Marketing Assignement

Select a company and providing basic information. This term we will focus on the Coca Cola Co. and their recent entry into the milk market with the introduction of the Fairlife brand in 2015 in the United States. Basically, this project will help you to understand the course material and marketing strategy alternatives and to apply that knowledge to help Coke develop a more detailed marketing plan.

This term I have selected the Coca Cola Company and a specific focus on one of their most recent brand introductions, Fairlife milk. I’ll bet you didn’t even know that Coke sold milk? I’ll bet it is even less likely that you have actually purchase Fairlife? Coke is obviously one of the most well know companies in the world. However, Coke has become much more than a soft drink company. Today they market their products in over 200 countries offering literally hundreds of brands worldwide. They are the worldwide leader in the overall non-alcoholic beverage market. In the United States, before the introduction of Fairlife, for marketing planning purposes, the Coca Cola Company competed in five relevant markets: (1) still the largest and most significant carbonated soft drink market; (2) fruit juice market; (3) sports/energy drink market; (4) bottled teas/coffee market; and (5) bottled water market.

In 2015 Coke expanded even further by entering and competing in the milk market in the United States for the first time. With Coke’s extensive sales and distribution capabilities, Select Milk Producers entered into a partnership with The Coca-Cola Company’s Minute Maid division in 2012 to form a separate entity, Fairlife, LLC. The Coca-Cola Company is the sales and distribution partner for the products that Fairlife create, market and sell. Coke believes that entering the milk market with a premium, branded product offering provides the opportunity for a lucrative additional revenue stream in the future which will help to offset the growing trend of decreased soft drink consumption. Now that they have launched Fairlife in the United States in 2015, this is an opportunity for you to be creative and help guide Coke in marketing Fairlife to accelerate grow in 2016 beyond the introductory stage in 2015.
Most dairy products and milk producers don’t advertise and promote their products very much. The major focus is on distribution. Milk has been considered almost a commodity with very little product differentiation and very little pricing freedom. Milk producers simply follow a mass market strategy with variety and provide non-fat, 1%, 2%, whole milk, and chocolate milk to satisfy any tastes. Now Coke comes along and enters the milk market with a “premium” milk product called Fairlife which costs substantially more than regular milk. Unlike most milk producers, Coke is a very marketing oriented company.

Recently, other types of competitive products like soy milk, almond milk, lactose free milk, and organic milk have also entered the competitive marketplace all focused on distinct segments of the milk market. In 2015 Coke had been rolling out Fairlife and securing distribution and shelf space without any regards to target marketing yet or extensive promotional efforts. We can assume that Fairlife, as the first premium milk product, will not appeal to the entire milk market either so the big challenge for Coke will be to effectively come up with a way to segment the entire milk market and then make their decision to target primarily one or more specific segments. Unlike regular milk, Fairlife is a new product that will have to build awareness and will have to be promoted effectively to sell the idea of paying more for what is still primarily milk.

In a separate document listed under INFORMATION called “Fairlife information” I have summarized a number of sources from the web to provide an initial overview of the industry and markets to get you started. To get more detailed information on the milk market and specifically Fairlife, there are plenty of other websites that can provide additional information too especially at www.fairlife.com.

YOU have been hired by Coke specifically for Fairlife, LLC as a marketing consultant to help provide some strategic insights for Coke to consider when the company develops its marketing plans for growing the Fairlife brand in the United States in 2016. Specifically, you are asked to provide a preliminary set of recommendations and insights about the market to Sandy Douglas, President of Coca Cola North America. Your responsibility is to focus ONLY on the domestic market opportunities in the United States.
In this assignment YOU will have to make decisions about what you think Fairlife should do in 2016. You probably won’t find any information on the net telling you already what they plan to do in 2016 so with the information you gather regarding what they and other competitors were currently doing in 2015, you will have to determine what they should do more of, different, or better next year to grow the brand in the U.S. in 2016. That is where you will have to draw upon your knowledge of marketing strategies and marketing concepts to make many of your own recommendations. The idea is for YOU to come up with some of your own creative marketing ideas that might help Fairlife to better market and grow the brand in 2016.
Marketing Assignment
Winter 2016

You should consider EACH of the following questions related to Fairlife, the premium milk brand introduce by Coke, and either respond to the question or make the necessary decisions or recommendations as necessary. Except for a few, more specific tactical decisions, they probably illustrate most of the key marketing strategy level decisions necessary for the marketing of any product or service. All of your responses and recommendations could certainly be the basis for developing a complete marketing plan. Also, many of these questions are based upon material I present in my lecture notes as well as the text.

In addition to making the decisions or responding to the questions, ********the critical factor is the support you provide for your answers and decisions********. The decisions themselves are often not as important as the support provided and reasons for your decisions. Some of these questions do not have only one right answer. Different marketers might come up with different strategies but some will be more logical and potentially successful than others. Others can be just plain wrong. If you draw upon outside resources for support, it is important to provide proper citations.

The ideal format for your project is to simply respond after each of the questions that follow. Most students simply take this template and insert their responses and recommendations after each question.