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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rocat90" data-source="post: 19929062" data-attributes="member: 452168">History of changing marketing strategy of Coca-Cola, the main competitor for tea     Thus, Coca-Cola started to rope in the young of the world as its  consumer base in its new marketing strategy. In fact, the history of  Coca Cola, ever since it was invented by pharmacist John Pemberton in  1886, was a story of changing strategies – all relating to new marketing  techniques (available at:  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG6bFhwFKvU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG6bFhwFKvU</a>).      Initially, it distributed free samples of Coca-Cola to Americans  throughout the continent by engaging travelling sales representatives  because if someone is to be roped in as a Coke fan, he should first  taste its flavour and savour in its unparalleled deliciousness.      This is similar to the marketing strategy used by old Ceylon’s tea  traders to send teams of sales reps in late 19th century in decorated  bullock carts to Ceylonese villages and offer the wide-eyed villagers  free cups of tea posing it as a delicious medicinal drink. Coca-Cola  then offered its liquid in a specially designed bottle that took the  shape of a cocoa fruit to give it a unique appearance.      Then, it created the ‘six-pack Coke’, which in later years was emulated  by beer manufacturers. This was followed by an offer of Coke in bottles  of three different sizes, normal, king size and family size.      It was during World War II that it made its major marketing  breakthrough. Coke was offered to GIs fighting on war fronts far away  from their home country so that they felt as if they were fighting in  their home backgrounds. But to ensure an uninterrupted supply, bottling  plants were shifted to war fronts, a decision which carried enormous  risks with it. But it paid dividends because those returning GIs were  unquestionably loyal Coke fans and so were their children who were known  as ‘baby-boomers’.      Now that generation of captive Coke fans was dying out, it was  necessary for Coca-Cola to reach out to the next generation of  youngsters to assure a continuously safe market for its products. That  was the essence of the vision unveiled by Chairman Roberto Goizueta in  the Sales Convention held in 1986: Rope in the youngsters throughout the  globe to the ‘Delicious World of Coke’ by the turn of the new century.      Should tea marketing ignore the new taste buds of youngsters?     This changing marketing strategy of Coca-Cola is an eye-opener for  Ceylon Tea. It is losing the market among the young people not only in  the wider world but also back at home. It still offers tea as a beverage  in its traditional form: tea shops would brew tea in hot water, add  sugar and milk and serve tea as a hot drink.      Even on a very hot day, this is the way tea is served and therefore it  is not a beverage for all seasons. It may be an acceptable form of  serving to old tea addicts but not for the young people. Hence, when the  old generation dies out, so will Ceylon Tea which has failed to  cultivate a new generation of fans.      That is why tea is losing ground in the world markets with frequent  fluctuations in prices. When the prices fluctuate, so will the incomes  of the tea growers back at home. As such, it is essentially a marketing  issue for Ceylon Tea when it is presented to the market as a beverage.  It calls for innovative marketing tactics targeting the young  generations so that they could be served chilled and bottled tea to  their taste. At events where young people gather such as sports events,  it is this bottled tea that would have a <img src="http://static.ft.lk/ftadmin/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/20204915/Untitled-173.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />competitive edge over its main rivals.     Tea as an ingredient in pharma, cosmetic and perfume industries     It is time now that tea should be taken out as a comforting beverage.  Its health properties have been carefully documented by W.W.T Modder and  A.M.T Amarakoon in their 2002 book titled ‘Tea and Health’.      They have, in terms of reported scientific research, reconfirmed the  19th century rule of thumb marketing slogan used by British tea traders  that it was a ‘panacea for all ailments’. But further research has to be  done in order to use tea extracts in pharmaceutical developments.      Furthermore, India has successfully used tea for the development of 150  varieties of perfumes as reported by fragrantica.com website (available  at: <a href="http://www.fragrantica.com/notes/Tea-106.html" target="_blank">http://www.fragrantica.com/notes/Tea-106.html</a>).      In this game, Sri Lanka may have missed the bus to India but scientific  research into perfume and the cosmetic industry does not have a limit  on the new opportunities available. What is necessary is to have a  long-term strategic vision for Sri Lanka’s tea industry. That vision  should offer tea as an innovative beverage, on one hand, and use tea  extracts in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and perfume industries, on the  other.      Both these new horizons need further research and development in  biotechnology. That ‘need’ can be filled by research outfits like  Industrial Technology Institute or ITI with its state-of-the-art  facilities in its new abode at Malabe.     Thus, it is time for the Government, industry doyens and research  outfits to get together and map out a suitable long-term strategy to  rescue Sri Lanka’s ailing tea industry.      (W.A Wijewardena, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, can be reached at <a href="mailto:waw1949@gmail.co">waw1949@gmail.co</a>m ) </blockquote>

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