The marketing mix comprises all elements that could have a bearing on consumer perception of the brand and consumer satisfaction of the product or service. And when it comes to getting the desired response from the consumer and influencing his consumer behavior, all that needs to be done is to play around with the different components of the marketing mix and see how the consumer responds. In most cases, organizations indulge in market research to find out what people want and what is lacking in their product offerings and they go ahead, fix the spot and serve – again, tampering with the marketing mix.
The Soft Drinks Market: That is what Coca Cola is trying to do in a tough world of competition, where people are turning increasingly health conscious and the company is trying harder than ever to keep up with its growth targets. No company can grow big enough that the market gets saturated because of the company’s overwhelming market share, but then, carbonated drinks may have their limitations and the best way for Coca cola to keep growing is to get beyond its popular perception and carve a new branding proposition for itself.

Coca Cola’s Marketing Strategy: Coke has unveiled its new packaging for its fruit drinks and juice portfolio, with new cans that have just been made part of the mainstream strategy. And the first drink brand that would bear the trademark yellow, new cans would be Minute Maid. The brand is also expected to bear a health tag, with its flavors targeting different health benefits that they would offer consumers. The new branding and packaging would start off very shortly and would be rolled out globally to give a uniform identity for its juice business. The new packaging would not only give the brand a new identity and a unique feel but would also have increased exposure with a more prominent shelf visibility.

Coca cola’s ‘Green’ initiative: Coca cola has just made another change to its packaging component of the product mix, as it has advised its bottle suppliers to go green and make bottles that would have 30% of its components made of plant derivatives. This is yet another way to wield the packaging component to project a socially responsible image for the company.

Masters in marketing, of the likes of Coca cola, could use as simple a part of their marketing mix as packaging to propagate a whole new message about their branding strategy.