Creating Offerings on the Example of Diet Coke. Free Essay.

Coca-Cola Company is one of the largest companies that produce soft drinks, and diet coke is one of their products. It was unveiled more than thirty years ago and since then it has become one of the best-selling brands of the companys products, overtaking the already existing ones such as diet cola. One of the striking features of the product was the use of sweeteners; it contained aspartame, an artificial sweetener. When the product was first introduced, the sale was not that good as anticipated earlier, but the company soon embarked on marketing of the product. Diet coke was meant to target those people who require low sugar content in their diet, the diabetics. Since it was sugar-free, it was thought that these people would be an ideal target market for the product. Diet coke can be described as both products dominant and service-dominant at the same time. The company is striving to produce the best brand in the market and at the same time ensure that the target consumers are satisfied (Hoyer, MacInnis, & Pieters, 2012).

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Diet coke can be said to be in the shopping offerings category according to the consumers. They have to make choices, and, select the best brand in the market. Diet Coke also has a competing brand from a competing company, Pepsi, which produces Diet Pepsi. The customers, therefore, have to check and choose between these two leading brands, and make the right decision. According to me, diet coke would belong in the group of specialty offering, this is because of the differences that exist between it, and other companies in terms of marketing strategies, and even the way they are produced (Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2008).

The company had initially created diet coke to target those who require low sugar content, and this is even revealed in the name itself. The company successfully got this right, but it would be proper if they ventured into another target market too. Just as diet coke was meant for diabetics, the company could come up with other brands, for example, the energy drinks (Hil, Jones, & Schilling, 2014). This new product would have an entirely different target market, but it would be primarily used in the sporting activities. This is an ideal target market as sports today have the ability to form that excellent market for the product. This new product would have much more benefits; it would be used as an energy giving drink.

Any product has different lifecycles, for example, the introductory stage, and the growth stage, maturity stage and finally the decline phase. Diet coke is a no different product as it also has a lifecycle as well. Of course it is past the introductory state, where it was first introduced into the market and ever since, there has been a tremendous growth in all its aspects, from sales to the quality of service it is offering to its consumers (Hil, Jones, & Schilling, 2014). At the moment, the product is at the maturity state because it has been on the market long enough and consumers are well acquainted with the product. The only thing that is being done currently is inventing better ideas in terms of marketing and advertising so that more sales would be made. For example, in Europe, the diet coke is called the light coke, not that it is different, but the branding name has changed to make it more marketable. The product is one of the best as it is also health sensitive.

References

Hil, C., Jones, G., & Schilling, M. (2014). Strategic Management: Theory & Cases: An Integrated Approach. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Hoyer, W. D., MacInnis, D. J., & Pieters, R. (2012). Consumer Behavior. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Lamb, C., Hair, J., & McDaniel, C. (2008). Marketing. Boston: Cengage Learning.