Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan

The company that we have chosen to research is PepsiCo, also known as Pepsi. PepsiCo is a soft drink company that dates back to 1898, first introduced in pharmacies for consumers (PepsiCo, 2021). Pepsi products are enjoyed by over a billion consumers in over 200 countries worldwide each day (PepsiCo, 2021). PepsiCo has expanded beyond their traditional soft drink product that we have all grown to know and love. For example, PepsiCo is now associated with Frito-Lay, Gatorade, and Tropicana (PepsiCo, 2021). All the brands related to PepsiCo can generate over $1 billion in sales each year (PepsiCo, 2021). PepsiCo also has divisions worldwide, which helps them build diversity, reach a wider market, and have a unique way of doing business. PepsiCo now has a wide variety of very well-known products, which helps them to be able to reach a much wider market for consumers. As times and consumers changed, so did PepsiCo. For example, PepsiCo knew they would have to change and remain open-minded to stay successful (Gregory, 2018). Due to PepsiCo’s success, they have many competitors, and we will now go into deeper information about their competitors, how they are different from each other, and the strengths and weaknesses PepsiCo has compared to their competitors.

Competitive

 Since PepsiCo is such a successful company, they are bound to have some fierce competition. Some of the main competition for PepsiCo can include companies like Coca-Cola, Red Bull and SodaStream. Red Bull is a multibillion-dollar company that has sold over 40 billion cases in over 166 countries worldwide (Kotler & Keller, 2016). SodaStream is a product that allows consumers to create soft drinks in their homes (Kotler & Keller, 2016).

Coca-Cola, probably the biggest competitor of PepsiCo, is a soft drink company with annual sales of over $30 billion (Kotler & Keller, 2016). We can now look at how some of the competitors for PepsiCo are different from each other, what PepsiCo is successful at and what they need to work on compared to their competitors. We will look more in detail with Red Bull and Coca-Cola.

Red Bull

 Red Bull was founded in 1987, and the company came to their ever-familiar slender cans in 1997 (Kotler & Keller, 2016). The ingredients in Red Bulls products led people to call the product “speed in a can”, which was of the product’s high caffeine level (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Red Bull began to reach consumers by sponsoring extreme sporting events. From here, Red Bull identified their target market (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Red Bull is now seen as a trendier product, giving the company a huge advantage. From here, we can see that Red Bull effectively reaches their target market through micro-targeting events, clubs, bars, and shops. If we compare Red Bull and Pepsi, we can see some differences. For example, Red Bull saw their full sugar product as their most popular and best-selling, and from here, the company decided to offer a bigger size for their cans (Brown, 2017). However, Pepsi saw that its zero-sugar product, or Pepsi Max, was responsible for 12.3% of its sales, a higher margin than Red Bulls ‘ sugar product (Brown, 2017). These results show that Pepsi was more successful with its zero-sugar product than Red Bull. However, what Red Bull does well is targeting their consumers very well. Red Bull goes on-premises to give their product lots of visibility and attention, leading consumers to connect with the brand and purchase the products (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Pepsi, however, has had some not-to-popular attempts at reaching consumers. For example, Pepsi released a poorly received advertisement featuring Kendall Jenner. The ad featured a protest, and Kendall Jenner was “awoken” when she saw the demonstration and decided to join (Taylor, 2017). From here, Kendall Jenner gave an officer a Pepsi and resolved the issue (Taylor, 2017). This advertisement was not received well because it made the conservatives feel that Pepsi was being critical of their views, and the liberals felt that Pepsi was saying that these deep-rooted issues could be solved by something so small (Taylor, 2017). Red Bull has been very successful with their word-of-mouth marketing, while Pepsi relies heavily on traditional marketing to spread information about its brand and products. While Red Bull focuses on reaching their consumers at sporting events, this can limit their reach to consumers. Pepsi uses a platform that better allows them to get more consumers worldwide. Overall, we can see areas where both Pepsi and Red Bull have strengths, as well as areas where each has weaknesses.

Coca-Cola

 Coca-Cola was founded in 1886 and started, like Pepsi, in pharmacies as a cure for headaches (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Pepsi and Coca-Cola have been in the form of “cola wars” since their products are similar in that they are both brown-coloured soft drinks with similar tastes (Maamourn, 2020). For example, a question asking if people preferred Pepsi or Coca-Cola sparked a great debate (Muniz & Hamer, 2001). Since Coca-Cola and Pepsi are the two biggest competitors in their market, they have both taken to the local markets to better reach their target markets (Mundra, Gulati, & Gupta, 2012). In a market study, Coca-Cola learned that consumers favoured a sweeter product, like Pepsi, and based on this information, Coca-Cola decided to create “New Coke”, which was sweeter (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Unfortunately for Coca-Cola, this product was rejected by consumers.

For Pepsi, however, this was a success because it showed that its product could not be beaten or replicated. We can see how each company used marketing tactics and campaigns to target their respective market. Coca-Cola focused its energy on goodness, family, and nostalgia, whereas Pepsi focused on youth and positioned itself as a brand that adapts to the times (Maamourn, 2020). From here, we can see how Coca-Cola may have the upper hand with their marketing tactics since Coca-Cola also has a marketing budget of $3 billion which helps the company be the leader in cola beverages (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Due to the huge marketing budget that Coca-Cola has, this could be something that works against Pepsi.

However, since Pepsi has a clear target market, the youth, this allows them to hone in on their marketing campaigns. For example, Pepsi often used celebrities in their advertisements to help attract more consumers, like Michael Jackson, who was the first international spokesperson for Pepsi (Maamoun, 2020). Using stars in ads can lead to a lot of success for Pepsi. However, most times, Pepsi decides to use celebrities in the advertisements at the peak of its fame, which can cost Pepsi a lot of money in the long run (Maamoun, 2020). One marketing approach that Coca-Cola used successfully was its “share a Coke” campaign. This allowed consumers to search for and purchase a Coca-Cola bottle with their name on it (Maamourn, 2020). This led to much success for Coca-Cola and left Pepsi trying to come up with another idea to compete with Coca-Cola.

Another thing that Pepsi was successful with was its bypass attack against Coca-Cola. This is where Pepsi launched its Aquafina bottled water before Coca-Cola released their Dasani bottled water (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Overall, we can see the areas that Pepsi was successful against Coca-Cola and the areas of weakness for Pepsi against Coca-Cola.

Marketing Strategies

 We will now go over the marketing strategies used by Pepsi. We will evaluate the global customer brand and how Pepsi reaches its market. In our evaluation of marketing strategies for Pepsi, we will go over the four Ps. We will review the four Ps: product, place, price, and promotion.

Product

 When we look at a product, we look at product variety, quality, design, packaging, sizing, and brand name (Kotler & Keller, 2016). As we have learned, PepsiCo is known for their soft drink product, Pepsi. We also saw that Pepsi started in 1893 and was created by a pharmacist (Maamaoun, 2020). From here, we can see how Pepsi has shifted and grown into the soft drink product we know today. From the original Pepsi soft drink, the company expanded and added a diet product to its product line to keep up with the demand for healthier options. Since Pepsi’s key target market is the younger population, we can see how its products change with the trends of the newer generations (Maamoun, 2020). Pepsi has also expanded and merged with Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats, which has allowed Pepsi to expand beyond beverages (Maamoun, 2020). Overall, we can see that Pepsi continues to update its products to meet consumers’ ever-changing needs and wants. The company offers various products to meet each consumer’s needs (Gregory, 2018).

Place

 When we look at the place, we look at channels, coverage, locations, assortments, and inventory (Kotler & Keller, 2016). For Pepsi, we have seen that they offer their product in pharmacies (Maamoun, 2020). Today, Pepsi products are sold in various stores and locations worldwide. For example, in India, the soft drink industry is worth over 60 billion rupees, and Pepsi and Coca-Cola have a combined market share of 95% (Mundra et al., 2012). This information shows us that the soft drink industry is huge worldwide, and companies like Pepsi need to continue to look to get their products into other locations. Understanding each area and what the consumers want for each site will better allow Pepsi to bring the right products to the right places.

Price

 When we look at prices, we look at discounts, list prices, and payment periods (Kotler & Keller, 2016). For Pepsi, for example, what the company would charge in one part of the world may vary from what they would assign in another region. If Pepsi sets the same price all around the globe, then this could lead the price to be too high for the poorer areas and too cheap for the richer parts of the world (Kotler & Keller, 2016). As we know, Pepsi has some strong competition with Coca-Cola, so Pepsi must be careful not to price its products out of the market. Pepsi needs to ensure its products are similarly priced to ensure they will be competitive in the market.

Promotion

When we look at promotion, we look at sales promotion, advertising, public relations and direct marketing (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Pepsi uses both traditional and digital methods for marketing promotions. Some conventional techniques would be print advertisements, commercials and sponsorships for sporting events, and some digital strategies would be social media, the Pepsi website, and celebrity endorsements. If we look at Pepsi, we know that the company has a clear target market, the youth worldwide. Pepsi reaches its target market through fun advertisements and celebrity endorsements (Maamoun, 2020). For example, one of Pepsi’s first celebrity endorsements was Michael Jackson in the company’s “The New Generation” commercial (Maamoun, 2020). Today, Pepsi has celebrity endorsements with celebrities like Beyoncé and Kendall Jenner, and this can help Pepsi reach more consumers when these celebrities post about their products on their social media. We saw how the wrong advertisement or celebrity endorsement could hurt a company’s image in the Kendall Jenner commercial, where she joins a protest and solves all the problems with Pepsi (Taylor, 2017).

From here, we can see why it is important for a company to consider all possible outcomes before setting a method for marketing promotions. Another thing we can see is how Pepsi has a growing presence online. Pepsi has learned that social media is a great way to reach consumers because they consume information much quicker online (Gregory, 2017). From here, Pepsi increased its social media presence and put more effort into its website. Overall, we can see that Pepsi uses many different methods to promote its products to consumers.

Competitive Advantage

 Now that we have reviewed the four Ps, we will determine if Pepsi has a competitive advantage. If we look at the product, I will say that Pepsi would have a slight completive advantage over their Coca-Cola competitor. Pepsi has expanded beyond soft drinks by merging with Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats. We can also see that when Pepsi released a diet version of its product, it dominated the market for about 20 years (Maamoun, 2020). Coca-Cola also tried to make their product taste sweeter, like Pepsi and their product launch was a huge failure (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Based on this information, I would say Pepsi has a slight competitive advantage compared to its competition. If we look at the place, I would say that Pepsi’s competitor Coca-Cola would have the advantage in that area.

This thought that Coca-Cola is sold in over 200 countries and has a value of over $79 billion (Kotler & Keller). Coca-Cola also gained acceptance worldwide early on by connecting socially and emotionally with consumers (Kotler & Keller, 2016). All this information shows that Pepsi’s competitor would have a competitive advantage. If we look at the price, I would say that Pepsi and its competitors are equal in this area. This belief is because the soft drink market is extremely competitive. If either Pepsi or its competitors were their products differently, this could instantly cause consumers to opt for another brand. Therefore, each company must keep their price in the same zone to remain competitive. If we look at promotion, I would say that Pepsi’s competitor Coca-Cola would have the advantage in this area. This is because Coca-Cola’s yearly marketing budget of $3 billion helped them reach consumers worldwide. Coca-Cola also created various paraphernalia early on, quickly catching consumers’ attention (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Coca-Cola also launched many other successful campaigns, like their “share a coke” campaign, where consumers could find personalized Coca-Cola bottles (Maamourn, 2020). While Pepsi has successfully reached its target market, Coca-Cola has reached consumers worldwide. This information shows how Pepsi and its competitors vary with who has a competitive advantage based on the specific areas.

Conclusion

 Overall, we have gone into the detail of PepsiCo and given a brief introduction and briefly learned about the history of Pepsi. From here, we discovered who the major competitors for Pepsi are (Coca-Cola, RC Cola, Red Bull, and SodaStream. From here, we reviewed how each competitor differs from Pepsi and identified its strengths and weaknesses. After this, we analysed Pepsi’s marketing strategies and used the fou,r Ps (product, place, price, and promotion). Finally, we determined if Pepsi or its competitors had a completive advantage in each area of the four Ps. From our research, we do not understand Pepsi and its competitors and their marketing tactics to reach consumers better.

References

 Brown, R. (2017). Red Bull flies high as full-sugar sales surge. Grocer, 4-4 https://web-a-ebscohost-com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=c7b9d0b0-badc-4012-b59a-ed63b434a86e%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=121934252&db=bsu

Gregory, J. R. (2018). Performance with purpose: The PepsiCo challenge. Journal of Brand Strategy. 6(4), 328-355 https://web-a-ebscohost-com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=14aa1cdb-bd6e-471c-b760-bc4796ae58c8%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=129331082&db=bsu

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management (15^th ed.). Pearson.

 https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781323591512

Maamoun, A. (2020). Mini cola wars: The Diet Coke & Pepsi scuffle. Global Journal of Business Disciplines. 4(1), 35-43 https://web-b-ebscohost-

com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=10&sid=e8447538-4d5c-4f62-9ea8-65f182479e69%40pdc-v-sessmgr02&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=149347869&db=bsu

Mundra, N., Gulanti, K., & Gupta, R. (2012). A competitive analysis of ‘customer’s perception of carbonated drinks: Pepsi versus Coca-Cola versus RC-Cola. Khoj Journal of Indian Management Research & Practices. 3(2), 1-13 https://web-b-ebscohost-com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=bfb5d365-23e7-4f4b-be8d-134fc58ed73b%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=85589611&db=bsu

Muniz, A. M., & Hamer, L. O. (2001). Us versus them: oppositional brand loyalty and the cola wars. Advances in Consumer Research. 28(1), 355-361 https://web-a-ebscohost-com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=154a8688-f8f5-4bdf-9d4c-a7f4b3323fa9%40sdc-v-sessmgr02&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=6686428&db=bsu

PepsiCo. (2021). About the company. https://www.pepsico.com/about/about-the-company

Taylor, C. R. (2017). How to avoid marketing disasters: back to the basic communications model, but with updates illustrating the importance of e-word-of-mouth research. International Journal of Advertising. 36(4), 515-519 https://web-a-ebscohost-com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=5ea966f9-639d-47a0-b559-b674c937b21d%40sessionmgr4006&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=122983017&db=bsu

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Throughout this course, you have learned about the elements of a marketing plan. This assignment will allow you to research the marketing methodology of an existing publicly traded company; using a publicly traded company will provide you with access to a greater amount of information to complete this assignment. As you research this company, apply the theoretical learning from this course.

Marketing Plan

Include the sections below in your marketing plan.

• Introduction: Include a brief introduction of the company.
• Competitive Analysis: Who are your company’s competitors, and how is each differentiated? Identify two or three strengths and two or three weaknesses of your company compared to a minimum of two competitors.
• Marketing Strategies: What are the marketing strategies used by your company to manage the global customer brand? Use the four Ps in your analysis, which are listed below.
• Product: Begin with a theoretical definition of a product. What is the product/service offered by your company? How did developing these new products affect your company’s marketing strategy?
• Place: Begin with a theoretical definition of place. What are the distribution channels used by your company?
• Price: Begin with a theoretical definition of price. What is the pricing strategy used by your company?
• Promotion: Begin with a theoretical definition of promotion. What are the traditional and digital methods of marketing promotion used by your company? Explain a minimum of three conventional and three digital methods.
• Competitive Advantage: Identify whether your company has a competitive advantage in each area of the four Ps. Remember that your company could have a competitive advantage in one place, not another. Include supporting rationale.

Your submission must be in assignment format and use subheadings. You must include at least five scholarly sources (no blogs, no Wikipedia), and three must be peer-reviewed sources. Your educational activity must be at least six pages long, not counting the title and reference pages. APA format is required.