Coca-Cola: Advertisement Critique

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Table of Contents

Description and the Analysis of the Advertisement
Conclusion
Reference List

The Coca-Cola Company is a transnational worldwide-known corporation founded in the United States. This company produces and distributes various beverage drinks worldwide; it has been estimated that the mentioned corporation sold its products in more than 200 countries. The Coca-Cola Company uses an image of the ‘one and only’ original beverage drinks manufacturer; the corporation’s positioning is focused on the jovial inspiration of the customer (Brennan, Crawford, and Khamis, 2020). It can be assumed that nowadays, Coca-Cola can be considered as a part of popular culture. Moreover, the company takes an active part in the process of globalisation. In addition, The Cola-Cola Company has a long history of successful advertising Christmas campaigns.

Description and the Analysis of the Advertisement

The given advertisement (see Exhibit A) is a Coca-Cola video ad dedicated to the Christmas of 2021. This advertising video demonstrates the story of a boy who is deeply touched by his senior neighbour’s loneliness during Christmas Eve. While watching a cartoon about Santa Claus, a boy decides to create a personal miracle for his neighbour. The following part of the plot depicts the collective efforts of the house residents to build an improvised chimney, through which a gift will be delivered. Finally, at the end of the advertisement, the classic bottle of Coca-Cola is being introduced to a viewer by native integration into a video. Undoubtedly, the main idea that this ad attempts to deliver is the importance of a strong community and of family or friendly bonds. The main objective of this advertisement is to promote the brand’s values, sustain the corporate image of The Coca- Company, and advertise the drink’s integrity in modern life.

The Ad’s Stopping Power

One of the main aims of the given ad is to make an average customer think that this particular product is unique, original, and irreplaceable. The Coca-Cola Company is a major corporation with a big name and credible reputation, and their main product is one of the most recognisable beverage drinks in the world. Due to that fact, the main task of the Coca-Cola advertising campaign is to sustain its reputation as one of the most popular brands in the soda industry (Guo and Wen, 2021). Since the brand occupies a top position in that particular part of the market, the main threat that may negatively impact the company’s profits is the risk of various substitutions; for example, the corporation’s main opponent – PepsiCo and its products (Guo and Wen, 2021). What may seem like a simple reminder of a company’s existence, in reality, plays a crucial competitive role. Therefore, one of the inherent parts of Coca-Cola’s advertising and the message that is present in the reviewed ad is the idea that Coca-Cola is an original beverage drink that cannot be replaced.

Another crucial aspect of this ad is its central message that goes in the subtext of the given plot – an idea that Coca-Cola is an integral part of the Christmas celebration. The conditions of modern era advertising force the companies to justify an average customer’s need to buy a particular product (Polesana, 2019). It can be noted that this brand’s advertising campaigns have been focused on this event for a continuous period. The company implied Christmas advertising for more than 100 years (Jones, 2019). As a result, a bottle of Coca-Cola has become a natural Christmas attribute, at least in Western countries (Ireland and Ashton, 2017). Moreover, the style of storytelling and the presentation of the product itself implies that the customer is already familiar with the advertised product. Thus, one of the advertisement’s goals is to remind a consumer that Coca-Cola plays a key role in creating the Christmas atmosphere.

In addition, the entertaining aspect of the ad must be considered as well. Although the plot of the video has been discussed, its effect has yet to be determined. It is important to understand that the reason why the advertisement introduces the product itself only at the end of the video is to keep the viewer intrigued (Sharma and Bumb, 2020). Since the viewer cannot predict what product is being advertised, he or she will most likely continue watching the video until the very end (Sharma and Bumb, 2020). The slice of life, in combination with a small fantasy, appears to be quite appealing to an average consumer, who seeks to tighten the family and community bonds during the Christmas holidays. Therefore, a minimal product placement in the ad, coupled with a somewhat complex and relatable plot, attract the consumer’s attention.

Although the ad does obtain a unique selling product, it may be noted that it successfully bonds the product with the customer’s joy and happiness. Undoubtedly, not every company has a need to use a particular USP in order to successfully advertise a product; such is the case of Coca-Cola (Presman, 2017). Instead of focusing on a particular benefit that a customer may obtain, the ad promotes the well-established idea that a company is a manufacturer and distributor of pure happiness (Presman, 2017). As a result, this ad holds on to the main marketing strategy of a company and continues to mark the extent of joy that this particular product may bring into a customer’s life.

Finally, the specificities of the ad’s visual part are focused on giving a viewer nostalgic and heartwarming feelings rather than exciting and impressing them. Due to a brand’s continuous history, one of Coca-Cola’s goals is to remind some consumers about the taste of their youth (Aytekin and Ayaz, 2018). Since the image of the brand forms various customer’s expectations, the fulfilment of these expectations directly affects the company’s profit levels (Anisimova, Weiss and Mavondo, 2021). In addition, The Coca-Cola company sustains a trusting relationship (as an additional factor of retention) with its customers (Mahmoud, 2018). Thus, while promoting a drink as a part of the tradition, the company attempts to proclaim that the customer always gets what he expects, that Coca-Cola is a part of his family.

The red colour, which is unmistakably associated with Coca-Cola, is used to depict the product as a tasteful and desired drink (Mochama, 2020). In addition, in the case of this particular advertisement, the red colour is associated with Christmas, which may be a part of the aspect discussed earlier (Mochama, 2020). It can be stated that the visual part of this ad prevails over the textual elements; the viewer’s attention is captivated by a wordless touching story. Overall, this ad may be characterised as highly persuasive; moreover, it avoids annoying the consumer by using a minimal amount of Coca-Cola’s brand logos.

On the other hand, the ad has a minor weak side; although being reviewed separately, this video can be assessed as a high-quality one, the repetitiveness of the foremost thought may be considered annoying. If to consider The Coca-Cola company’s long history of Christmas advertising, it can be noted that the main delivered idea is being constantly repeated. Even though the video has no aim to excite or surprise the viewer, the repeated narrative may appear irritating for some of them.

The Ad’s Call To Action

The ad attempts to sustain the popularity of various concepts among the customers; due to these concepts, which will be discussed below, the company focuses its advertising on a middle-class customer with a family. One of the corporation’s focus points is the family bonds and family itself (Yadav, 2019). Considering the fact that in its advertising campaigns, Coca-Cola considers the family as a whole, a middle-class male or female; for example, the family’s father is the one who is willing to spend money on the given product. Due to the strong interlink between various family holidays and the brand, it is an older member of the family who will provide them with the drink.

At the same time, the intending meaning of an ad is global unity, the sense of community, and the importance of being together during the holidays. The long-established celebrations, such as Christmas, usually imply family reunions; thereby, the Coca-Cola ad tries to promote the idea that the company’s beverage drinks are part of this household spirit. In other words, Coke is what unites people and brings them together, at the same time comforting them and making their ties even more substantial.

Judging by the company’s popularity scale, reputation, and market image, it is possible to assume that the advertisement is intended to raise brand awareness instead of promoting a product. Undoubtedly, Coca-Cola is a part of popular and the product itself no longer requires advertising and promotion. However, the corporate image is what retains a company’s target customers and increases the company’s profit (Alkitbi et al., 2021). Thus, a company needs to conduct constant advertising campaigns in order to sustain a customer’s brand awareness. In the case of Coca-Cola, most of the corporations advertising attempts are focused on the consumers’ level of awareness and on sustaining the corporate image (excluding the cases when a company presents a new product).

Although the necessary means to convince a viewer may be characterised as the most fitting, and the message itself may seem reasonable, some individuals, including me, are likely to question the ad’s idea. If to consider various ethnicities and cultural traditions’ facts of existence, it seems doubtful that the drink is a part of every family’s tradition. Moreover, for some individuals, the advertised idea may seem too bold and aggressive since not everyone likes the presence of major corporations in his or her private life. On the other hand, the company’s principle of bringing joy and happiness into its customers’ life is the key point of advertising; thus, this aspect of the ad seems quite convincing.

The Ad’s Value proposition

The ad’s value proposition may be characterised as social; the main benefits the company promises to deliver are strong family bonds and happiness. Although the ad does not promote the idea that Coca-Cola will undoubtedly make a customer happy, the message is focused on “being happy together with Coca-Cola” (Susanthi and Pramita, 2019, p.5). The implicit value of happiness fits the holiday atmosphere very well, thus being another cornerstone of Coca-Cola’s success. In addition, the social value of a family, mutual care, and respect is being promoted in the ad as well. The company presents the drink as the link between all genders, ethnicities, and generations, the product that can help its customers to find a common interest.

Conclusion

According to all reviewed information and all determined aspects, it is possible to conclude that Coca-Cola 2021 Christmas advertisement was created by a true professional. Although it does not push the consumer to buy the product, it softly promotes and sustains the long-established principles of this brand’s policy. Coca-Cola’s integrity in everyday life is one of the main factors of this particular beverage drink’s success. Be it a Christmas, an evening after a long working day, or someone’s birthday – Coca-Cola is always with you and will be a part of your happiness. A continuous history of the brand allows its advertising specialists to position Coca-Cola as a part of the traditions set. This strategy allows retaining the existing adult and senior customers. In addition, the advertisement’s focus on the family as a whole makes it possible to promote the product to adolescents as well. The mostly textless and speechless advertisement focuses its attention on the tradition and unity, but not on the product itself, only slightly introducing it at the end of the video. This approach allows the ad to avoid annoying the viewers and to entertain them with a touching plot.

Reference List

Alkitbi, S.S., Alshurideh M., Barween A.K. and Salloum A.S. (2021) ‘Factors affect customer retention: A systematic review’, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 1261(59), 656–667.

Anisimova, T., Weiss, J. and Mavondo, F. (2019) ‘The influence of corporate brand perceptions on consumer satisfaction and loyalty via controlled and uncontrolled communications: A multiple mediation analysis’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, 36(1), 33–49. Web.

Aytekin, P. and Ayaz, Y.Y. (2018) ‘Nostalgia in advertising: A semiotical analysis of nostalgia-themed and nonnostalgia-themed print ads’, The Journal of International Social Research, 11(59), pp. 1–12.

Brennan, L., Crawford, R. and Khamis, S. (2020) Decoding Coca-Cola: A Biography of a Global Brand. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2020.

Guo, X., and Wen, M. (2021) ‘Research on competitive strategy of Coca-Cola Company Advances in Social Science’, Education and Humanities Research, 607, pp. 2879–2885.

Ireland, R. and Ashton, J. R. (2017) ‘Happy corporate holidays from Coca-Cola’, BMJ, pp. 1–2. Web.

Jones, C.W. (2019) ‘How advertising through the ages has shaped christmas’, The Conversation. Web.

Mochama, A. (2020) ‘Interpretations of television aesthetics: A mise-en-scene analysis in audio-visual Coca-Cola commercials’. International Journal of Research and Scholarly Communication, pp. 18–37.

Polesana, M. A. (2019) Advertising, values and social change: A sociological analysis. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Presman, G. (2017) How To Sell With Complete Confidence. New York: Pan Macmillan.

Sharma, S. and Bumb, A. (2020) ‘Product placement in the entertainment industry: A systematic review.’ Quarterly Review of Film and Video, pp. 1–17. Web.

Susanthi, D. and Pramita, A.D. (2020) ‘The types of meaning in Coca Cola company advertisement. ISLLCE, pp. 15-16. Web.

Yadav, J. (2019) Comparison of TVC strategy for the Coca-Cola company in high context & low context cultures. PhD thesis. Delhi School of Management.

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