COCA-COLA MARKETING STRATEGY

Coca-Cola Marketing Strategy

Coca-Cola Marketing Strategy in Spanish Virtual Community

Introduction

Given the increase in the globalisation of the world's economies, coupled with the rise of the internet, new opportunities and challenges have emerged for marketing brands and products (Bellman et al., 2006). In its early days, the internet was seen as an opportunity for marketers to communicate with consumers, and even to engage them in two-way communications. However, consumers are becoming overwhelmed by marketers' attempts to engage them in relationship marketing strategies. Only recently, it has become apparent that consumers are using the internet to communicate with each other (Goldsmith and Horowitz, 2006). Cyberspace has become a new kind of social terrain, crowded with “virtual communities” (Rheingold, 2000). Over 40 million people worldwide are estimated to participate in some form of virtual community.

Brand community

Community is a core construct in social thought. A review of the sociology literature reveals at least three core components of community (Muniz and O'Guinn, 2001). The first and most important element of community is consciousness of kind, which represents the intrinsic connection that members feel toward one another, and the collective sense of difference from others not in the community. This factor is redefined as social identity by Bagozzi and Dholakia (2006). It consists of three interrelated parts: cognitive identification with the group, affective commitment towards it and collective self-esteem. The second indicator of community is the presence of shared rituals and traditions, also called group norms. The third marker of community is a sense of duty to the community and its members which is often, but not always, shared by group members.

Virtual communities

Virtual community versus off-line community

A virtual community is a specialized, geographically dispersed community based on a structured and dynamic network of relationships among participants sharing a common focus (Dholakia et al., 2004). Many virtual communities are explicitly structured around consumption activities (Kim and Jin, 2006; Kozinets, 1999). These virtual communities are able to stimulate the trial, adoption, and use of products and services (Okazaki, 2007).

A theoretical explanation for consumers' participation in virtual communities: uses and gratification paradigm

People who participate in virtual communities are motivated to do so for different reasons (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2006). According to the uses and gratification paradigm, media help consumers in satisfying their social and psychological needs (Katz et al., 1973; Rubin, 1983). Individuals often seek out media in a goal-directed fashion to fulfil a core set of motivations. A basic assumption of this paradigm is that users are actively involved in media usage and interact highly with the communication media (Luo, 2002). Gratifications are provided by the attributes, the content provided by the medium, and the social and physical contexts with which each medium is typically associated (Katz et al., 1973).

Functional value (e.g. advice, information, and expertise)

A consumer may participate to obtain a purposive value, which is defined as “the value derived from accomplished some pre-determined instrumental purpose” (Dholakia et al., 2004). Of special interest from a marketing perspective is the sharing resources ...