CSF's

Progress Report:

-This week we discussed potential critical success factors of Coke Zero,

-We came up with the final recommendation.

Individual/ Group Contribution

Weaknesses & Threats: One weakness of Coke Zero is the unhealthy ingredients included, sweeteners that are used within the drink are banned in some countries, gaining negative press. Coke Zero may be threatened by other drinks, such as healthier fizzy drinks. To overcome this, they could research and incorporate a healthier recipe. (1) (Gemma)

Strengths & Threats: Major brands such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, are strengthened by substantial advertising investments. Coke Zero's marketing and advertising strategy has proven strong and successful. With the UK suffering from the recession, the general public have less disposable income. Coke Zero can use their advertising to stay at the forefront of everyones mind. (Katie)

Catering to Health Conscious People: We identified that one of Coca Cola weakness was the unhealthy ingredients in its drink and how they planned to incorporate a healthier recipe. Coca-Cola identifed that consumers are becoming health conscious, as high sugar content can lead to obesity. To overcome this Coca-Cola released an advert, addressing the changes they are making to not only Coke Zero but also other products. These changes include “distributing snack size” cans as well as lowering calories in some of their drinks. (Tom) (2)

Buying out Competitors: One of Coca Cola's main problem was expanding into an already saturated market, to overcome this Coca Cola is starting to buy different companies, expanding into different markets through acquisition of successful companies. Coca Cola's expansion to “Innocent Smoothies” breaks them into the health drinks market, going along with the previous CSF. The reintroduction of Coke Zero and joining with Innocent Smoothies helped to change the brands image to be more in tune with obesity and health concerns. (Tom) (3)

Coke Zero Deals: Coca Cola continues to make deals with pubs, cinemas and other eateries to only stock their brand. This allows Coca Cola to advertise their product, forcing people to buy their drinks, having no Pepsi alternatives. (Tom and Katie)

Edited and referenced by Alice

(1) - FABIOLA SANCHEZ. (2009). Venezuela: Why We Banned Coke Zero.Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/12/venezuela-why-we-banned-c_n_215114.html. Last accessed 24th Oct 2013.
(2) Stuart. (2013). Are Coca-Cola getting health conscious?. Available: http://www.morallymarketed.com/case-studies/are-coca-cola-getting-health-conscious/. Last accessed 24th Oct 2013
(3) Rupert Neate. (2013). Coca-Cola takes full control of Innocent .Available: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/feb/22/coca-cola-full-control-innocent. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2013.

SWOT/TOWS Matrix

Progress Report

-This week we have been discussing the SWOT/TOWS matrix and applying it to our chosen brand, Coke Zero. 

- We have highlighted a handful of the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company, as well as looking at the external threats and weaknesses the company may face. 

- We also talked about which are the most important opportunities and the most serious threats and looked at ways to capitalise the opportunities and minimise threats using the strengths and weaknesses of the company. This is covered in the TOWS matrix below. 

Individual/Group Contribuition

Strengths:
-Coke Zero distributes to over 200 countries, consequently showing it has an extensive and broad target market.
-The brand has been established for over a century and has evolved to become a leader in the soft drinks sector, making it a well respected and dependable company. Coke Zero was the company's biggest launch in 22 years. (1)
-Coke Zero may use revenue from other sectors of the company. 

Weaknesses: 
-There are negative connotations with the brand being "unhealthy," as it contains various artificial sweeteners, including the ingredient, "Sodium cyclamate" which was banned by the FDA and in Venezuela. (2)
-Competition from within the company from it's other products such as Diet Coke, full fat coke or other flavoured coke (vanilla, cherry, etc)

Opportunities: 
-There is an increasing demand for healthier drinks products in the market at the moment
-As well as healthier drinks, the demand for ready-to-drink on the go consumption has increased, regardless of the recession. (3)

Threats: 
-Competitors that provide similar sugar free alternatives, such as Pepsi Max or Dr Pepper may intrude upon Coke Zero's target market.
-The recession has meant people have limited disposable income and are less likely to spend money on soft drinks. - (Group contribution)

Action Points:
Next week we will talk about CSF's (Critical success factors) based on our TOWS analysis. - - We will use evidence based analysis and justification and include some final recommendations.
- We will choose one CSF and one final recommendation each to individually discuss.

Written by: Katie & Alice
Referenced by: Alice

(1) - Martin Hickman. (2006). Introducing 'Bloke Coke' - is this now the real thing?. Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/introducing-bloke-coke--is-this-now-the-real-thing-406556.html. Last accessed 15th Oct 2013.
(2) - Lily Tythan. (2010). COKE ZERO HEALTH RISKS. Available: http://www.livestrong.com/article/327009-coke-zero-health-risks/. Last accessed 16th Oct 2013.
(3) AC Nielsen. (2010). Coke Winning A Recession. Available: http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/press-centre/2010/march/coke-winning-in-a-recession.html. Last accessed 8th Oct 2013.

Macro/Micro Analysis for Coke Zero

Progress Report

- During our initial tutorial we decided that we would look into the soft drinks sector, predominately looking at Coke Zero.

- We chose a name for our group, 'Zero Heroes.' and allocated roles, enabling us to easily distribute main tasks. We then put together a macro (PESTLE) /micro analysis for the brand.

Katie Howell (Leader),
Chloe Thomas (Researcher)
Tom Sutton (Researcher)
Alice Herborn (Editor)
Gemma King (Designer)

- The blog was then set up, and we all signed a contract that agreed that we would attend all tutorials and that there would be actions if a member didn't satisfy the agreement. Alice was assigned to create the blog and write the first blog post.

-Gemma has taken charge of the infographic and decided to use the website Piktochart.

Individual/Group Contribution

Coca Cola has evolved over the last century into a multinational leading manufacturer in the soft drinks industry, expanding and creating products to suit a broad target market. Coke Zero is an additional product serving functional and symbolic brand benefits to it’s customers. Functional benefits include providing energy, great taste and satisfying thirst. It’s symbolic benefits include the creation of a subculture among peer groups. (Katie)

After discussing the macro analysis of Coke Zero, we picked out key points. Tom looked into the economical environment that may affect the company and found that Coca Cola has been increasing sales by 4.7% through the recession. Showing that customers are still buying quality brands, even when customers have less disposable income. Coca cola is constantly expanding its range, hoping to keep attracting a different set of potential buyers. (1)

In our research for the MICRO effects we found that Coke Zero direct their demographic to young males in their twenties, finding that the word ‘diet’ is more feminine and appealing to women. The packaging reflects the chosen demographic with the coloring (black). We found that possible competition for Coke Zero would be Pepsi Max, a sugar free alternative to Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. (2) (Chloe)
Cannibalism from within the company could also be classed as competition with their other products such as coke, diet coke or varieties of flavoured cola. (Katie)

Action Points

-Next week our group will explore and research a SWOT analysis for our brand. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.)


-Gemma will continue working on the infographic, representing the key points from our macro/micro analysis in an illustrative way.

References by Alice
(1) AC Nielsen. (2010). Coke Winning A Recession. Available: http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/press-centre/2010/march/coke-winning-in-a-recession.html. Last accessed 8th Oct 2013.
(2) Jeremiah McWilliams. (2010). Coke Zero becomes a hero for Coca-Cola Co.. Available: http://www.ajc.com/news/business/coke-zero-becomes-a-hero-for-coca-cola-co/nQkHh/. Last accessed 7th Oct 2013.