Although marketing, advertising, and public relations (PR) are all parts of the promotional process for the firms in the modern business environment, they maintain important differences between each other. Marketing is focused on the overall perspective and the big picture of the promotion in general, encapsulating advertising as one of its subsets. Advertising consists of individual campaigns that, in different forms, persuade a customer to purchase a product or service. PR are primarily focused on the overall corporate brand rather than individual products. The Coca-Cola company was chosen to illustrate these concepts with proper examples and to highlight similarities and differences between them.
The Coca-Cola marketing department is concerned with the promotion of the company, its products, and brand as a whole. It works closely with other departments within the firm to determine the overall strategy of value proposition and struggle for competitive advantage. To specify, the marketing department decides to pursue diversification as a general strategy that affects the product range the company offers.
Coca-Cola’s advertising involves the firm’s famous campaigns that introduce and re-introduce customers and the general public to signature imagery associated with the brand. The yearly Christmas-themed campaign, depicting Santa-Claus enjoying a bottle of Coca-Cola, is a good example of that (Chu, 2020). Finally, the PR of the firm focuses on ensuring it is perceived as a successful yet fair business that follows the sustainability and corporate social responsibility policies of today.
All three of these areas intend to secure the customer loyalty of existing consumers and attract potential new buyers. However, their focus is centered on different aspects of these goals, namely the overall direction, the precise projects, and the brand image management. These areas then work in cohesion, ensuring the brand’s international prosperity.
Reference
Chu, B. (2020). Analysis on the Success of Coca-Cola Marketing Strategy. 2020 2nd International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI2020), pp. 96-100. Atlantis Press. Web.