Advertising – Media and Globalization

Coca-Cola: The Drink that Connects the World

Posted on April 3, 2019April 5, 2019 by katyflanagan1 in Advertising

By: Katy Flanagan

I grew up in Atlanta where Coke is a staple in everyone’s diet and Pepsi is most definitely not okay. The World of Coke museum is downtown where you can taste all the Coke soft drinks from around the world and every restaurant serves Coke. Going to school at Furman University, a Pepsi only school, has made me crave the bubbly happiness of an ice cold Coke.

My love for Coca-Cola has developed over time from advertisements being played over and over in my mind. I am not the only one affected by Coke’s perfect ads. In fact, the whole entire world has been touched by Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola has immersed their message into the world. Their ads connect to the Cumulative Effects theory. This theory states that “nobody can escape either the media, which are pervasive, or the media’s messages, which are driven home with redundancy” (Vivian 192). By changing their ads on a regular basis, Coca-Cola is constantly adding to their campaigns and the effects of those campaigns accumulate in everybody’s minds making them want Coke and nothing else.

According to Forbes Magazine, The Coca-Cola Company leads the U.S. carbonated soft drinks category, with 44% market share, more than one-and-a-half times than PepsiCo. Coca-Cola’s industry and vast global reach has improved its marketing each year. Coca-Cola believes in expanding its consumer base through experiential marketing, which aims at creating an emotional connect with customers.

Taste The Feeling

Started in 2016, the “Taste the Feeling” campaign united all Coke trademarked brands into one global campaign. Marcos de Quinto, chief marketing officer, said “we are reinforcing that Coca-Cola is for everybody.” This campaign is said to emphasize that drinking a Coke, any coke, is a simple pleasure that makes everyday moments more special. The ad features universal storytelling with the product at the center to show all aspects of the Coca-Cola experience. Not only is the campaign pure genius in that the message is universal, but there are different versions of the same ad “with locally relevant casts and culturally relevant vignettes” to make it more personal to each place the ad is shown.

Share a Coke

In the summer, Coke releases it’s Share a Coke campaign. In 2018, the fifth year of the campaign, the campaign focused on the role Coca-Cola plays in special moments we share with other. Over the years, the campaign has evolved adding new names, song lyrics, and more Coke flavors in more packages. Fans can even visit ShareaCoke.com to buy a personalized glass bottle of regular Coke, Diet Coke, or Coke Zero. This campaign is in more that 100 countries.

Coca-Cola not only has worldwide universal campaigns but it also has country specific campaigns. One specific example is the selfie coke bottle. In Israel, Coca-Cola turned the selfie taking craze into profit. There is a device that attaches to the bottom of your coke bottle and as you tilt the bottle it takes selfies. It also connected Coke drinkers to social media because posting your selfie on social media and tagging Coca-Cola was all the rage. Danah Boyd in her book It’s Complicated shows how the media makes it seem like teens are addicted to social media. It is the idea that media “amplifies the notion that the current generation of youth is uncontrollably hooked” on social media and their phones (Boyd 78). Because of the media hyping this idea up, companies like Coca-Cola have made inventions like this one to aid to the teens so called addiction to their phones.

Coca-Cola is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Because of this, their marketing team has to be very successful. Some of their strategies include:

Simplicity
Personalization
Socialization
Experience

Making human connections, remaining innovative while staying true to their simple principles and reacting branded experience are all global marketing techniques that have contributed to Coca-Cola’s success. Coke will always be a part of my life and will continue to flourish around the world.

Sources:

Vivian

Forbes

Coca Cola: Taste the Feeling

Coca Cola: Share a Coke

Think Marketing Magazine

Boyd

Smartling

McDonalds: The World is Lovin’ It

Posted on March 26, 2019March 28, 2019 by katyflanagan1 in Advertising

By: Katy Flanagan

If I took a yellow marker and drew two golden arches, in just about every country people would instantly know that drawing to be McDonald’s iconic logo.

McDonald’s started off as a small little barbecue place in California. The two brothers who started it failed and eight years later made it big. Their famous hamburger was all the rage and only cost 15 cents. The company is growing and capitalism definitely plays a role. The buying and selling relationship we have has made McDonald’s boom. The desire to make money inspired companies to expand. Because of this, advertising and globalization have become influential factors in companies’ success. McDonalds’ desire to make more money has made them become one of the top thriving global companies.

Global advertisement is crucial in our world today as well as mass media. In order to be successful on a global scale, companies have to specify their brand for every country while simultaneously creating a consistent brand.

They also have to make sure their brand is marketed on television, social media, streaming sites, and more. This is because of the idea of convergence. Convergence leads to consumers having the expectation that everything can be found online in one device (Vivian 60). Because of this mindset and fact that so many things are on our phones, companies like McDonalds have to make sure their ads can be seen where people spend their time; on their phones.

One example is McDonalds having mobile ordering on their app across the globe.

McDonalds has its hands full with having 34,000 restaurants in over 118 countries. The advertising team has to make sure that it’s ads connect with everyone in all of those countries.

Global product marketing is the name of the game and McDonald’s masters this by doing two things:

Segmentation
Experimentation

Segmentation looks at what the wants and tastes of the customers are and if the marketing is up to date. It wants to reflect the changing demands of the customers. McDonalds adapts to the different countries they operate in.

Experimentation and testing out products is another key strategy. McDonalds does this by adding or deleting food from their menus according to consumer trends and local popularity. For example in the US McRibs are available for a short time during the year. The same goes for other places. The Teri Tama Burger in Japan is only served in the spring.

In short McDonalds does a phenomenal job of paying close attention to adapting needs of global markets.

They also keep a consistent brand with their focus on quick and quality service. While you can get their signature fries and hamburger anywhere, they also make unique menus for each of their locations.

In Malaysia and Singapore you can order a Durian McFlurry. In New Zealand you can get sliced beets on your burger. I noticed this first hand when abroad in Germany. Not only could I get their regular stick french fries but I could also order curly fries. The list goes on and on for unique menus across the globe.

McDonald’s Menus around the World

McDonald’s marketing and advertising strategies have allowed them to become the multi-billion dollar company that they are today. The emergence of mass media along with noticing the trend of convergence has allowed the company to run global campaigns and reach a variety of audiences around the world. Without the help of advertising, McDonalds’ golden arches would not be as known as they are today.

Sources

Ads Take on the World

Posted on March 14, 2019March 28, 2019 by katyflanagan1 in Advertising

By: Katy Flanagan

“Like a good neighbor State Farm is there”. If you just read that sentence and also sang the jingle with it then State Farm has successfully advertised their brand to you and many others. Like State Farm and every other company in the world, advertising makes or breaks company’s brands.

Advertising is a key component to the business world. Without ads that capture audiences, brands would not be successful. As annoying as advertisements can be, they are a necessity. Without them no one would know what is the new “it” thing to buy and companies would go out of business. There is a competitive nature to ads that is inevitable. You want your product to stand out among all of the other ones out there. Not only do you want it to stand out but you also want it to be remembered.

Companies have taken this competitive nature global. People have noticed that in order for brands to survive you need every country seeing your ad. The largest advertising spenders are the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom (Vivian 153). Globalization significantly affects advertising and the way it gets the message across to customers.

Because of this demand to take ads global, companies have faced struggles. There are four main effects that globalization has on advertising:

Investment
Strategy
Language and Culture
Branding

Four main affects Explained:

1.Investment poses a threat in that ads are expensive. Buying the time and space for ads in countless countries is an added cost to the already expensive domestic ads. Global advertising is hard and requires extra time and effort which then costs more and more money. Companies need to employ the right investors to make their ads effective.

2. Strategy is next. Coming up with the perfect strategic plan for an ad is a huge task especially when going global. One of the biggest tasks is deciding whether to come up with a universal message or to customize each ad to specific markets. Another part of strategy is to know what mediums are best to use in different places. Media channels do not have the same reach in all countries. Deciding whether to use television ads, prints ads, radio ads or other various mediums is a big choice to make.

3. Branding is linked to strategy. Branding is promoting your product and getting your image known. The goal of branding is to create customer awareness and brand loyalty. Globalization makes it so companies have to choose whether to create a global consistent brand or to tailor different brand images for all the different countries (Vivian 161). Global brands are good because you can recognize them anywhere and they can sync up with people across the globe. Tailored brands can have an intense impact in distinct markets. Blogger Ciaran Murphy suggests that smart advertisers know that their messages have to be tailored toward specific cultures but also contain “universal human truth”.

4. The last effect is the language and cultural barrier. For an ad to be effective and persuasive you have to understand the culture and values of a country. Some ads can get taken the wrong way when language is not used correctly or if the culture is portrayed wrongly. There is an example where the “Got Milk?” ad was super successful in the United States but did not work in Mexico because the phrase translated as “Are you Lactating?”. Companies often enlist in the help of locals in each market so mistakes like this do not happen.

Influential advertising is creating new demands in markets and is influencing changes in buying habits and lifestyles. Effective advertising is key, but companies have to be wary of the challenges they will face as their brands become more and more global.

Sources:

Image Credit: Grey