You may have great ideas but before you can make a solid plan you need to look at your resources. How are you going to create, produce or provide your idea? Budgeting does not just consider total cost but labor and who is going to pay. In our reading on budgets it said to be aware of the organization's business plan, budget strategically and measure the return on investment (along with a few other things).
Advertising can be an effective tool to get your product out into the public eye but it can also be costly. One example of an advertising campaign that was costly upfront and then very successful is Coca Cola's "Share a Coke" campaign.
According to the Wall Street Journal Coca-Cola saw sales rise over 2% after they had been falling for over a decade. While falling soda consumption could be linked to trends in healthier eating, more awareness towards the dangers of sugar (& artificial sugar) and obesity, Coca-Cola had to adapt in order for the company to survive. The WSJ reported that Coke increased their advertising budget by $1 billion in recent years.
When coming up with the idea of the "Share a Coke" campaign there was the risk of it failing. Would printing people's names onto bottles really make them buy more sodas? They obviously would have to consider the cost of redesigning the packaging to include names and phrases. The departments working on this campaign also needed to think about different indirect costs like employees time to gather data around different names in different geographical areas.
Ultimately this campaign saw success through user-generated content. People were talking about the soda cans and "sharing a Coke" online. This created interest among consumers to go hunting for their name on a soda can bottle. Maybe a consumer quit drinking soda but they found themselves in the soda aisle looking for their significant other's name on the bottle. They just spent an extra $2 that they usually didn't spend. Then maybe they see a friends name on a bottle and buy it for them to. The idea of connecting with people on a personal level is very successful. Investopedia also discussed that Coke was able to adapt their strategies from the initial campaign to remain relevant years down the line through creating a shop for people to personalize names onto the soda bottle wrapper, and the company even began including pop culture references/song lyrics on cans.
When an organization successfully budgets for a campaign and has the funds to support it they can create an interactive platform. It's even better when a company encourages their customers to keep the conversation going through sharing their stories on social media.
Coca-Cola took a leap with personalized soda bottles. Through successful budgeting and strategy they produced an innovation idea that lead to a global phenomenon. By preparing and sticking to a budget that was realistic, they were able to improve sales for the first time in a decade.
Until next time,
Taylor xx
No comments