Communicaion Strategy

                                               COMMUNICAION STRATEGY

The success of an effort depends on the ability to communicate effectively in today’s fast paced life. Since the world is becoming a global village it is of utmost importance to effectively communicate within and outside of an organization. However, due to large organizational sizes and tall organizational structures it has become difficult to get any message across. This creates boundaries in the organization. In such a scenario effective communication strategy holds the key. Communication strategy is a part of an effective management strategy or plan that is used by many multinational companies such as Coca-Cola and Vodafone. Coca-Cola is the brand name of the world’s biggest selling soft drink and Vodafone is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. These companies are pioneers in their field. Vodafone now has the interest in 27 countries and it patterns networks in further 27 countries. Its vision is to “be the world’s mobile communications leader”. Similarly, Coca-Cola has taken over the soft drink market with its marking approach over 200 countries.  Coca-Cola and Vodafone   have similar method of communication with their customers but their communication channels have set them apart.^[a]

        Coca-Cola has approached it consumers by focusing on their specific interest, such as football in this case and Vodafone, by reducing the barrier with the customer to ensure that its messages are delivered and understood. Vodafone has more methodical ways of communication i.e. verbal communication and non verbal communication where as Coca-Cola has used football as the main source of communication among its consumers. Coca-Cola is a pioneer company in communications as it rapidly understood that it had to get in touch with consumers to create links and to look for them wherever they are. In this case the link being the “world game- Football”. Coca-Cola has addressed it customers at for different levels: Grass root, Local Clubs/Community, High level Domestic, International: World cup and European Championship.

                The Coca-Cola strategy is specifically based on major events for an ^[b]example: The 2002 FIFA World Cup demonstrated the ability by Coca-Cola to get its message across to billions of TV viewers world-wide. Not only that, the Company used its understanding of the game to 'get closer to the fans’. The Sweeper Zone programme ^[c]was also initiated to help local communities to take pride in the local environment surrounding their football clubs. The program I involve^[d] an active partnership between Coca-Cola, Encamps, the football clubs, local councils, businesses and the local community with the aim of creating a cleaner environment. Coca-Cola has also focused its attention towards young people at a grass root level by organizing tournaments. The youth appeal of Coca-Cola has also helped to motivate young people in the local community In addition; Coca-Cola sponsors the ITV website by providing people with access to football. It is promoting its product in the name of football. Unlike Coca-Cola Vodafone has a different approach.

          Vodafone^[e] believes that there are two main ways of sending information verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication involves people talking to one another. Non-verbal contact may include visual and written material. If verbal communication is face-to-face, then there is also a non-verbal element through body language. So Vodafone has thought about how they could communicate message to customer and other stakeholders. Therefore it has divided ways of communication to its customer, stakeholders and internal staff. Vodafone has developed a set of ten Business Principles. These Business Principles give a plain and moral pathway to help guide the actions of employees. Vodafone expects these Principles to help reduce barriers to communication. They ensure that its messages, verbal and non-verbal, are clearly understood. Vodafone tries to be in direct contact with its customers through verbal communication. The company, therefore through its stores or contact centers, has many opportunities for its trained staff to talk to customers about all issues for example: The company uses the short message service (SMS) or texts to contact some customers. Vodafone's priority is also to develop and maintain dialogue with the stakeholder rather than focusing on its customer like Coca-Cola. Vodafone prioritizes messages to its employees to ensure that they are received in a targeted and timely way through their phones, e-mail and other media. They have taken care of all the people affiliated to its company.