Blk

2006

Coca-Cola Citra 2006

Middle
2007

Was only available in New Zealand.

Currently available in the United
States in Coca-Cola Freestyle fountain
since 2009.

of Was replaced by Vanilla Coke in

June 2007

Only available in the United States,

Beginning of France, Canada, Czech Republic,
2008
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria
and Lithuania

Only available in Bosnia

Herzegovina, New Zealand
Japan.

and
and

156

Coca-Cola
Orange

2007

Was available in the United Kingdom

and Gibraltar for a limited time. In
Germany, Austria and Switzerland
it's sold under the label Mezzo Mix.
Currently available in Coca-Cola
Freestyle fountain outlets in the United
States since 2009.

Logo design

The famous Coca-Cola logo was created by John Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Mason
Robinson, in 1885.[56] Robinson came up with the name and chose the logo's distinctive
cursive script. The typeface used, known as Spencerian script, was developed in the mid-19th
century and was the dominant form of formal handwriting in the United States during that
period.
Robinson also played a significant role in early Coca-Cola advertising. His promotional
suggestions to Pemberton included giving away thousands of free drink coupons and
plastering the city of Atlanta with publicity banners and streetcar signs.[57]
Contour bottle design

Earl R. Dean's

original 1915 concept drawing of the contour Coca-Cola bottle.

157

The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its
base, making it unstable on conveyor belts.

Designer label for 2 litre Coca-Cola bottle

The equally famous Coca-Cola bottle, called the "contour bottle" within the company, but
known to some as the "hobble skirt" bottle, was created by bottle designer Earl R. Dean. In
1915, the Coca-Cola Company launched a competition among its bottle suppliers to create a
new bottle for their beverage that would distinguish it from other beverage bottles, "a
bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that,
even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was."[58]
Chapman J. Root, president of the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, turned the
project over to members of his supervisory staff, including company auditor T. Clyde
Edwards, plant superintendent Alexander Samuelsson, and Earl R. Dean, bottle designer

158

and supervisor of the bottle molding room. Root and his subordinates decided to base the
bottle's design on one of the soda's two ingredients, the coca leaf or the kola nut, but were
unaware of what either ingredient looked like. Dean and Edwards went to the Emeline
Fairbanks Memorial Library and were unable to find any information about coca or kola.
Instead, Dean was inspired by a picture of the gourd-shaped cocoa pod in the Encyclopdia
Britannica. Dean made a rough sketch of the pod and returned to the plant to show Root.
He explained to Root how he could transform the shape of the pod into a bottle. Root
gave Dean his approval.[58]
Faced with the upcoming scheduled maintenance of the mold-making machinery, over
the next 24 hours Dean sketched out a concept drawing which was approved by Root the
next morning. Dean then proceeded to create a bottle mold and produced a small number
of bottles before the glass-molding machinery was turned off.[59]
Chapman Root approved the prototype bottle and a design patent was issued on the bottle in
November, 1915. The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter
was larger than its base, making it unstable on conveyor belts. Dean resolved this issue by
decreasing the bottle's middle diameter. During the 1916 bottler's convention, Dean's
contour bottle was chosen over other entries and was on the market the same year. By
1920, the contour bottle became the standard for the Coca-Cola Company. Today, the
contour Coca-Cola bottle is one of the most recognized packages on the planet..."even in
the dark!".[60]
As a reward for his efforts, Dean was offered a choice between a $500 bonus or a lifetime
job at the Root Glass Company. He chose the lifetime job and kept it until the Owens-Illinois
Glass Company bought out the Root Glass Company in the mid-1930s. Dean went on to work in
other Midwestern glass factories.
One alternative depiction has Raymond Loewy as the inventor of the unique design, but,
while Loewy did serve as a designer of Coke cans and bottles in later years, he was in the
French Army the year the bottle was invented and did not emigrate to the United States
until 1919. Others have attributed inspiration for the design not to the cocoa pod, but to a
Victorian hooped dress.[61]
In 1944, Associate Justice Roger J. Traynor of the Supreme Court of California took advantage
of a case involving a waitress injured by an exploding Coca-Cola bottle to articulate the
doctrine of strict liability for defective products. Traynor's concurring opinion in Escola v. Coca-Cola
Bottling Co. is widely recognized as a landmark case in U.S. law today.[62]
In 1997, Coca-Cola introduced a "contour can," similar in shape to its famous bottle, on a
few test markets, including Terre Haute, Indiana. [63] The can has never been widely
released.
A new slim and tall can began to appear in Australia on December 20, 2006; it cost
AU$1.95. The cans have a resemblance to energy drink cans. The cans were commissioned
by Domino's Pizza and are available exclusively at their restaurants.
In January 2007, Coca-Cola Canada changed "Coca-Cola Classic" labeling, removing the
"Classic" designation, leaving only "Coca-Cola." Coca-Cola stated this is merely a name
change and the product remains the same.
In 2007, Coca-Cola introduced an aluminum can designed to look like the original glass
Coca-Cola bottles.

159

In 2007, the company's logo on cans and bottles changed. The cans and bottles retained
the red color and familiar typeface, but the design was simplified, leaving only the logo
and a plain white swirl (the "dynamic ribbon").
In 2008, in some parts of the world, the plastic bottles for all Coke varieties (including
the larger 1.5- and 2-liter bottles) were changed to include a new plastic screw cap and a
slightly taller contoured bottle shape, designed to evoke the old glass bottles.[64]

Two Chinese Coke bottles, a 200 ml glass bottle, which is becoming less common, and a
300 ml plastic bottle that is now widely available.
Designer bottles
Karl Lagerfeld is

the latest designer to have created a collection of aluminum bottles for

Coca-Cola. Lagerfeld is not the first fashion designer to create a special version of the
famous Coca-Cola Contour bottle. A number of other limited edition bottles by fashion
designers for Coca Cola Light soda have been created in the last few years.
In 2009, in Italy, Coca-Cola Light had a Tribute to Fashion to celebrate 100 years of the
recognizable contour bottle. Well known Italian designers Alberta Ferretti, Blumarine,
Etro, Fendi, Marni, Missoni, Moschino, and Versace each designed limited edition
bottles.[65]
Competitors
Pepsi, the flagship

product of PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company's main rival in the soft

drink industry, is usually second to Coke in sales, and outsells Coca-Cola in some
markets. RC Cola, now owned by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, the third largest soft drink
manufacturer, is also widely available.
Around the world, many local brands compete with Coke. In South and Central America
Kola Real, known as Big Cola in Mexico, is a growing competitor to Coca-Cola.[66] On the
French island of Corsica, Corsica Cola, made by brewers of the local Pietra beer, is a
growing competitor to Coca-Cola. In the French region of Brittany, Breizh Cola is available.
In Peru, Inca Kola outsells Coca-Cola, which led The Coca-Cola Company to purchase the
brand in 1999. In Sweden, Julmust outsells Coca-Cola during the Christmas season. [67] In
Scotland, the locally produced Irn-Bru was more popular than Coca-Cola until 2005, when
Coca-Cola and Diet Coke began to outpace its sales. [68] In India, Coca-Cola ranked third
behind the leader, Pepsi-Cola, and local drink Thums Up. The Coca-Cola Company purchased
Thums Up in 1993.[69] As of 2004, Coca-Cola held a 60.9% market-share in India. [70]
Tropicola, a domestic drink, is served in Cuba instead of Coca-Cola, due to a United
States embargo. French brand Mecca Cola and British brand Qibla Cola are competitors to
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Coca-Cola in the Middle East. In Turkey, Cola Turka, in Iran and the Middle East, Zam Zam
Cola and Parsi Cola, in some parts of China, China Cola, in Slovenia, Cockta and the
inexpensive Mercator Cola, sold only in the country's biggest supermarket chain, Mercator,
are some of the brand's competitors. Classiko Cola, made by Tiko Group, the largest
manufacturing company in Madagascar, is a serious competitor to Coca-Cola in many
regions. Laranjada is the top-selling soft drink on Madeira.
Advertising
See also: Coca-Cola slogans

Coca-Cola's advertising has significantly affected American culture, and it is frequently

credited with inventing the modern image of Santa Claus as an old man in a red-and-white
suit. Although the company did start using the red-and-white Santa image in the 1930s,
with its winter advertising campaigns illustrated by Haddon Sundblom, the motif was
already common.[71][72] Coca-Cola was not even the first soft drink company to use the
modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising: White Rock Beverages used Santa in
advertisements for its ginger ale in 1923, after first using him to sell mineral water in 1915.[73]
[74]
Before Santa Claus, Coca-Cola relied on images of smartly dressed young women to
sell its beverages. Coca-Cola's first such advertisement appeared in 1895, featuring the
young Bostonian actress Hilda Clark as its spokeswoman.

An 1890s advertisement showing model Hilda Clark in formal 19th century attire. The ad is
titled Drink Coca-Cola 5. (US)
1941 saw the first use of the nickname "Coke" as an official trademark for the product,
with a series of advertisements informing consumers that "Coke means Coca-Cola". [75] In
1971 a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing",
produced by Billy Davis, became a hit single.

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Coca-Cola sales booth on the Cape Verde island of Fogo in 2004.

Coke's advertising is pervasive, as one of Woodruff's stated goals was to ensure that
everyone on Earth drank Coca-Cola as their preferred beverage. This is especially true in
southern areas of the United States, such as Atlanta, where Coke was born.

Coca-Cola signboard in Lahore, Pakistan.

Some Coca-Cola television commercials between 1960 through 1986 were written and
produced by former Atlanta radio veteran Don Naylor (WGST 19361950, WAGA 1951
1959) during his career as a producer for the McCann Erickson advertising agency. Many of
these early television commercials for Coca-Cola featured movie stars, sports heroes and
popular singers.

Coca-Cola ghost sign in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Older Coca-Cola ghosts behind Borax and
telephone ads.
During the 1980s, Pepsi-Cola ran a series of television advertisements showing people
participating in taste tests demonstrating that, according to the commercials, "fifty
percent of the participants who said they preferred Coke actually chose the Pepsi."
Statisticians pointed out the problematic nature of a 50/50 result: most likely, the taste
tests showed that in blind tests, most people cannot tell the difference between Pepsi and
Coke. Coca-Cola ran ads to combat Pepsi's ads in an incident sometimes referred to as
the cola wars; one of Coke's ads compared the so-called Pepsi challenge to two chimpanzees
deciding which tennis ball was furrier. Thereafter, Coca-Cola regained its leadership in the
market.
Selena was a spokesperson for Coca-Cola from 1989 till the time of her death. She filmed
three commercials for the company. In 1994, to commemorate her five years with the
company, Coca-Cola issued special Selena coke bottles.[76]
The Coca-Cola Company purchased Columbia Pictures in 1982, and began inserting Cokeproduct images into many of its films. After a few early successes during Coca-Cola's
ownership, Columbia began to under-perform, and the studio was sold to Sony in 1989.
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Coca-Cola has gone through a number of different advertising slogans in its long history,
including "The pause that refreshes," "I'd like to buy the world a Coke," and "Coke is it"
(see Coca-Cola slogans).
In 2006, Coca-Cola introduced My Coke Rewards, a customer loyalty campaign where
consumers earn points by entering codes from specially marked packages of Coca-Cola
products into a website. These points can be redeemed for various prizes or sweepstakes
entries.[77]
In Australia in 2011, Coca-Cola began the "share a Coke" campaign, where the CocaCola logo was replaced on the bottles and replaced with first names. Coca-Cola used the
150 most popular names in Australia to print on the bottles. [78][79][80] The campaign was
paired with a website page, Facebook page and an online "share a virtual Coke".
Holiday campaigns

Coca-Cola Christmas truck in Dresden, Germany.

The "Holidays are coming!" advertisement features a train of red delivery trucks,
emblazoned with the Coca-Cola name and decorated with Christmas lights, driving through
a snowy landscape and causing everything that they pass to light up and people to watch
as they pass through.[81]
The advertisement fell into disuse in 2001, as the Coca-Cola company restructured its
advertising campaigns so that advertising around the world was produced locally in each
country, rather than centrally in the company's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.[82] In
2007, the company brought back the campaign after, according to the company, many
consumers telephoned its information center saying that they considered it to mark the
beginning of Christmas.[81] The advertisement was created by U.S. advertising agency
Doner, and has been part of the company's global advertising campaign for many years. [83]
Keith Law, a producer and writer of commercials for Belfast CityBeat, was not convinced
by Coca-Cola's reintroduction of the advertisement in 2007, saying that "I don't think
there's anything Christmassy about HGVs and the commercial is too generic."[84]
In 2001, singer Melanie Thornton recorded the campaign's advertising jingle as a single,
Wonderful Dream (Holidays are Coming), which entered the pop-music charts in
Germany at no. 9.[85][86] In 2005, Coca-Cola expanded the advertising campaign to radio,
employing several variations of the jingle.[87]

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In 2011, Coca-Cola launched a campaign for the Indian holiday Diwali. The campaign
included commercials, a song and an integration with Shah Rukh Khans film Ra.One.[88][89]
[90]

Sports sponsorship

Coca-Cola was the first commercial sponsor of the Olympic games, at the 1928 games in
Amsterdam, and has been an Olympics sponsor ever since. [91] This corporate sponsorship
included the 1996 Summer Olympics hosted in Atlanta, which allowed Coca-Cola to spotlight
its hometown. Most recently, Coca-Cola has released localized commercials for the 2010
Winter Olympics in Vancouver; one Canadian commercial referred to Canada's hockey
heritage and was modified after Canada won the gold medal game on February 28, 2010
by changing the ending line of the commercial to say "Now they know whose game
they're playing".[92]
Since 1978, Coca-Cola has sponsored the FIFA World Cup, and other competitions organised
by FIFA. One FIFA tournament trophy, the FIFA World Youth Championship from Tunisia in
1977 to Malaysia in 1997, was called "FIFA Coca Cola Cup".[93] In addition, Coca-Cola
sponsors the annual Coca-Cola 600 and Coke Zero 400 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at
Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina and Daytona International Speedway in
Daytona, Florida.
Coca-Cola has a long history of sports marketing relationships, which over the years have
included Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association,
and the National Hockey League, as well as with many teams within those leagues. CocaCola has had a longtime relationship with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, due in part to the
now-famous 1979 television commercial featuring "Mean Joe" Greene, leading to the two
opening the Coca-Cola Great Hall at Heinz Field in 2001 and a more recent Coca-Cola Zero
commercial featuring Troy Polamalu.
Coca-Cola is the official soft drink of many collegiate football teams throughout the nation,
partly due to Coca-Cola providing those schools with upgraded athletic facilities in
exchange for Coca-Cola's sponsorship. This is especially prevalent at the high school
level, which is more dependent on such contracts due to tighter budgets.
Coca-Cola was one of the official sponsors of the 1996 Cricket World Cup held on the Indian
subcontinent. Coca Cola is also one of the associate sponsor of Delhi Daredevils in Indian
Premier League.
In England, Coca-Cola was the main sponsor of The Football League between 2004 and
2010, a name given to the three professional divisions below the Premier League in football
(soccer). It is also responsible for the renaming of these divisions until the advent of
Coca-Cola sponsorship, they were referred to as Divisions One, Two and Three. Since
2004, the divisions have been known as The Championship (equiv. of Division 1),
League One (equiv. of Div. 2) and League 2 (equiv. of Division 3). This renaming has
caused unrest amongst some fans, who see it as farcical that the third tier of English
Football is now called "League One." In 2005, Coca-Cola launched a competition for the
72 clubs of the football league it was called "Win a Player". This allowed fans to place
1 vote per day for their beloved club, with 1 entry being chosen at random earning
250,000 for the club; this was repeated in 2006. The "Win A Player" competition was
very controversial, as at the end of the 2 competitions, Leeds United AFC had the most
votes by more than double, yet they did not win any money to spend on a new player for
the club. In 2007, the competition changed to "Buy a Player". This competition allowed
fans to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola Zero or Coca-Cola and submit the code on the wrapper
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on the Coca-Cola website {www.coca-colafootball.co.uk}. This code could then earn

anything from 50p to 100,000 for a club of their choice. This competition was favored
over the old "Win A Player" competition, as it allowed all clubs to win some money.
Introduced March 1, 2010, in Canada, to celebrate the 2010 Winter Olympics, Coca Cola will
sell gold colored cans in packs of 12 355 mL each, in select stores.[94]
In mass media

Coca-Cola has been prominently featured in countless films and television programs.
Since its creation, it remains as one of the most important elements of the popular culture. It
was a major plot element in films such as One, Two, Three, The Coca-Cola Kid, and The Gods
Must Be Crazy among many others. It provides a setting for comical corporate shenanigans
in the novel Syrup by Maxx Barry. And in music, in The Beatles' song, "Come Together", the
lyrics said, "He shoot Coca-Cola, he say...". The Beach Boys also referenced Coca-Cola in
their 1964 song "All Summer Long" (i.e. 'Member when you spilled Coke all over your
blouse?)[95]
Also, the best selling artist of all time and worldwide cultural icon, [96] Elvis Presley,
promoted Coca-Cola during his last tour of 1977.[97][98] The Coca-Cola Company used the Elvis'
image to promote the product.[99] For example, the company used a song performed by
Presley, A Little Less Conversation, in a Japanese Coca-Cola commercial.[100]
Other artists that promoted Coca-Cola include The Beatles, David Bowie,[101] George Michael,[102]
Elton John[103] and Whitney Houston,[104] who appeared in the Diet Coca-Cola commercial,
among many others.
Not all musical references to Coca-Cola went well. A line in " Lola" by The Kinks was
originally recorded as "You drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca-Cola." When the
British Broadcasting Corporation refused to play the song because of the commercial
reference, lead singer Ray Davies was forced to fly from New York to London and rerecord the lyric as "it tastes just like cherry cola" to get airplay for the song.[105]
Political cartoonist Michel Kichka satirized a Coca-Cola billboard in his 1982 poster "And I
Love New York." On the billboard, the lettering and script above the Coca-Cola wave
read "Enjoy Cocaine."[106]
Health effects

Since studies indicate "soda and sweetened drinks are the main source of calories in [the]
American diet",[107] most nutritionists advise that Coca-Cola and other soft drinks can be
harmful if consumed excessively, particularly to young children whose soft drink
consumption competes with, rather than complements, a balanced diet. Studies have
shown that regular soft drink users have a lower intake of calcium, magnesium, ascorbic acid,
riboflavin, and vitamin A.[108] The drink has also aroused criticism for its use of caffeine, which
can cause physical dependence.[109] A link has been shown between long-term regular cola
intake and osteoporosis in older women (but not men).[110] This was thought to be due to the
presence of phosphoric acid, and the risk was found to be same for caffeinated and
noncaffeinated colas, as well as the same for diet and sugared colas.
A common criticism of Coke based on its allegedly toxic acidity levels has been found to
be baseless by researchers; lawsuits based on these notions have been dismissed by several
American courts for this reason. Although numerous court cases have been filed against
The Coca-Cola Company since the 1920s, alleging that the acidity of the drink is
dangerous, no evidence corroborating this claim has been found. Under normal
conditions, scientific evidence indicates Coca-Cola's acidity causes no immediate harm.[111]

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Since 1980 in the U.S., Coke has been made with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as an
ingredient. Originally it was used in combination with more expensive cane-sugar, but by
late 1984 the formulation was sweetened entirely with HFCS. Some nutritionists caution
against consumption of HFCS because it may aggravate obesity and type-2 diabetes more
than cane sugar.[112]
In India, there is a controversy whether there are pesticides and other harmful chemicals in
bottled products, including Coca-Cola. In 2003 the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a
non-governmental organization in New Delhi, said aerated waters produced by soft drinks
manufacturers in India, including multinational giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, contained
toxins including lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos pesticides that can contribute to
cancer and a breakdown of the immune system. CSE found that the Indian-produced Pepsi's
soft drink products had 36 times the level of pesticide residues permitted under European
Union regulations; Coca-Cola's soft drink was found to have 30 times the permitted
amount. CSE said it had tested the same products sold in the U.S. and found no such
residues.[113] After the pesticide allegations were made in 2003, Coca-Cola sales in India
declined by 15 percent. In 2004 an Indian parliamentary committee backed up CSE's
findings and a government-appointed committee was tasked with developing the world's
first pesticide standards for soft drinks. The Coca-Cola Company has responded that its
plants filter water to remove potential contaminants and that its products are tested for
pesticides and must meet minimum health standards before they are distributed. [114] In the
Indian state of Kerala sale and production of Coca-Cola, along with other soft drinks, was
initially banned after the allegations, until the High Court in Kerala overturned ruled that
only the federal government can ban food products. Coca-Cola has also been accused of
excessive water usage in India.[115]
The 2008 Ig Nobel Prize (a parody of the Nobel Prizes) in Chemistry was awarded to Sheree
Umpierre, Joseph Hill, and Deborah Anderson, for discovering that Coca-Cola is an
effective spermicide,[116] and to C.Y. Hong, C.C. Shieh, P. Wu, and B.N. Chiang for proving
it is not.[117][118]
Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola has been criticized for alleged adverse health effects, its aggressive marketing
to children, exploitative labor practices, high levels of pesticides in its products, building
plants in Nazi Germany which employed slave labor, environmental destruction,
monopolistic business practices, and hiring paramilitary units to murder trade union
leaders. In October 2009, in an effort to improve their image, Coca-Cola partnered with
the American Academy of Family Physicians , providing a $500,000 grant to help promote
healthy-lifestyle education; the partnership spawned sharp criticism of both Coca-Cola
and the AAFP by physicians and nutritionists.[119]
Use as political and corporate symbol

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Coca-Cola advertising in High Atlas mountains of Morocco

Coke dispenser flown aboard the Space Shuttle in 1996 (US)

The Coca-Cola drink has a high degree of identification with the United States, being
considered by some an "American Brand" or as an item representing America.
The identification with the spread of American culture has led to the pun " CocaColanization".[72][120]
The drink is also often a metonym for the Coca-Cola Company.
There are some consumer boycotts of Coca-Cola in Arab countries due to Coke's early
investment in Israel during the Arab League boycott of Israel (its competitor Pepsi stayed out
of Israel).[121]
Mecca Cola and Pepsi have been successful[vague] alternatives in the Middle East.[citation needed]
A Coca-Cola fountain dispenser (officially a Fluids Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus-2
or FGBA-2) was developed for use on the Space Shuttle as a test bed to determine if
carbonated beverages can be produced from separately stored carbon dioxide, water and
flavored syrups and determine if the resulting fluids can be made available for
consumption without bubble nucleation and resulting foam formation.
The unit flew in 1996 aboard STS-77 and held 1.65 liters each of Coca-Cola

Positioning and brand management in coca-cola

Introduction
Abrandis a given name ortrademarkassociated with aparticular productor
a certain producer. There is a prevalent recognition that brands are essential in initiating
and supporting the financial achievements of a business. With intense competition and
surplus capability in practically every trade segment, strong brands help organizations to

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differentiate themselves in the industry and provide a means to emphasize how their
goods and services are distinctively capable of meeting customer demands. Financial
worth has all the time been affixed to brands. However, only during the 1980s brand
valuation approaches were instituted that could reasonably facilitate the understanding
and appraisal of the explicit value of brands. The scheme of affixing a distinct value on
brands is now a commonly recognized practice. Those involved in the field of
accounting, transfer valuing and licensing contracts, mergers and acquisitions and value
oriented management, regard brand valuation as a key element in contemporary business.
(Pressey & Selassie 2007)
In the financial approach of attaching a value to a particular brand, brand value is
regarded as the net present value (NPV) of the estimated brand earnings, cut-rate by the
brand discount value. The NPV computation involves both the projected period and the
phase beyond, implicating the capability of brands to carry on generating future revenues.
The rationale underlying the creation of technical valuations of a brand are balance sheet
documentation, tax scheduling, legal action, securitization, authorization, mergers and
acquisitions and shareholder relations. They concentrate on attaching an instance
valuation that symbolizes the value of the patents. Commercial valuations are created
with the intention of managing brand architecture, portfolio organization, market plan,
budget planning and brand scorecards. Such valuations are rooted in a dynamic
framework of the branded business and aspire to compute the part played by the brand in
manipulating the key components in the model. In the case of Coca-Cola positioning and
brand management is the key point of the company's sustainability and survival in the
open market. (Pierce 2009)
Aim
Despite the commercial significance of brands, the brand management still trails behind
their tangible equivalents. There are very few established frameworks and processes to
control the brand asset. On the whole, it may be said that there is an escalating necessity
for brand valuation from both an organizational and transactional standpoint. (Pettijohn
2001) Thus, it is important for companies to emphasize on the economic value of brands
and the aim and purpose of the paper is to evaluate and analyze the marketing strategies
of Coca-cola. In this paper, it examines (1) the positioning and brand management
strategy of the Coca-Cola Company and showcase how modern marketing techniques can
benefit the business; (2) demonstrates how the marketing techniques used by Coca-Cola
Company to establish itself as a powerful and successful brand and (3) demonstrates how
the branding and positioning strategies are a major force for the company to retain its
stronghold throughout the world, especially in a highly competitive environment.
Body
The Coca-Cola Company is one of the biggest business corporations all over the world
today. According to the company sources, it operates in around 200 countries all over the
country and products trademarked with the company form a huge sales volume. The
company listed as KO in the NYSE has worldwide employee strength of more than
90,000 and recorded massive revenue of $31.9 billion for the fiscal year 2008. The firm
has its headquarters located in Atlanta, Georgia. The beverage branded as Coca-Cola,
afizzing non-alcoholic beverage is the frontrunner in the firm's product line and is sold
at shops, eateries, cafes and through soda machinesacross the globe. Other brands
under which the firm operates are Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Coke Zero, Dasani bottled

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water, Glaceau Vitamin Water, POWERade sports drinks, Minute Maid To Go juices,
Aquarius sports drinks and Nestea. (Mudambi 2008)
Just like other major businesses, the company too faces some major challenges. The firm
is a U.S. based company and thus records its earnings in US Dollars. The firm draws 75%
of it operational capital from business outside America. (Randers & Gluke 2007)
Thus, fluctuations in currency exchange rates impact its performance. In addition, the
varying prices of commodities used in production also heavily influences business
operations. However, the most important challenge that the company faces at this
moment is the gloomy economic situation in America and the rest of the world. (Shervani
& Frazier 2007)
For businesses coveting high shareholder value, brands emerge as a key success element.
Brands usually create certain demarcations from the competition it faces and draws
customer allegiances. Established brands are capable of generating a consistent flow of
prospective revenues, thus creating strong shareholder worth. To facilitate allocation of a
reasonable value to a certain brand out of the overall value of the possessing organization,
four essential standards must be fulfilled relating to that brand. It needs to be separately
identifiable, cosseted legally, transferable, and continuing in nature. In this context,
separability entails a condition where the brand is a lawfully separable entity, evidently
discernible from the additional assets owned by the business. In certain cases,
nonetheless, brands can be connected to other resources or company name in an
irresolvable manner and separability may thus be complicated to attribute. For example,
some commercial brands may not be distinguishable product-wise if they are so
employed for other products also. (Kavussanos & Nomikos 2006)
A thriving, established brand undeniably has an economic worth attached to it in the
sense that, the owing company is appreciated at a higher value with the brand than
without it. Nevertheless, there exist several practical concerns in establishing the brand's
worth. In some cases, separating the value of the brand from the rest of the business is not
feasible. Any valid evaluation of a brand's prospective profitability entails several
intrinsic subjective discernments about marketing factors. These subjective discernments
lead to a divergence amongst economic validity and accounting objectivity. Therefore,
Coca-cola pays lot of importance to it brand and brand management. (Slater & Olson
2001)
In the event of considering a brand like Coca-cola one can consider what are costs
associated with designing, licensing, and marketing the patents, trademarks and other
connected rights. On the other hand, one may focus on what they could possibly cost to
be substituted. Both these approaches, namely, historic cost method and the replacement
cost method, are subjective but are standard conventions. Economic substitution analysis
is a different approach towards brand valuation. It looks at questions such as what would
be the financial strength of the branded enterprise without the possessions of the
trademarks or brands and how are the levels, values and outlays dependent on it. The
difficulty with this method is that it counts on subjective conclusions with regard to what
another substitute might be. (Katsikeas & Theodosiou 2006)
Research
It is obvious that the brand equity of its products is relatively very high for customers and
stakeholders. In regards to a large enterprise like Coca Cola it is easy to state that any
large scale change of its product or products could lead to market unrest in a short term.

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For example, when the company decided to change the taste of its prime product Coke in
the 1980's the result was vigorously unfavorable and the company authorities had to
dump the plan. The future success of the company depends on branding strategy. (Eng
2007)
With a past succeed it could be safely stated their impetus on branding strategy for CocaCola and remained successful over the decades and there are four core brands: coffee, tea,
fruit juice/ fruit drinks and another 500+ different flavors from Coca-Cola's along with
bottled drinking water makes the company as a market leader in the industry. Thus, if we
assume that the marketing strategy of Coca-Cola is relatively futuristic in all sense it
would be relevant enough and safely stated. (Dobrev 2008)
The elements of the brand marketing campaign must carry the great benefit of being very
cost effective. Some of the costs that need to be considered are related to (1) publishing
the promotional fliers and the posters, as well as costs associated with putting the posters
on buses, (2) creating and promoting the website and (3) hiring and training the staff that
will provide additional information. (Stewart 2008)
The evaluation of the promotional campaign is quite important at this point, inducing any
perspective changes that may need to be made. In this sense, there are two important
things that need to be kept in mind when performing the campaign evaluation: (1) the
number of new clients after the launch of the promotional campaign and (2) the number
of new clients that were a direct result of the promotional campaign. While the first
measure is quantitative and thus easier to evaluate, the second one is qualitative and,
hence, more difficult to approach. However, we should be able to determine the
effectiveness of the promotional campaign (at least in the first phase) simply by
evaluating the number of new clients. In the second phase, a qualitative analysis will also
be necessary, as we may believe that the word - of - mouth process will begin to create
additional clients. (Collins 2006)
According to several sources, the main goal of international marketing strategy would be
to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing policies that the corporation has been using,
determine the means to optimize these processes and improve the results that the
marketing department has been producing. (Anderson & Wen-yeh 2006)
At corporate level, we are referring to branding positioning and strategic marketing
though brand management. This would mean that the chief executives have defined both
the strategic paths that the company will be approaching in the net period of time and the
specific ways by which marketing can provide the appropriate help. This would go
anywhere from identifying new potential segments of consumers to developing new
promotional plans to approach them. In this case, the audit will look at the efficiency with
which the corporation has managed to fulfill its proposed strategic market objectives and
how these can be improved in the future. At the strategic business unit (SBU) level, we
pay more attention at an operational level at which the questions asked are how
marketing tools can efficiently help in direct sale of the product. At the product unit level,
we are concerned with the product mix, especially in terms of price, distribution, how
changes in these variables have influenced the overall sales. (Weaver 2007)
From the point of view of Coca-Cola it would be relevant to mention that strategic brand
planning in futuristic context should rely on its current position as market leader, with a
close eye on the possible future developments of the market that should be kept in sight
in order to be able to develop a coherent long-term strategic plan, apt to bring both an

170

increased market share and the presence in other market areas, with possible economies
of scale and increased revenues. In conclusion it should be stated that as such, there are
two directions that the organization should approach, closely correlated with each other.
The two strategic directions are (1) the adequate exploit of current market position, with a
trend towards improving the position on the market and (2) diversification. (Alizadeh &
Koekebakker 2007)
The positioning and brand management strategy of the Coca-Cola
The positioning strategy used by Coca-Cola has allowed them to paint a suitable image of
themselves in the mind of their customers as the only Real One. They have designed
their positioning strategy so as to draw an effective picture of their products offered for
their customer. Once they had decided the market segment they wanted to target and
compete in, they clearly developed a picture of that targeted market segment and properly
defined their products as part of their positioning strategy. Through their positions
strategy they emphasized on their distinct and unique characteristics with relation to their
competitive brands stressing on their individuality. They associated their product with the
customer's values and knowledge highlighting their benefits. Their positioning strategy
also included comparison of Coca-Cola's products with those of their rivals, like Pepsi, so
that drive their customers to believe that Coca-Cola's products had higher quality and
standard.
The Coca-Cola brand has turned out to be one of the most recognizable and a popular
brand of all times and their beverage company is among the world's largest beverage
companies. They have become a successful brand since they have used a number of
different brand management strategies depending on the market situation and target
market. The strategies include hybrid, manufacturer, individual, private, family and
generic brand management strategies. However, the most utilized brand management
strategy she used is the individual brand management strategy since all of their major
products have individual brand names, like Sprite and Fanta. Coca-Cola's world-wide
recognition comes from the fact that they have spent billions of dollars to promote and
develop their trademark and brand name. Due to this today more than 95% of our global
population recognizes Coca-Cola along with their special writing and their prominent red
and white color.
As a matter of fact, Coca-Cola Company came into being in 1986 and within the past 2
decades, it has been able to establish itself as one of the leading beverage companies in
the world. At the beginning, Coca-Cola has used modern marketing techniques and she is
even viewed as the founding father of our present day marketing model. The brand
used a number of modern marketing techniques which has immensely benefited the
business. This includes aiming their marketing concept totally towards their customers
and allowing the focus of their customers to percolate trough almost every department
whether human resource, production or finance. Another beneficial modern marketing
technique includes taking of all of their important decisions with relevance to the existing
market considerations, position and segmentation. Apart from placing importance on
market implications, there are 3 techniques of modern marketing which the company can
highly benefit from - focusing on customers, coordination and profit orientation. The
company's focus should always be on the consumer's viewpoint so that they can totally
understand which product or service the buyer needs. Since the marketing mix is an

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interconnected system, the entire marketing program needs to be considered and designed
as a whole.
In addition, the marketing techniques used by Coca-Cola allow them to listen to the needs
and demands of the people all over the world who want beverages that extend over a
wide variety of occasions and tastes. Their marketing strategy has allowed them to
produce great beverages which contribute towards each and every community of our
world. Their marketing techniques display their commitment towards diversity, health,
education and wellness, thus establishing them as one of the most successful and
powerful brands of all time. Coca-Cola's marketing techniques consists of an extremely
efficient marketing mix strategy combining product, price, promotion and place. They not
only provide the customers with their products, soft drinks, but also several services, like
movies and holidays, allowing the consumers to be completely satisfied. Their main
pricing strategy includes penetration pricing which has allowed them to grab a footing in
their target market by winning a major part of the market share. After establishing
customer loyalty, Coca-Cola then slowly raised their product prices. Coca-Cola has
always been among the fore-runners in gimmicks and advertising styles and techniques
which fall under promotion of marketing techniques. They have effectively use their
promotional strategies for persuading their customers into buying their original products
and trying the new ones. They have used a combination of public relations, advertising,
personal selling and sales promotion as a part of their marketing techniques. Coca-Cola
have also carefully chosen the place or distribution techniques for their company. Their
techniques include direct, selective, intensive and exclusive distribution. It is completely
apparent from their widespread popularity and reputation that these marketing strategies
used by Coca-Cola has helped them establish themselves as among the most powerful
and successful brand of modern times, one which will fortunately be a complex yet vital
part of our modern world culture.
In a highly competitive world such as ours effective branding and positioning strategies
are extremely essential since it plays as a major force for the company and allows it to
retain its stronghold all over the world. The branding strategies of a company accurately
define the individuality of the company, its products and services. Every company,
whether small or large, consider their branding strategies to be an important part of the
entire business. Through their branding strategies they establish themselves as a brand
name which represents quality and standard to their customers. A brand name helps the
differentiation among customers based on their unique qualities from other similar
products.
Additionally, the positioning strategy of a company helps it to establish the profitability
of their various products and services. In order for a company to be successful simply
having a quality product is not enough in our capitalistic world economy. The products
and services must have a distinct and clear image and should be offered to the target
customers at competitive prices. This is what a positioning strategy creates. Therefore,
positioning strategies helps companies create a useful and desired image of the product
for the customers, producing a direct contact between them and the company.
Conclusion
The argument that the brands or brand names along with its brand position and brand
management of a business like Coca-Cola, under which its goods or services are
marketed, embodies as much an asset as their tangible counterparts, is increasingly

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gaining momentum. Realizing the requirement of implicating the value of brands in the
accounts, some large corporations in the UK have initiated the capitalization of the value
of their brands in their documented financial declarations. The issue logically crops up
with regards to whether the implication of this entity as an asset in the financial
documents serves any real significant function or is merely another effort by the brand
accountants to create more opportunities for themselves.
Recommendations
This report also provides a number of recommendations for Coca-Cola, which may help
the company, come out of the economic recession. It strongly advices the management to
adopt a broader perspective and develop a long-term strategy instead of focusing on short
term plans. The declining nature of sales curves, profit margins and decreased rate of
growth can be attributed to the recession and may be consider being quite natural in the
present instable economic conditions. However, this should not be a reason to panic and
make hasty decisions, which may bring about adverse effects and outcomes and may ruin
the company. On the contrary, it should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen and
stabilize the company right from its roots. Indeed, recession can be considered an
opportunity to innovate, utilize, and take advantages of the openings created by the
economic slump. (Dobrev 2008) Investing in emerging markets like India and China,
which demonstrate significant growth opportunities, is surely a viable option for the
company. It increases the customer reach and enhances the brand diversity. Capitalizing
on the openings, which these emerging markets offer, can be a boost to the company,
particularly when domestic markets in the United States are not performing so well. As a
result, the company must pay more importance to its brand position and brand
management and redeem the low revenue due to the recession from these emerging
markets.

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