Coca Cola Advertising Expenses

Advertising Expenses of Coca Cola 2001 – 2017

Learn about the advertising budget of Coca Cola. Learn how its ad budget has grown over years.

Marketing is one of the most critical functions for any business and it is why the biggest brands spend so much on advertising and promotions. This report presents the advertising expenses of Coca Cola during the last seventeen years from 2001 – 2017. Coca Cola is one of the companies that  spend several billions on advertising. If the brand is present in 200 countries, then there is an important role of advertising in it for which it utilizes several channels.

YearAdvertising Expenses
2017$3,958 Mn
2016$4,004 Mn
2015$3,976 Mn
2014$3,499 Mn
2013$3,266 Mn
2012$3,342 Mn
2011$3,256 Mn
2010$2,917 Mn
2009$2,791 Mn
2008$2,998 Mn
2007$2,774 Mn
2006$2,553 Mn
2005$2,475 Mn
2004$2,165 Mn
2003$1,822 Mn
2002$1,775 Mn
2001$1,970 Mn

Coca Cola’s advertising expenses have increased by around 2 Billions in 18 years. What stood at $1.9 Billions in 2001 has now risen to $3.96 Billions.  During the last three years i.e. 2015 to 2017, the advertising expenditure of Coca Cola has remained close to 4 billions. In 2015, it was at $ 3,976 millions, in 2016 $ 4,004 millions and $ 3,958 millions in 2017. This is pretty close to Pepsi’s marketing expenditure (Pepsi spent 4.1 billion dollars on marketing in 2017). A large part of this sum goes to TV and digital ads. In the recent times, Coca Cola also made some strategic changes to its marketing strategy in order to better align it with the needs of the modern era where digital has become all pervasive. For many years, Coca Cola has been recognized as one of the best marketers which places significant focus on engaging and retaining customers through its marketing and promotion activities. Advertising plays a significant role because competition has become intense in the soda industry over time.

  • Sources.
  • Annual reports (From 10K) of Coca Cola available on its  investors website.