The importance of digital marketing is vital for any company to gain an online presence and it is essential for them to manage social media websites and company websites (Chaffey, 2016). The use of digital marketing opens the company up to many new opportunities to gain new customers as well as engaging with existing customers and improving the communication with them. Matthews (2016) agrees and develops this by addressing the international possibilities that are made available when there is an online presence from a business. The scale and scope of consumers that can be targeted for the marketing once online becomes universal, encouraging the business to adapt and expand with the increased demands a global market brings. Figure 1. from Statista 2018, provides evidence that the most useful method of marketing is social media.
Figure 1. Perceived relevance of advertising in selected media among consumers worldwide as of October 2017
The technology provided today introduces companies to access and analyse their social traffic and take statistics to enable them to understand their consumers more and helps them better target and differentiate their marketing. By having a sounder understanding this means that the digital strategies created will be specifically tailored to consumer needs thus creating a better response rate. Chaffey (2016) identifies the framework developed by Smart Insights (2010) that allows a business to evaluate their online marketing and improve upon what they have, to then ensure it is as efficient and beneficial to their company as possible. ‘Social media marketing’ is one of the tools Chaffey (2016) identifies as a digital media channel where companies can advertise and become a part of social media platforms, providing a wide market available to the business at ease. Aichner (2015) implies that this channel can boost communication between business and consumers either through direct conversation or indirect advertisements and promotions.
Pepsi Marketing Strategies
Pepsi is primarily known for successfully using celebrity endorsements as a main method of advertisement. The use of the celebrities encourages their young audience to take interest into their marketing, previously having Michael Jackson and Jackie Chan level celebrities in the past and having Michael Jordan, Beyoncé and Cardi B, (Rowntree, 2013) take a current presence in their marketing. Lee (2018) discusses the motivations for the consumer regarding impulse buying as this can be a result of many things including popularity of the product, encouragement from peers or influencers can also motivate a consumer to purchase products. The use of a popular and notoriously modern popstars can direct consumers to the campaign as they are not only well known by the target market but loved and seen as inspirational by them, (Chen 2017). By having the famous faces and names marketed with their product and brand it can motivate consumers to purchase the products in order to have a sense of relating to their ‘hero’s’ and those they look up to and are inspired by. This has a positive impact on the campaign and can attract much more participants due to the incentive involved, and it can also improve brand image as by having a successful well-known celebrity alongside their products consumers may then feel that celebrities also back the product resulting in more trust from the consumer towards the product. One of their main platforms for using the celebrity endorsement strategy is social media. Twitter and Instagram are specifically used by soft drink company’s which reflects with the fact that they are also currently the most up and coming forms of social media for their target audience. Figure 2 shows the number of active Instagram users, revealing its continuous growth.
Figure 2. Number of monthly active Instagram users from January 2013 to June 2018.
Ryan (2017) discusses that the online marketing strategies used are able to allow the way the adverts continue to evolve and are conveyed to consumers which is becoming more of a conversation with the consumer than a lecture. Ryan implies that the use of social media as a tool for businesses to market products is becoming a primary source of communicating with consumers and attracting audiences. The company Pepsi also partners up with sports companies such as clothing companies including Puma and events being ‘Champions League Football’ and the ‘Superbowl’, allowing them to reach and expand their market. It is emphasised that many of the world’s leading food and beverage companies base their business around the success of their… An important part to online marketing is digital campaigns as they are main determents to a companies success in sales and profit, (Dodson, 2016). One of Pepsi’s most successful digital campaign includes a video shared online on several social media platforms and viewed over 1 billion times which was a 20 minute long video with the catch phrase ‘Bring Home Happiness.’ In previous years, the company has also had many successes using similar techniques of creating strong brand image and establishing trademarks for ‘Pepsi’. social media stance and popularity, calculated by their profiles following and interaction. As well as being able to reach their audience the use of social media provides many more advantages to the company compared to traditional advertisements. The technology provided today allows for companies to analyse their social traffic and take statistics to enable them to understand their consumers more and helps them better target and differentiate their marketing, (Loredana 2018). The company has a strong competitor within Coca-Cola making it essential for Pepsi to continue to improve and invest in its products. More and more flavours and changes are being made to adapt to the constant varying demands of the consumers. With the use of the social media marketing, the company can follow the movement of the consumers and gain the important information required to remain a successful competitor within the largely aggressive industry.
Coca-Cola Marketing Strategies
Coca-Cola is currently the leading soft drink beverage company in the world, with a phenomenal gap between themselves and Pepsi, their biggest rivals. As seen in Figure 3., the difference in brand value is substantial and Coca-Cola has an indistinguishable lead.
Figure 3. Brand value of the most valuable non-alcoholic beverage brands worldwide as of 2018 (in million U.S. dollars)
Similarly, both companies use mass marketing strategies to reach and target their audiences from across the world however Coca-Cola also uses niche marketing. Armstrong (2017) discusses the importance for niche marketing as it allows a company to focus on areas that are poorly marketed and to audiences that are less attracted or interested in their products. By identifying their focused area of segmentation, the company can produce a specific and targeted marketing campaign with higher appeal, (Dibb, 2016). The niche is created by identifying the wants and needs of their consumers and constructing an idea and campaign based on those factors. Coca-Cola generally have success with their strategies of making their promotions tie in with a positive message and relevant issue in the world. In 2017, Coca-Cola released ‘Love Story’ advert clip on their social media an youtube page, addressing the plastic usage issue and a statement that they would collect and recycle all of their packaging by 2030. Soloman, 2016 identifies the different factors that can motivate consumers to gravitate towards buying certain products. One of the main factors in recent times is how the company works in the environment and the impact they have on the earth and communities. With todays awareness of the over use of plastic and the damage to the earth and sea, consumers with an interest in this global issue would be more inclined to develop respect and loyalty to a company who share the same morals and interests as them. Aichner, 2015 addresses the impact social media and a strong presence on social media platforms has on the success of a company. With a global digital campaign, the products being promoted can reach so many more people with ease due to the advertisement provide by the consumers themselves. By instigating an online campaign, the company invite the consumers to interact on their media platforms and websites and with the help of their consumers, they have the ability to go viral. Coca-Cola used this as strategy to their best possible benefit when they introduced the ‘Share a Coke’ marketing strategy. This campaign was to have their slogan ‘Share a Coke with’ followed by a name, and the consumers reacted in the exact way expected. The consumers would purchase a cola bottle with their name or a friend’s name and would then post it to social media using a ‘hashtag’. Chaffey, 2016 identifies the impact of a viral campaign and the attention it attracts, and Chen, 2017 addresses the consumers reaction to this internet sensation. The public identify a trend within society and are motivated to become a part of it, and therefore purchase and share their Coca-Cola product online, expanding the trend and reach to new customers.
Lucozade Marketing Strategies
Todays young people are a lot more health conscious than they would have been in previous years which makes them a very specific market to target for sport products. Nowadays, many more people are eating healthier and exercising more to try and achieve their ideal fitness level, (Adamson, 2019). Lucozade specifically aim their products towards sports men and woman and follow similar tactics as Pepsi by utilizing globally known celebrities and influencers. Kadekova, 2018 discusses the use of using influencers, that allows a company to communicate with consumers from all over the world while still being able to relate to a large majority of them. Using this technique can encourage the consumers to build relationship with the company as they are able to recognise a familiar trustworthy face using and promoting the products. Lucozade use this technique to their full advantage by focusing their marketing primarily on fitness and having famous athletes’ partner with their brand. In 2017 the company starred Anthony Joshua in a short movie for Lucozade sport, promoting the product to their main target audience, allowing them to advocate the product to consumers who are interested in the sport and in the celebrity.
Shank 2015, discusses the effect of having motivational advertisements on the consumers interest in the product, having a successful sportsman using and positively promoting the brand highly motivates the consumer to use it with the impression it will improve their skill and help them achieve what the famous celebrity achieves. Marconi 2002, addresses the significant change partnerships between companies can have on the reach and success of eithers marketing. By joining with another company, more variety of customers are welcomed to the audience through the third party. It can also motivate more consumers to trust the brand as a whole if the witness a brand they already know and support, encouraging the products of another company. Recently, Lucozade have partnered with Lionesses, a female football team, and have been a part of the football teams promotions on social media. With this, the sports drink company can easily reach 68.6 thousand customers, according to Lionesses twitter followers. This is a perfect company for Lucozade to partner with as it allows them to reach more of their already established market audience. The use of the partnership also indicates that the consumers may become loyal customers due to the trust in Lionesses already established.
Overall it is prominent that in today’s current society digital marketing is essential. With the growing use of technology and the amount of time spent on social media particularly with the younger generations digital media marketing can be used as an effective tool to reach consumers and raise awareness of products. By advertising products and using things such as hashtags more people will take notice of the product and be willing to try it. Social media influencers are also an effective tool as they are able to promote soft drinks on their own personal page to millions of people who idolise them. By talking and using the drink this then makes their fans want to follow suit to be more like them which can link to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs by fulfilling societal needs.
Soft Drink Marketing 