Coco Cola uses IMC campaigns to get connected with their target group. Coco Cola has been referred as a pioneer company who gets in touch with the consumers in order to create a link as well as adapt according to the needs of the consumers. Coco Cola is willing to be close to its customers to be a part of daily life and use various social media or marketing tools to satisfy the wants to their target group. One of the major IMC campaigns adopted by Coco Cola is to show their leadership on their 125^th birthday. A very funny, emotional campaign is adopted by Coco Cola in various countries. The IMC campaign commenced in 2006, with a brand new approach i.e. “Taste the Coke side of life”. Based upon this IMC campaign, the organization was supposed to rethink about the entire company i.e. new departments, new roles & responsibilities, new strategy and recruitment process (Smith, S. & Schultz, 2005).

Pepsi Co. IMC campaigns began with “Oh Yes Abhi”! which was aired globally. This campaign has been one of the most hit TV commercials aired all over the globe. This campaign focused on youth as its target audience. Some of the later IMC campaigns were “Something for everyone”, “summer time is Pepsi time” & “where there is Pepsi, there is music”.

The following companies IMC campaigns have been chosen as they are two most successful companies operating globally. IMC campaigns have been referred to as an important marketing tool which helps the companies to get connected with their target audience(s). Coco Cola and Pepsi are two leading brands in the soft beverages department and have attracted customers from all over the globe.

Target audience& Marketing objective: Segmentation helps the marketers to define their products according to the needs of the customers. The target audience of Coco Cola can be done on the following basis i.e.:

• Age: The main target audience catered by Coco Cola is between 13-30 years of age. Coco cola has partnership with various food brands such as Dominos, Mc Donalds, Pizza Hut and other fast food chains. The targeting is not based upon the gender. It is seen that, both the genders equally prefer this product (Tyagi& Kumar, 2004). The core target audience for Coco Cola is the young population who wants to termed as “Cool & stylish”.
• Occupation: No specific occupation is targeted but the main consumers are students and family oriented people.
• Life style: There is no specific life style targeted but as more and more population is getting busy the young population is the most important part for Coco Cola.
• Nature: Coco Cola as a brand associates itself with fun, entertainment & joy.

Pepsi has targeted the young audience since 1980’s. The advertisements aired by Pepsi Co. cater to teenagers & youngsters by using an element of fun, entertainment & sports in it. Segmentation of the customers is done on the following basis:

• Behavioral: Perceptions and beliefs, purchase behavior (planned or spontaneous), occasion for purchase (party, get together), benefits associated (thirst buster or status symbol). Even if there is no occasion, people tend to buy a can of Pepsi.
• Psychographic: Based on lifestyle, trends, personality (happening & youth) For example: Mirinda – known as Girls drink, Pepsi – The choice of new generation, Dew – people who dare to fear, My can – for trendy people & Tropicana – for the health conscious target audience (Tyagi & Kumar, 2004).
• Profile: Demographic (urban), Geographic & Socio – Economic (young population or the baby boomers). The market for Pepsi Co. is both rural & urban markets. Due to varied climatic conditions, Pepsi Co. came with chota Pepsi in the rural areas where in people require something to beat the heat at a reasonable price (Varey, 2002).
• Taste & Preferences: Based upon the taste and preferences, Pepsi came up with a new product i.e. Diet Pepsi. It came into the market to cater to the needs of highly health conscious target population. Nimbooz by Pepsi Co. has had high success rate in the Indian market as Nimbu Pani is every home’s drink.

Marketing objective: Coco Cola has been referred to as successful brand dealing with products such as Sprite, Nestea, Fruit juices &Minute Maid. The main objective for Coco Cola is to promote the lesser known products and increase the sales by more than 80%. Therefore, in order to promote the products the aim is to advertise more and more so as to have an edge as compared to its competitors. The other marketing objective of Coco Cola is to reposition itself as a healthier product. This is because; in today’s time people are looking for options which lead to a healthy life style ( Varey, 2002).

Pepsi Co. has been referred to as a band for the young generation i.er. Pepsi – The choice of new generation, Be Young, Have Fun, Drink Pepsi. As a global company, with various brands under its umbrella millions of customers enjoy every day it is very important to communicate responsibly & transparently about the products. The marketing objective of Pepsi Co. is to be the best & the biggest seller of carbonated soft drinks all over the globe. The other main objective is to achieve high levels of product quality as well as emphasize on the development of the product. In order to achieve their highest quality record, they use expert advice of the technicians and force the franchisers to use different total quality management (TQM) techniques.

• Advertising: Advertising has been referred to as an important aspect for Coco Cola as it caters to large masses. Advertising helps Coco Cola to establish the brand image as well as create awareness amongst the target audience. For example, Coco Cola uses print media, TV commercials & billboards to advertise their products

(Source:Varey, 2002)

• Direct marketing: Coco Cola uses direct marketing techniques so as to build cordial relationships with the hotels and restaurants. The other methods of direct marketing are e-mail, text messages, sponsorships, etc.

(Source:Walker, Boyd & Larréché, 1992)

• Sales promotion: It is an important task for Coco Cola to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Therefore, various sales promotion methods shall be taken into account such as coco cola shall be placed in eye catchy positions, free goodies, discounts & cash back shall be provided by the same. For example, in many super markets Coke Zero has built a reversed pyramid. The idea behind the same is that nothing is impossible i.e. you can enjoy a can of Coco Cola without adding calories to your health.

(Source: Walker, Boyd & Larréché, 1992)

• Social media & interactive messages: Interactive messages and intensive use of social media shall be practiced by Coco Cola to attract more customers as compared to its competitors. An interactive page on face book has gained liking amongst the young population

(Source:Walker, Boyd & Larréché, 1992)

• Sponsorship & partnership: This IMC tool will help Coco Cola to have a competitive edge as compared to its competitors. Sponsorship and partnership in major events will help Coco Cola to have a global IMC plan. For example, in the year 1923, Coco Cola became the drink of the sportsmen. In 1928, Coco Cola was partnered with Olympics. In the year 1996, Coco Cola was the official partner of France football team.

Some of the IMC tools used by Pepsi Co. to communicate their feelings to the target audience have been described as follows:

• Television Commercials: It shall be noticed that, Pepsi Co. uses variety of appeal in their advertisements such as Fun & Humor. The humor appeal used by Pepsi Co. has been one of the major success where in a Chinese Monk after years of hard work has tasted success and bumps his head on to the Pepsi can to get the shape of the can on his forehead (Walker, Boyd & Larréché, 1992).

(Source:Varey, 2002)

• Outdoor media: Pepsi Co. has increased its share on non television commercials distributing the share to other sources such as mall advertising, building mobile applications, print media &outdoor media (Pride, 2011).
• Use of social media (Internet): Pepsi Co. has invested more than 10 million in various social media with an objective to create an impact on the social media sites such as Face book, Twitter, etc. Pepsi Co. states that, investing in social media is a wise decision as the young population is readily approachable.
• Sponsorships: Pepsi Co. has been known for association with various sports such as ICC world cricket league, IPL & other regional matches. Pepsi youngistan has also aired a program on MTV by the name Wassup Youngistan where young population can voice their thoughts (O’Guinn, Allen & Semenik, 2000).

Idea of the campaign: The idea of the campaign is to achieve certain specific objectives. The main objective of Coco Cola is to earn high amount of profit and get connected with their target audience. There are eight main ideas associated with the IMC campaign i.e. firstly; to create awareness about the company & its product offerings. Secondly; to inform as well as educate the consumers along with buyers. Thirdly; to encourage the same of Coco Cola as compared to its competitors. Fourthly; to encourage product trails in a new market or country. Fifthly; Coco Cola aims to increase the short term sale by stimulating action (Mullins & Walker, 2013). Sixthly; Coco Cola generates as much information about the customers as possible. Seventhly; to create sales lead i.e. to opt for a push strategy. Coco Cola practices a pull strategy i.e. it directs its marketing efforts and communication to the end users. Lastly; Coco Cola aims to reassure the customers and reinforce a desirable buying behavior.

The idea of the IMC campaign at Pepsi Co. is to separate the brand identity for each of the products. Pepsi co. believes in reminder advertisements for repetitive purchase. It shall be also being seen that, the idea of the IMC campaign at Pepsi Co. is to mention the nutritional value of the product and increase customer awareness so as to build a responsible brand image in the minds of the consumers. Consumer Schemes helps Pepsi Co. to generate impulse buying as consumers have become more knowledgeable & understands the value for money (Mathews, 2009). 

How IMC campaign conveys the idea: At Coco Cola, IMC campaign followed by the same is done in the best possible manner. The main objective of Coco Cola is to attract more customers thereby leading to an increase the profit levels. The IMC campaign at Coco Cola is designed in such a manner i.e. the messages they aim to convey are perfected by the marketing professionals. The message sent by Coco Cola IMC campaign can be summarized in three heads. Drinking coco cola is stylish, coco cola helps to heal thirst and drinking coco cola is a part of one’s lifestyle (Laspiñas, 2013).

The IMC campaigns at Pepsi Co. ensure that the advertisements reflect the interest to the target audience. The IMC consist of hip hop, cool & stylish promos to attract more customers. Pepsi Co. plays an important role in advertising & attracts the target audience by giving them access to various options such as gaming, mobile applications, music & downloading (MacRury, 2009).

The IMC campaign followed by Coco Cola is high successful. There are millions of people who drink Coco Cola on a regular basis. The efficiency of Coco Cola can be judged based upon its market share in the beverage industry as compared to its competitors. It has been seen that, Coco Cola is selling its product in more than 200 countries and is also considered to as the market leader in these countries (Kotler, & Armstrong, 2004). The efficiency of the IMC campaign can also be seen based upon the levels of profit earned by the company. It has been evaluated that, Coco Cola generates more than $8 billion from its operations in the year 2009. The evaluation of the marketing campaign conduct over the internet can be assessed with the help of a tool which counts the total number of visitors visiting he website. It has been seen that, application of various evaluation tools has helped Coco Cola to have an efficient and positive IMC plan (Wang, 2015).

Pepsi Co.’s IMC campaign is not as successful as compared to Coco Cola. The marketing executives at Pepsi Co. shall take into consideration that, there is elderly population and Pepsi is marketed as a brand for young generation only. Therefore, some focus on the older population shall also be done. It has also been seen that, Pepsi uses plastic bottles and cans which are not good for health therefore, they shall use recyclable material. Pepsi needs to improve their PR specifically in the urban areas (Koekmoer & Bird, 2004). The brand name of Pepsi Co. is not effective as compared to its competitors. Pepsi shall come up with new brands such as Pepsi zero, Pepsi Next, etc. This will help Pepsi Co. to widen its brand length.

The choice of IMC campaign between Coco Cola v/s Pepsi Co. would be Coco cola. Some of the reasons as to why Coco Cola’s IMC campaign is chosen as compared to Pepsi Co. are as follows:

• IMC campaign used by Coco Cola has helped them to create a bond with the customers.
• Coco Cola chose to associate themselves with various national & international events such as ICC cricket, Football league, Rugby match, etc (Cadogan, 2009).
• Drinking coco cola is stylish, coco cola helps to heal thirst and drinking coco cola is a part of one’s lifestyle (Bodden,2008).
• The efficiency of Coco Cola can be judged based upon its market share in the beverage industry as compared to its competitors.
• It has been seen that, application of various evaluation tools has helped Coco Cola to have an efficient and positive IMC plan.

Some suggestions for other marketers regarding IMC campaigns have been discussed as follows:

• The marketers shall have a clear understating regarding their target audience
• The marketers shall opt for specific media channels such as social media, news papers, bill boards & hoardings, print media, etc (Capparell, 2014).
• A consistent look shall be done by the marketers regarding the IMC campaigns
• A clear & consistent write up shall be framed i.e. which is easily adapted by the media channels
• The message shall be integrated so that it can reach the masses (Gospe, 2008).
• The marketing teams shall work in sync with the advertising agencies
• Proper tracking of the campaigns shall be done by the marketers to have a look regarding its success ratio

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