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Introduction

Soft drinks hold the mainstream market share in the beverage market, and Coca Cola and

Pepsi firms are the topmost in selling these drinks. The Coca-Cola soft drink was invented in

1886 by John Pemberton, while Caleb Bradham invented Pepsi in North Carolina. Both firms are

recognized globally, and their products are available in nearly all retail stores and supermarkets.
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Since they have a broader client base, their marketing mix strategies are among the best brands

worldwide.

The prime products sold by the Coca Cola firm include Fanta, vitamin water, sprite, and

Coca Cola. On the other hand, Pepsi is renowned for its Pepsi-Cola; however, to broaden its

market share, the firm has also ventured into the food industry. Much as these two firms have

managed to establish an extensive supply chain and distribution network than their competitors,

they are presently competing for the market amid themselves. This implies they both have to

develop strategies that would entice more clients to purchase their products. For this reason, this

paper looks into the marketing mix of the two firms and a comparison of their marketing

strategies.

Coca Cola Company

Coca Cola is one of the two prominent brands in the soft drinks industry and the globally

prevalent brand of non-alcoholic beverages. The intercontinental realm of Coca-Cola extends to

more than two hundred nations (Brondoni, 2019). The firm has an outsized product portfolio of

glistening and still beverages. Besides having a large market share, Coca-Cola is acknowledged

for its robust brand image and extraordinary consumer loyalty. The company invests a lot of cash

annually in marketing and promotion for increasing brand recognition and client engagement.

Recently, Coca Cola has concentrated on heightening its product mix to accommodate the

changing consumer needs and demands worldwide.

Marketing Mix of Coca Cola examines the brand which covers the product, price, place,

promotion, and elucidates its marketing strategy. By the start of this year, numerous marketing

strategies such as product innovation, client experience, and marketing investment have helped
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the firm grow. The marketing strategy helps firms attain their business goals and objectives, and

the marketing mix is the extensively utilized framework to define the strategy.

Product in Coca Cola's Marketing Mix

The firm has a varied portfolio in the beverage industry, embracing almost three

thousand, three hundred products. To understand the product strategy in Coca Cola's marketing

mix, it is significant to look into the firm's products universally. These products entail Coca

Cola, Coca Cola Zero, Fanta, Sprite, Diet Coke, Dasani, Coca Cola Life, Minute Maid, Fresca,

Del Valle, Ciel, Glaceau Vitamin Water, Powerade, Honest Tea, Simply Orange, Powerade Zero,

Coca Cola Light, Osewalla, Glaceau Smartwater, Fuze, Mello Yello, and Fuze Tea.

Notably, the company products are sold in diverse packaging and sizes. Coke is packaged

in 200ml, 500ml, 1ltr, 1.5ltt, and 2ltr bottles and cans, which have distinctive shapes depending

on the brand. The Coca Cola logo is often made visible on all the bottles and cans to distinguish

them from Coke. Additionally, Sprite, Coca-Cola, and Fanta have the most comprehensive

market shares meaning they generate a lot of cash for the firm even though their growth is

immobile. Lastly, minute maid has an outstanding market share and a noble growth rate.

Price

Coca Cola adheres to a second-degree price discrimination strategy such that it charges

dissimilar prices for products in diverse segments. Chiefly, the beverage market is deliberated to

be an oligopoly with limited sellers and numerous purchasers. In this sector, the pricing of both
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Coke and Pepsi products is similar. Nonetheless, Coca Cola provides discounts on bulk

purchases (Abbassi, 2017).

Place

Since the firm has been in the market for more than one hundred and thirty years with

operations in two hundred countries, its distribution network is well developed—the widespread

distribution network highpoints the place strategy in Coca Cola marketing mix. The company

manufactures and sells concentrates, syrups, and beverage bases to bottling operations. The

bottling partners then manufacture, package, merchandise, and distribute the final branded

beverages to Coca Cola clients and vending partners, who then sell to consumers. The bottling

partners work diligently with clients such as street vendors, amusement parks, grocery stores,

movie theatres, convenience stores, and restaurants. Lastly, Coke has built a widespread reverse

supply chain that collects the retailers' leftover glass bottles and transforms them into reusable

products saving cost and supplementary resources.

Promotion

Coca Cola sets the yardstick for branding and advertising. Coca Cola's promotional

strategy concentrates on aggressive marketing through media, sponsorship, and ad campaigns.

The firm partakes in sponsorship events such as BET Network, NCAA, American Idol, NBA,

FIFA, Olympic games, World cup, and NASCAR. Besides, the company launches TV

advertisements in diverse national languages globally. Special incentives are offered to retailers

and distributors for pushing Coke products (Arab, 2018). Additionally, the retailers are provided

with refrigerators and Coca Cola hoardings for promoting the brand. A unique emphasis is

offered to the supermarket shelf spaces to engender more visibility of its products. Lastly, Coca-
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Cola takes part in diverse CSR activities to aid in backing environmental and social concerns

worldwide.

Pepsi Company

PepsiCo, Inc. is an American food and beverage firm that is one of the world's leading,

with its products obtainable in more than two hundred states. In 1965, Pepsi-Cola company

merged with Frito-Lay forming the company name PepsiCo. The firm's headquarters is in New

York (Štofová, & Kopčáková, 2020). The firm's marketing mix has advanced with time, more so

due to the impact of mergers and acquisitions. PepsiCo utilizes diverse strategies and techniques

grounded on its product and brand assortment. Pepsi's marketing mix examines the company,

which entails the product, place, price, and promotion, which in turn elucidates the Pepsi

marketing strategy.

Product

The prime product of Pepsi Co is the Pepsi cold drink, a carbonated soft drink. Most of

the products in the Pepsi marketing mix are carbonated beverages, snacks, and fruit juices.

Besides Pepsi, the firm has 7up and Mountain Dew. The firm has also invested in wafers and

chips to cater to diverse sections of individuals. Additionally, the firm has ventured into other

products such as Diet Pepsi, Tropicana juices, and Lipton tea. Pepsi Co has tried to make its

presence felt in nearly all sorts of food and beverage segments (Dörnyei, 2020).

Price

The pricing of Pepsi products depends on the client's demand. The CSD is priced at

varying rates depending on the competitor's and client's pocket. Pepsi Co has diverse sizes of

bottles existing at different rates depending on the quantity of the drinks. The Tropicana
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beverages provided by Pepsi Co is highly-priced because its target market is the health-conscious

individuals. Chips and other products are accordingly priced based on the amount that a client

wishes to purchase. Markedly, Pepsi's pricing strategy is driven by Coca-Cola, its key

competitor, and client's demand (Young, 2017).

Place

Pepsi Co products are obtainable in more than two hundred states. Pepsi's marketing

mix's distribution strategy concentrates on distributor relationships and a vast retailer network,

including restaurants, grocery stores, and supermarkets. Tropicana and Lipton are obtainable at

specific outlets since they are meant for a particular type of client. These outlets are chiefly the

supermarkets or the stores where the targeted consumers visit the most.

Promotion

The youth and family are critical targets of the Pepsi firm. The company promotes its

products through legendary movie stars and other individuals that the public can easily relate to.

Pepsi's marketing mix's promotional strategy utilizes media channels such as online ads, TV,

outdoor, and print. The company has sponsored worldwide events such as the world cup and

music events. Being a global beverage and snack brand, Pepsi Co targets the media to make their

existence felt in the market (Crawford, 2017).

From the two firms' marketing mix strategies, there are some similarities between the

promotion, distribution, and place aspects of the two firms. Nonetheless, the pricing strategy

differs because Pepsi's pricing heavily relies on the competitor's and client's demands.

Simultaneously, Coca Cola has majored in a price discrimination strategy whereby individuals

enjoy discounts when making massive purchases.

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A respectable positioning makes a product inimitable, making clients consider utilizing it

as a distinct advantage. The excellent positioning offers a product an exceptional selling

proposition by conquering a client's mind making them a fan of their products. Pepsi is a

positioned brand that mirrors youthful energy, a prime theme in its promotion campaigns. On the

other hand, Coca-Cola has invested in a differentiation strategy. The firm has grander quality

beverage products, a high brand name, and exceptional product packaging.

References

Abbassi, H. (2017). Marketing Strategies of Coke: An Overview. Kaav International Journal of

Economics, Commerce & Business Management, 4, 194-199.

Arab, N. (2018). Relationship between Brand Equity and 4Ps of Marketing Mix-Place, Product,

Promotion, & Price: Coca-Cola-Consumer Based Qualitative Survey.

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Brondoni, S. M. (2019). Shareowners, Stakeholders & the Global Oversize Economy. The Coca-

Cola Company Case. Symphony. Emerging Issues in Management, (1), 16-27.

Crawford, R. (2017). Marketing channels and logistics: A case study of Pepsi International.

Ivory Research. com.

Dörnyei, K. R. (2020). Limited edition packaging: objectives, implementations, and related

marketing mix decisions of a scarcity product tactic. Journal of Consumer Marketing.

Štofová, L., & Kopčáková, J. (2020). The Competition Strategy between Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi

Company. Calitatea, 21(179), 40-46.

Young, J. (2017). PepsiCo's Marketing Mix (4Ps) Analysis. Business Management. Panmore

Institute. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/pepsico-marketing-mix-4ps-

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