Digital Communications Trends

Coca Cola uses online advertising many ways. For example Coca Cola has their own web page that explains things from the history of their product to every drink they make and sell. In 2006, Coca-Cola introduced My Coke Rewards, a customer loyalty campaign where consumers earn points by entering codes from specially marked packages of Coca Cola products into a website. These points can be redeemed for various prizes or sweepstakes entries.

Coca Cola uses mobile communications by having an App for the ipad. The App includes many stunning features such as; animation and video of the beloved Coca Cola polar bears, legendary Super Bowl advertisement of football icon Joe Greene and vintage ads from the Coca Cola archives.

Coca Cola uses advergaming by coming out with a game by Atari called Pepsi Invaders in 1983 for that year's sales convention. This was one of the earliest advergames.

Coca Cola's main social media plan is "Open Happiness". This campaign has been around for quite some time now. We all know how Coca Cola uses social media to engage its massive worldwide supporters. But now Coca Cola is taking an interesting and bold approach towards social media use. According to Canadian press, the soft drink giant will be sending 3 bloggers to more than 200 countries in a year to uncover what makes people happy, as part of the soft drink maker's "Open Happiness". It is called the Expedition 206 and is currently in its last stage of selecting its final 3 bloggers.

Coca Cola uses consumer generated content because it has disclosed its content and creative strategy for the next phase of their journey which will take its key brands up to  its goal in 2020. The intention is to move from creative excellence to content excellence. Goals are to create ideas so contagious that they can not be controlled. Through telling stories they will provoke conversations that they can earn a disproportionate share of popular culture. Create a conversational model centred around brand stories to create ideas, provoke conversations that coca-cola can act and react upon.

Coca Cola uses viral strategies such as Some companies such as Coca-Cola will be trying some new engagement strategy. Coca Cola has figured out a new and creative way to engage its 40+ million Facebook fans by asking riddles. The riddles ended up leading the user to a ‘secret’ URL where the user could interact and enjoy a creative flash ‘game’.

7 Main Types of Promotions

Personal selling involves personal contact between company rep and those who make purchase decision. One advantage of personal selling is personal selling is a face-to-face activity; customers therefore obtain a relatively high degree of personal attention. A disadvantage of personal selling is the cost of employing a sales force. Sales people are expensive. In addition to the basic pay package, a business needs to provide incentives to achieve sales.

Sending mail directly to the customer is considered direct marketing. One advantage of direct marketing is that most charities depend on mail for their existence. A disadvantge of direct marketing is that direct mail marketing is a highly unpredictable method of marketing your business. Mailing direct to potential (and existing) customers can be lucrative.

Advertising mostly is paid promotions often using mass media to deliver the message. One advantage of advertising is that advertisements inform the consumer about qualities and price of goods and this makes purchasing easy for the consumers. A disadvantage of advertising is the prices are already advertised, therefore consumers cannot be over charged.

Public relations use third-party sources, and particularly the news media, to offer a favourable mention of the marketer's company or product without direct payment to the publisher of the information. One advantage of public relations is ability to reach specific groups because some products appeal to only small market segments, it is not feasible to engage in advertising or promotions to reach them. A disadvantage of public relations is the major disadvantage of public relations is the potential for not completing the communication process.



Supporting an event, activity or organisation by providnig money or other resources that is of value to the sponsored event. This is usually in return for advertising space at the event or as part of the publicity for the event. One advantage of sponsorships is it creates positive publicity which heightens visibility. A disadvantage of sponsorships is that is can end up being more expensive than what they paid for the advertising.

Sales promotion involves the use of special short-term techniques, often in the form of incentives, to encourage customers to respond or undertake some activity. One advantage of sales promotion is that producers can introduce price discrimination through the use of sales promotions. They can charge different prices to different consumers and trade segments depending on how sensitive each segment is to particular prices. A disadvantage of sales promotion is short term orientation. Sales promotions are generally for a short duration.

Digital communications are made for the web, cell phones or digital devices. An advantage of digital communications is that it is very fast and easy. A disadvantage of digital communications is that it is unreliable as the messages cannot be recognised by signatures.

The Price is NOT Right

In Ottawa on December 18th, 2009 the Competition Bureau announced that the Ontario Superior Court imposed a record $15,000,000 fine against DataCom Marketing Inc. for operating a business directory scam targeting Canadian and U.S businesses. From 1994 to 2005 a Toronto based DataCom tricked many businesses into believing that they had already ordered a business directory listing and using deceptive scripts and agressive tactics. Victim businesses lost hundreds of dollars each while the scam netted $12.9 million dollars in profit. The founder and former president of DataCom, Bernard Fromstein, was previously sentenced to two years in jail, three years probation and a 10-year ban on telemarketing activities. Another senior manager, Paul Barnard, received a two-year conditional sentence after cooperating in the investigation. The fine represents a record amount under the deceptive marketing provisions of the Competition Act.

Extension Strategies

Re-Packaging

Re-packaging provides a way for the company to give a mature product a new image, particularly if the product and previous image has limited its target audience. Fresh packaging can draw in a new part of the market by tapping into that market and visual preferences. For example, a laundry detergent company might decide to re-package a brand of detergent that the company has been selling for decades. A laundry detergent that was popular in the 1950s, is now going to be associated with a younger generation & grandparents. So, re-packaging the product for the younger generation let young people know that and can reach out to and reel in that new audience.

Discounting

Designing a new pricing strategy does not have to be a short-term option for a mature product. In some cases, re-pricing the product by discounting it can reach out to a target market that has typically seen the product as being just out of reach. For instance, the laundry detergent manufacturer might decide that it needs to make the product available to a certain price demographic. By lowering the price of the product even 50 cents to $1 per sale, the manufacturer can appeal to the new market and expand sales.

Re-Branding

Re-branding a mature product can be a somewhat extreme approach to extending its life cycle, but it can also be an effective method. Re-branding results in changing not only the packaging but also the name and total appearance of the product. Returning to the example of the laundry detergent, the company might decide that the image of the product as something from the 1950s is too established. Re-branding the product would mean giving the product a fresh new name and overall image, and thus reaching out to a different audience that will extend the life cycle of the product. Re-branding can even involve developing television spots that reflect on the previous name and image, and show how those are no longer relevant.

 

Expanding Abroad

In some cases, a product life cycle can only go so far in one place. Expanding the product abroad to reach out to a completely untapped market can extend the product life cycle on a different level. Expanding abroad can be costly, because the product has to be introduced completely in a new market, but if the move is effective the company can bring in profits that give the product new life

Product Life Cycles

1. A fad that only lasted in the year of 1975 till Christmas that same year. This fad was "My Pet Rock."  My Pet Rock sold for $3.95, and creator Gary Dahl unloaded more than five million of the "pets" in six months. He walked away with a significant $15 million.  Popularity for the rock thinned out after the 1975 Christmas season.
 

2. A long lasting product that has been around for more than 20 years is Advil. Advil has been on the market since 1984. Advil is able to produce 32,400,000 tablets per year. This product is very popular and is usually the best seller when it comes to NSAID (non-sterodial anti-inflammatory drug).
 

3. A technological product that has only lasted about 3-5 years would be the CD walkman. When they first came out they were very popular and everyone had one. But about 5 years later technology was starting to build and MP3's were just starting to come out and everyone was getting rid of their CD walkmans.

Product Development

Example of a product mix would be the company Coca Cola. Not only does Coca Cola make Coke, they make Fanta, Sprite, Powerade, Fuze, Vitamin Water, Full Throttle, Odwalla and all the Simply Juices.

Coca Cola's product line, Vitamin Water, includes 17 different flavours from Dragon Fruit to Lemon Tea.



Coca Cola's product item, Coca Cola, has many different kinds and sizes of soft drinks.
 
Coca Cola's product width includes 500 brands. Within these 500 brands there are over 3500 different types of drinks.

Limitless Luxury: Ferrari

Ferrari is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari in 1947.


The range of prices for a Ferrari can vary from $100,000-$500,000. Ferrari sells their products online, and in their own stores around the world. The intended target is wealthier middle aged men because they are fast and luxurious cars. Wyclef Jean drives a Ferrari 360 Spyder, Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees drives a Ferrari and Lebron James drives a Ferrari F430 Spyder. This product appeals to me because it is a very fast and luxurious car and many guys my age dream of owning a Ferrari. I would splurge on a product like this because it is a good investment if you want to be known for the car you drive.