In Coca Cola’s marketing efforts, over the years, they continue to create different flavored sodas have expanded internationally from China, Italy, S Africa, Japan. Its in Japan they offered a beer flavored carbonated beverage.
Today, one of the groups it has focused its market strategies are the teens in Britain. Here, they’ve allowed teens to visit their website and download over 250,000 songs, legally! This is an interesting tactic because these consumers are familiar with all of the latest music and have had some problems within the media regarding illegally downloading music. This free service allows teens to discuss the service as well as promote the product in return. This is an act that is not necessarily conscious to the everyday consumer. We the people tend to unconsciously see and remember certain advertised products and out of curiosity, we promote by purchasing as an internal way of ‘sampling’ yet we are physically supporting and promoting.
Another project created by Coca Cola’s marketers is the teaming with Crayola. They’ve partnered and created a contest allowing the consumer an opportunity to design a new Coke machine for the show, Second Life. This strategy touches on a few points: it is marketing Crayola, marketing the show Second Life, and it is allowing Coca Cola to capture their targeted market as well as contracting future efforts to the same audience.
On the other hand, there are marketing catastrophes. For example, the ever growing breakthrough of the diet pills that do not meet FDA approval yet are marketed as the answer to weight loss.
As we know, diet pills are put on the market with many promises and as consumers reach certain results by the products that are proven to be effective, some are found to have serious side effects and /or short spans.
For example, Cortislim, this pill began marketing in 2003 via infomercials that promised to reduce fat by reducing the levels of cortisol in the abdominal area of the body. This diet pill was also known as ‘the answer’ for anyone who wanted to loose weight. In 2004, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged this company’s makers of making false claims of this product having the ability to cause weight loss and reduce the risk of health conditions. These were legitimate allegations because it had not gone through the appropriate testing to prove their theory that ended in a class action lawsuit, just as Vioxx.
In conclusion, marketing is the strategy of making products available that satisfy customers while making profits for the companies that offer those products; however, there are marketing catastrophes that may occur if a company is not honest with the consumer by providing possible side effects or false hope.
REFERENCES
American Marketing Association. Retrieved November 16, 2007, Web site:
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P. (2006). Marketing: an Introduction. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
BestDietForMe.com Diet Pills Report & Review. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www.bestdietforme.com/DietPills.htm
Lewis, J (2007, April 17). Coke Expands Viral Marketing Efforts Online. Retrieved January 23, 2008, Web site:
Wikipedia. Retrieved January 24, 2008, Web site:
(2005, September 21). Cortislim Promoters Forfeit $4.5 Million in FTC Settlement. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/ftc_cortislim.html
