17th March, 2015

Coca-Cola's 'Share a Coke' Campaign

The groundbreaking campaign of "Share a Coke" was first launched in Australia as a summer campaign of 2011.After being dreamed up by Australian Coke execs and the ad agency Oglivy,this campaign became so popular that they went on to win several awards and later this campaign rolled across the globe.Second country to follow was New zealand, then USA and UK also followed the trend.It became a world-wide campaign in no time.

It was a simple idea to put 150 of Australia's most popular names on the front of Coca-Cola bottles replacing the trademark 'Coca-Cola' logo. Due to trademark issues,a brand new typeface inspired by the COKE logo was created. This font is called "You" as this campaign is all about connecting and celebrating the consumers. Generic names like Mom,Dad and Mate were also used to reach more people.

IMC tools for the campaign :

1. Interactive Marketing :

This campaign caught attention of the consumers through interactive marketing.Consumers were excited to have a customised bottle of Coca-Cola with their name written on it.Netizens were posting pictures of their bottle on various social platforms like Facebook,Instagram,Twitter etc.They thought why not buy a bottle for a friend and also post a picture as well! The hashtag #ShareaCoke is widely popular on every social platform.This is how even I came across this campaign first.This became a huge social media phenomenon.The best interactive marketing was when Facebook and mobile apps offered and encouraged people to customise their name on the bottles.Facebook users could also send a bottle of cake as a gift. Sydneysiders could also text their name and it would appear on the iconic Kings Cross billboard.Seeing your name on an iconic billboard garnered huge attention.

2. Advertising :

Different platforms were used to advertise this campaign.Though Social Media was the main target for advertising,huge billboards were put up in central attraction of the cities.Television media was also used as an advertising media.Print media had adverts showing different coke bottles lined up together.UK celebrated the birth of Prince George through a billboard ad in Piccadilly Circus which shows two bottles with Wills and Kate written on them.#ShareaCoke hashtag was widely used in these adverts.Here is an advert focusing on the summer campaign.

Billboard 

3. Direct Marketing : 

Coca-Cola also introduced direct marketing through this campaign.The company aimed to connect with their customers through written names on their bottle.China also introduced the same idea using nicknames.Amsterdam opened up a pop up store that exclusively sold personalised bottles.Turkey projected a virtual vending machine on a wall over valentine's day to entice couples walking by.

Target Market :

The "Share A Coke" campaign was basically created to celebrate the consumers of Coca-Cola.The youth was kept in mind while promoting in the social media.Also the adverts were made based on the summer celebration of young generation.Coca-Cola also put extra effort for the older generation.They also gave great importance to the family bonding concept through introducing the share a coke with Mom, Dad, Family etc bottles.

Recommendations : 

Coca-Cola reversed their 11-year decline in soda sales through this clever marketing.Their main target was to show the positive experience of connecting with friends which is an essential and universal part of human life.This campaign made it's way to developing countries in Asia too.Huge attention was already garnered through the social media and billboard ads.TV ads could not garner the expected attention in this campaign.So,they could use less Tv ads and pay more attention to the already buzzing market with the campaign.

References : 

1. http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/share-a-coke-how-the-groundbreaking-campaign-got-its-start-down-under

2.http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237905

3.http://www.coca-colajourney.com.au/stories/local-idea-goes-global-share-a-coke