Cocacolas Strategies to Develop In Vietnam

Faculty of Foreign LanguagesThe impacts of Coca Cola’s “Share a coke” campaign on the youth in... After the huge success of “Share a Coke” campaign, Coca Cola is making aglorious comebac

Faculty of Foreign Languages

The impacts of Coca Cola’s “Share

a coke” campaign on the youth in

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF FIGURES

This is our research about Share a coke campaign While we made an effort to includemany important problems, our viewpoint is only a subjective one It has thousands ofmeanings to analyze, each and every one remarkable

This project could not have been accomplished without the help of some veryimportant and special people First and foremost, we would like to express our sinceregratitude to our advisor M.A Ngụy Thùy Trang, known as the deputy Head of BusinessEnglish Department for the continuous support, for her patience, motivation, and immenseknowledge Her guidance helped us in all the time of research and writing of thisinvestigation We could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for our study

Besides our advisor, we would like to thank the friendly youth in Hanoi in general andour classmates for the enthusiasm and pleasure to help us complete the survey, for theirinsightful comments and encouragement, which incented us to widen our research fromvarious perspectives

Last but not least, to our own i4 team, we thank each other for the stimulatingdiscussions, for the urgent days we were working together before deadlines, and for all thefun we have had during the course

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1. Proposed Research Topic

“The impacts of Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" campaign on the youth in Hanoi”

2. Background

A – Coca Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beveragecorporation andmanufacturer, retailer, and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentratesand syrups, which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia Coca Cola wasinvented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton and was used as a kind

of medicine before it becomes one of the most popular drinks all over theworld Today, Coca Cola the Coca-Cola Company has been in businessfor 130 years, employs 139,600 people, and sells 1.6 billion beverages eachday in more than 200 countries, with almost 500 brands ranging from theactual Coca-Cola® to products such as Sprite®, Fanta®, POWERADE®,Minute Maid®, and many, many more

B – “Share a Coke” campaign

Share a Coke is a debranding multi-national campaign starting in 2011

by Coca-Cola It first appeared in Australia, then spread out rapidly to GreatBritain, United States and Canada in 2013, Vietnam in 2014, and manymore.The word "Coca-Cola" that consumers used to see is now removed fromthe bottle on one sideand replaced by the phrase "Share a Coke with" followed

by country's most popular names, aims to have people go out and find a bottlewith their name on it, then share it with their friends and families Thepersonalization went beyond names and included popular jargon used by themillennial demographic, including “Bestie” and “Wingman.”Users with moreunusual names can custom-order a "Share a Coke" bottle with their name fromthe Coca-Cola Website The results were fascinating as the volume increased4%, the sale transactions grew 3% and the Facebook traffic leap 870%

After the huge success of “Share a Coke” campaign, Coca Cola is making aglorious comeback in the Southeast Asia marketwith the part two of thecampaign called “Share a Coke, Share a feeling” The brand puts emoticons oncans and bottles so people can share their feelings with friends.The campaignstarted in Vietnam Bloggers and celebrities were recruited to popularizeCoke's new emoticons; partnerships with Facebook and a local messagingplatform, Zalo, reinforced them As soon as the campaign starts, it hasreceived the love from a great number of consumers, especially youngsters,who usually find it difficult to express their feelings to the ones they careabout.

C – The youth in Hanoi

The youth have always been the target customers of the Coca-Cola Company

in any of its campaigns This “Share a Coke” campaign is not an exception It

is the youngsters from 16 to 25 years old who consume the largest number ofproducts and care most about the campaign They are curious, enthusiastic andeager to try original things It is undoubtedly that they are the one whocontribute to the success of this original campaign

3. Rationale

Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign have finally won incredible achievements withrecord profits andbeen considered as pure marketing genius For this victory of the company,

we notice that it would be suitable for us as economic students to attain an insight

comprehension of sales through the campaign.In addition, because of enthusiasm and

knowledge that students nowadays are more and more interested in business; obviously it iseasy to approach this issue Therefore, we have carried out an investigation to discover theimpacts of the young toward marketing strategies as well as grasp the fundamental key ofsucceed as potential entrepreneurs

particular positions in the economy industry Outcomes and statistics of the research arefreely used for the purpose of study marketing in specific and economics in general.

6. Research Questions

When deciding to conduct “Share a Coke” campaign, Coca Cola marked the youth,especially who are under 24 years old, as its target customer Besides, “Share a Coke” createshuge difference from various campaigns of Coca Cola by exploiting social network.Therefore, this research’s goal is to figure out the youth’s point of view on this campaign aswell as Coca Cola’s achievement through online marketing In brief, this study is going toanswer 2 main questions below:

• What is the youth’s perspective on Coca Cola’s personalized bottles during andafter the campaign?

• What is the role of viral marketing in “Share a coke” campaign?

7. Research Methods

7.1. Qualitative Method:

o Analyze books, newspapers,… related to the topic

o Collect information in the internet, websites

o Aim:

 To have an extensive view about the success of “Share a coke”campaign

7.2. Quantitative Method:

o Carry out a survey in which 100 students in National Economics University

of Vietnam will be chosen randomly to perform a questionnaire

o Interview some students in Hanoi who have already engaged “Share a coke”campaign and who have not

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Definitions of Marketing

According to the UK’s Chartered Institute of Marketing, the term “Marketing” can beunderstood as “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating andsatisfying customer needs profitably”

Marketing is the activity of presenting, advertising and selling a company’s products orservices in the best possible way The Economists see marketing as a vital activity that “must

be driven from the strategic level of a business” Marketing plan plays such an essential role

in every project of every company that it is considered carefully months before the project isfinally brought out into practice, as the project will definitely turn into such a disaster if themarketing plan is inappropriate for the objectives of the company

The definition of Marketing may confuse people working in other fields, who want toknow what marketers do exactly They often equate marketing with selling, whichaccidentally narrows the scope of marketing Beside selling, one of the main activities ofmarketing is getting to know customers base on their needs and consumer habits Customers’desire may be overlooked, or the company may provide goods and services that do not matchthe customers’ needs This activity helps the company to build trust and strong relationshipwith the customers and provide goods and services that meet their requirement

The essence of marketing can be summarized in three words “identifying, anticipatingand satisfying” This can be seen as a progression of doing a series of researches aboutcustomers’needs at the present and predict the consumer trend in the future, then analysis theresults to figure out the best way to develop their company using production material andexisting resources

Because of all those reasons, marketing isalways kept in mind by the corporations as theconsumers’ needs are constantly changed and the company leaders have to have a flexibleway to use the physical infrastructure and human resources to fulfill the requirements

As marketing is a complicated matter, people may find it difficult to have the same point

of view about it The definition that we have brought into this essay may not be the mostexact one, but it the most relevant one to our research topic, as we want to focus on how acompany’s marketing strategy becomes successful when they mainly based on the consumerhabits and the way their customers think and act

2. Types of marketing

Marketing is classified into over 50 types with an abundance of criterion However, wedecide to focus on the five most outstanding forms for the relevance of our research To beginwith, marketing mix should be listed As The Chartered Institute of Marketing (2009) refers

to, it is a model that includes the 4Ps (traditionally) - Product, Price, Place and Promotion orthe 7Ps (up to date) - with the supplement of People, Process and Physical evidence Thesecond one is the original method: Traditional marketing Website Marketing schools (2012)describes it as "a rather broad category that incorporates many forms of advertising andmarketing"… "that we see and hear everyday" Global marketing is another type of marketing,

in which various international business allies create relationships and develop networks on aglobal scale CARTER (1997) did mention some viewpoints about this marketing The fourthtype is possibly Multi-level marketing According to Lectlaw (2010), consumer products aregenerally sold by individuals either in consumer's homes or a designated area of meeting.Last but not least, online marketing, known as e-marketing, is the one we mostly prefer toresearch on Stokes (2008) analyzes that it uses all tools through the Internet or Mobileinstead of normal methods Online marketing includes an abundant of aspects to investigateinto There are more than six fields in this marketing and SEO, SEM, email marketing, viralmarketing, ads banner/pop-ups, multimedia or interactive advertising such as in-text/in-gameand web 2.0 such as blogs or forums are assumed to be the most powerful

Out of these five types, online marketing is always considered as one of the mosteffective ways to develop a successful marketing plan Firstly, we probably narrow down thegeographical distance Partners might meet each other via computers without thinking ofbeing far or not This allows buyers and salesmen ignore intermediary procedures Secondly,the Internet is a valuable tool for marketers to approach customers all over the world whereasothers cannot do almost anything Moreover, cost production, which can be reduced by 90%,will not be a burden to businesses and bring in a double effect

3. The Role of Marketing

Marketing might be one of the largest fields in the Economy It confuses people in otherdepartments who want to know what marketers do Everyone knows about the important role

of marketing in business, but what it is exactly?The term “Marketing” itself seems be quitedifficult to imagine, but it does have a specific function in “planning, provoking, meeting andconfirming” customers’ desire for the product, service or brand the marketer is promoting

Marketing can help develop better products and sales presentations by carrying outresearches about customers’ needs and satisfaction Marketing can also drive more customersthrough the front door via advertising A successful of a product or a service can be decidedright after the company gets the results about the reactions of customers against the marketingstrategy.

Beside customer service, Marketing is a link connecting companies with their customers.Marketers are concerned with two criteria The first one is the purpose of it Marketingshould be part of the company’s overall philosophy and vision The second one is the profit,

as marketing should focus upon maximizing profitability through satisfying the customer.Marketing is a business function with profit-oriented responsibilities as distinct as those ofany other corporate department The marketing department’s research helps determine theright time, place, price, product features and locations to use in order to sell more of thecompany’s goods

Professional strategies – Marketing encompasses numerous tactics to help assure thatsales and profit goals are met via such specialized practices as advertising, research, publicrelations, promotion and pricing

4. Factors in developing marketing strategies of a business

The marketing mix has helped producers evaluate products, prices, places…Nevertheless, many factors found to affect activities in the marketing field make supplierslose more power In her books about startup business, Collins points out five externalmarketing environments which are quite clear to follow

Firstly, the political and regulatory environment is believed to be the origin of the wholething Political environment includes lines and policies of the government, politicalstructures, the system of administrations and regulatory environment consists of set of lawsand regulations which may detain or bring a desired condition in marketing activities Thesefactors powerfully dominate the foundation of commercial chances and the feasibility ofaccomplishing targets of any businesses Analyzing them would create an environment toeasily adapt to continuous changes as well as the level of perfection and law implementation

in the economy

The economic environment might be the essential factors in developing marketing in anycountry Economic news is ceaselessly updated A small change of the economy whether

positive or negative might affect businesses They must notice it, evaluate its influence, andadjust marketing plans suitably Obviously, businesses flourish if the economy is soaring up,and there is no unemployment and the stability of prices Marketing products would besupported better than ever Then inflation, which raises interest rates upward and deflation asreversely, threatens the current sales forcing the businesses to reform promotional plans All

in all, taking notice of any fluctuations in the markets is essential and plays a key role inmaintaining the revenues and profits

The competitive environment should be another potential factor to pay attention to.Competition is claimed to be the motivation for the development of market economy whoserules are the winner should be the one who works more efficiently and meets consumers'demand better As competition has become more and more severe, entrepreneurs must defineperfect strategies of competition to overcome their rivals and grow as much as possible Ifthey disregard the competitive environment and its related aspects, failure is inevitable.The technological problems are increasingly becoming the basic element in marketingactivities Eliminating out-of-date products is considered as one function of technology Itenforces corporate to create new things with unique characters Reformed techs also

"transform the marketing mix" when modifying the way of advertising products TheInternet, one of the most outstanding ways of e-marketing, has been the revolutionarychanges helping marketers for promoting and selling a broad range of goods and services.Marketers must catch up with technological advances and adjust their methods, not only tomake the best of the opportunities but also to avoid potential threats

The social and culture is the final aspect we want to explain about All marketingactivities under any form belong to some society and each society has its own culture in itsdaily life Culture is related to original behaviors of humans since they were born and grewover the time Every aspect mentioned to be analyze in marketing only emphasizes on thesystem of values, the concept of belief, tradition and behavioral standards, which have animportant impact on the formation and characteristics of markets Through analyses,companies would somehow attain the knowledge of their targets and propose a moresuccessful plan for marketing promotion

In a nutshell, while trying to find out fabulous marketing strategies for the business, it iscompulsory to have an eye on external factors especially the economy, competition and

technological advances These are the elements marketers might assess carefully becausethey all are indispensable in bringing in sales and profits for the company.

5. Factors in evaluating a marketing plan

Marketing plan plays an indispensable role in conducting promotion for a product Thesuccess of a marketing plan can be expressed through its marketing campaign Therefore,basing on a result got after carrying a campaign out, we can evaluate a promotion’s hit oncustomers According to an article on Chron, small-business website, there are various waysthrough statistics or level of influence on a market to assess a marketing campaign’s success First of all, all business managers pay their most attention to return on investment (ROI)after each time they launch their products ROI will show directors how effective a marketingplan is because it presents profit on each unit of money investment a company gets whenconducting a campaign This data provides the most precise and straightforward tool fordirector to estimate the efficiency of the campaign

Secondly, sale numbers are always important factors that bring information about acampaign’s success For instance, if the number of products sold in third quarter last year issmaller than it is in this year, it can be concluded that one part of an achievement is due to apromotion

Thirdly, because an item is produced to meet demand of a market, it is undoubted thatcustomer responses will be an accurate way to check how a campaign makes an influence ontarget customers There are numbers of methods in collecting customers’ perspectives such asgiving out a questionnaire, interviewing online or offline The aim of this action is to helpcustomers express their feeling on a product as well as help companies find out theircampaign’s reach

Fourthly, an expansion of marketing reach proves an impact of a campaign over regions

It is clear that if there are some added places that people have an idea about a product after acampaign, a promotion gain an achievement in popularizing its item

Fifthly, thanks to partner responses, effects of a campaign are reflected objectively.Partners usually share responsibility in observing an outcome of a campaign because it mayhave influence on the relationship between two firms

Sixthly, one more way to measure the effectiveness of a marketing campaign is collectingsalespeople’s feedback They are officially ones who sell products to customers, and, in somecircumstances, they will recognize customers’ attitudes on products and find out the strengthand weakness in launching the campaign.

Lastly, an interaction of competitors will completely make an answer for a questionwhether a campaign succeeds or fails If a rival tends to conduct another marketing campaign

to take back their market share, the original campaign is proved to be efficient and puts ahuge pressure on other companies

Accordingly, it is undeniable that marketing plan vitally serves as a prototype to evaluate

a campaign’s success Because of the contemporary volatile market, in which the need ofcustomers always alternates, the marketing strategy has to be flexible and adjusted properly

in order to adapt into such requirements Depending on seven ways of analyzing themarketing plan indicated above, companies can easily judge the success of their business

CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

After conducting the research, we have finally found out the answers for the twosurvey questions which were mentioned above The following analysis will help to make thedata and the answers easier to understand This analysis makes the topic clearer and it willsupport readers all the information needed

1. The youth’s perspective on Coca Cola’s personalized bottles during and after the

campaign:

As the research is conducted to find out points of view of the youth on Coca Cola’spersonalized bottles, we have given out an online questionnaire to 113 people in Hanoi whoare from 16 to 30 years old.The survey participants range from students, freelancers to whitecollars, etc and include both male and female Through carrying out the survey, we wouldlike to understand and assess the youth’s perspective on personalized bottles of Coca Coladuring and after the campaign as well as the change in their preferences

1.1.The youth’s perspective on Coca Cola’s personalized bottles during the campaign:First of all, in term of recognizing “Share a Coke” campaign, we have done this survey with

113 people including two cases The distribution among two cases can be seen in the piechart below:

Figure 1 The percentage of interviewees who know "Share a coke" campaign

Figure 1 indicates that among all people were asked, there is surprisingly only 9.7%

of them (11 people among 113 respondents) who do not know about “Share a Coke”campaign of Coca Cola in comparison with the overwhelming majority of respondents(90.3%) paying attention to the campaign It is an amazing result for Coca Cola’s marketingstrategy because about 90.3 percent of the young in Hanoi is such a large number Therefore,Coca Cola has efficiently introduced their personalized bottles to their target customers – theyouth, and the youth seem to be highly attentive to this unique campaign

However, it will be extremely unilateral if we just assess the success of a campaignthrough its expansion of the marketing reach To exactly figure out the level of interestamong the youth, the research focuses on the time people started to concern about thiscampaign and their attitudes towards it afterward After collecting the information from thesurvey, the data presents that 50 respondents among 102 people (only 102 participants who