Coca-Cola se juega su marca en España por el ERE de las embotelladoras
Coca-Cola brand is played in Spain by ERE bottling
The marketing and branding experts recognize that no multinational has managed the job cuts his Spanish bottler
Faced with a corporate crisis, control of information in the media and
in social networks becomes a top priority, and the company has elected
to hold the shower
"In
a crisis, one of two things: either you take the bull by the horns, or
do as the Government of Rajoy and put up with the rain until it clears,
and Coca-Cola has chosen the latter option," explains Jacob Benbunan,
CEO Saffron, a consultancy specializing in brand management and branding, strategy of multinationals in the ERE 750 people has launched its bottling partner in Spain.
Meanwhile, workers are mobilized and still face two weeks until the negotiations are concluded.
Its strengths to reduce redundancies (which added 500 relocations) and
the closure of four plants (Madrid, Alicante, Palma de Mallorca and
Asturias) are mobilized through demonstrations, stop production and call
for a boycott. Measures that may be more effective than is sometimes thought.
"In this case, the problem is that you are playing in Spain hypersensitive subjects" argues Veronica Baena, a marketing professor at the European University of Madrid.
"On one hand, the large number of layoffs, second, closing plants in
some regions but not in others, which has added a political problem,
also know that bottlers have benefits and now miss an issue tax iffy ".
Precisely this issue of taxation is the latest to jump on the table. Treasury believes that the multinational and its bottling are immersed in a process of tax engineering , according to the newspaper Expansion.
In fact, the economy minister, Luis de Guindos, came to the fore of
this crisis on Friday after the Cabinet and said that, in line with the
G-20, are being analyzed certain instruments of fiscal engineering
companies multinationals producing "very significant erosion in the tax
base."
If you give the brand, you can lose control
In this case, whether or not Coca-Cola from its headquarters in Atlanta or from the halls of its Spanish subsidiary
, which is implementing the ERE, having given way to brand your company
that packaged soft drinks in Spain (Coca Iberian-Cola Partners) makes
steward. "Although they are separate legal entities, does not matter because no one sees that. In the eyes of the consumer are the same company. It's like I lost a suitcase: Always blame the airline but the blame is your company handling ", compares the Icade marketing professor, Carmen value.
"The mark in this case is so strong that, even if an outside manufacturer, are united," says Victor in line Mirabet, CEO of branding consultancy Coleman CBX.
"So I find it hard to believe that they had not planned how to manage a
crisis like this because it is their image that is at stake."
"The reputation of any company there are two essential parts: one is
actually managing the company, and other people perceive you, and we
must learn to manage both," says Professor of Icade.
"The problem here is that they are cutting jobs and yet consumers the
message that arrives is a company that is giving benefits. A company also has been linked to happiness and joy of living. "
That is precisely the focus of communication from the company in recent years: happiness. So much so that it has come to create an institute for this purpose, for example, to lecture on the keys to being happy.
"The positioning of Coca-Cola has always been very ambitious and
Institute of Happiness could be a good idea but had to have expected
something like that could happen," notes Victor Mirabet.
"In my opinion, the problem of this institute is an image similar to
when a celebrity chooses to advertise your brand: they just get it wrong
and you can generate a problem," Jabob Benbunan values.
"You have to be careful because people are human and make mistakes and
this school does not have much to do with a for-profit company that you
are looking for the benefit," says the director of Saffron.
Social networks: a vulnerable flank
What to do in a crisis?
"The first thing to be clear is that we must respect ethical codes: Be
honest, transparent, honest, responsible and acknowledge your mistakes. You have to be fast and have lots waist, "lists the CEO of the consulting Coleman CBX.
The branding and marketing experts say, beyond transparency due, there are no universal solutions. "In this there is no magic recipe but it is true that there are common patterns," says Mirabet. That is, know where the risks are and have a protocol for each department, either financial or sales communication.
"You have to put those risks on a scale, you have to train spokespeople
who need to know at all times what is happening and what is being said
out there, both on social networks and in the media," explains . And we must try to have the media under control "because they can contaminate you. If you talk bad about you in half, you can not answer or refute the criticisms in another. You have to stall the information. "
Not only just control the media, we must also try to social networks. According to marketing experts consulted, they can be an engine of "vulnerability."
Everyone recognizes that companies have to be present in with Twitter
or Facebook profiles themselves but at the same time, assume that
networks are broadcasting an engine, for example, images of
demonstrations and boycott calls. "They have a lot of power, sometimes to infection, and companies do not always know how to manage it," says Jacob Benbunan.
"Ultimately, the only way to manage a crisis is to give all the information," concludes Professor Carmen value. "Credibility is very expensive but it is very easy to lose-emphasizes Professor Veronica Baena.
Coca-Cola all you can do is explain what has been done and the ERE
linked to emotional factors as important as those damaged, prove he
still maintains a commitment to workers and society, but that is not
easy. "
Maybe the ERE Madrid "is a drop in the ocean of Coca-Cola", as one of the experts consulted branding, but is giving more of a headache to the multinational that has based its business on marketing and in probably the entire history of advertising.
Coca-Cola workers are concentrated in Madrid shouting 'If Madrid does not produce, consume no'.
