Cultural Factors:
Culture is the fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behaviour (Philip Kotler). India has always been known for its cultural diversity. With a variety of cultures in India, Coca Cola faced a challenge in how to target across the cultural lines. Initially, they made the mistake of focusing on the American way of life but they realized their mistake quickly and started researching the Indian market in detail. They found that the 3A’s of availability, affordability and acceptability needed to be employed. Also, affordability was the biggest driver for desirability.
Culture:
Coca Cola discovered that the values of kinship and togetherness were universal across all cultures in India. So they decided to market coke as a drink for family get-togethers and parties. To achieve this, Coca Cola came up with a marketing campaign that showed Aishwarya Rai solving a feud between her parents with a Coke singing “Pyar me kabhi kabhi aisa ho jata hai, saath me thanda ho settle ho jata hai…”. Recently, Coca Cola launched “Saath Khao Khushiyan Badhao” campaign which encouraged the younger teenage group to eat with the family. These advertisements showed Coca Cola as a symbol of bringing families together.
Subcultures:
Coca Cola leveraged the classic North Indian custom of asking guests “Thanda Ya Garam” by equating thanda as Coca Cola – “Thanda matlab Coca Cola”.
Gradually, Coca Cola marketed itself across all the states and subcultures in India through a marketing campaign involving Aamir Khan. These ads showed Aamir Khan enjoying Coke in a series of regionally inspired characters ranging