The ‘Share A Coke’ Campaign
HISTORY OF THE BRAND:
Coca Cola now marketed as Coke was formulated as a patent medicine first in 1886 by John Pemberton. They had humble beginnings when it was sold in Atlanta, Georgia with only 9 servings per day. Now the soft drink company operates in over 200 countries across the globe. Now in 2013, the company sold an astounding 1.9 billion servings each day. Coca Cola is a brand that was built on consumers undying loyalty. If you recognize their iconic red and white logo even without the wordings ‘Coca Cola’, then you’re in the 94% of the population in whose mind coke has become an unforgettable part.
UNDERSTANDING THE BRAND’S STRATEGY:
Coke was always up for modernizing but at the same time they never uprooted themselves entirely from the originality. The perfect example for this is their original recipe which has never been changed since 1886. They always made it clear that coke was always listening to the customers’ concerns. For instance, when the ‘NEW COKE’ was introduced in 1985 with a major change in the formula to handle their loss of
market share in the soft drink industry to non-cola beverages, the move was immediately
withdrawn after the public’s uproar. This was mainly because reports at that time suggested
that people prefer Pepsi - cola, the competitor to Coca Cola in blind taste tests,
due its sweeter taste.
This is the right time to talk about the legendary ‘COCA COLA’ logo, because most people
prefer Coca-Cola when shown which brand they’re drinking. People’s positive feelings toward the Coca-Cola brand have created many lifetime customers with strong brand loyalty. This is due to coca cola’s clever strategy to depict coke has all the goodness this society can expect for. Across many decades the marketing strategy communicates the same strong message of happiness, enjoyment, and pleasure. Never go out of its style and easily translated worldwide.
LOGO DESIGN:
The logo was also designed when coke was formulated the first time. It was John Pemberton’s bookkeeper who came up with the design. To differentiate it from competitors and to give an unique identity he used the flowing Spencerian script. After the initial design, the logo went through some minor changes but the font remained the same for years. The way the company uses its logo in marketing strategy remains imprinted on consumers' minds for over a hundred years. A consistent brand identity has formed the basis for everything Coke has been able to build over the past decade and a half, and this identity doesn’t look like it’s changing anytime soon.
SHARE A COKE CAMPAIGN:
The idea of this campaign originated in Australia in 2011. It was launched to increase the popularity of coke among youngsters. It gained quite a popularity and the campaign was seen as a success so it was diversified to other regions of the world.
-
Initial Idea And Aim Of The Campaign:
The idea of the campaign was to swap the brand’s name for some popular first names in use.
So as to create a personal connection with the people, to give them the feeling that they are
purchasing something more than a can of soft drink. Many purchased it to share that with
friends who went by the names on the can.
The first and primary objective was to increase their sales as it was the summer period
in Australia.
The second objective was engaging with its customers by talking to them. They wanted this
campaign to create a platform where people won’t just consume the product but moreover
love the brand.
-
Popularising The Campaign:
To popularise the campaign the company joined hands with Oligvy and Mather Australia who were advertising agencies, to launch a digital marketing campaign in 2012. The campaign had a variety of Marketing contained ATL marketing strategies like TV Commercials, BTL strategies like billboards as well as an element of experimental marketing where customers could custom make their own bottles.
-
Campaign On Social Media:
The #shareacoke got posted with coke bottles. People were very interactive with the campaign, they were
able to connect with other consumers through facebook, twitter and Instagram. The major drive of the
campaign was in social media though they used different mediums like newspaper, TV commercials,
billboards, etc.
-
Different Mediums To Popularise
​
As stated earlier the channels for promotion used were of all kinds, but the major part was through
Facebook where users were able to share their thoughts and happy moments with coke. Moreover,
the campaign had achieved mass sharing, through which customers could connect with each other. Basically, consumers had to SMS their friend’s name which would be displayed live on the iconic Coca-Cola sign located at Sydney’s King’s Cross. The user then would receive an MMS via which they could share their chosen friend’s name lit up in lights through Facebook or send him/her mail.
-
Participation of The Public:
​
A huge amount of social media content was created by encouraging many consumers to participate. This was established by specifically targeting those consumers who are very active on social media who engage with their friends by sharing photos and posts on Facebook, Twitter etc. What’s more, is that Coca Cola made these consumers as creative directors of the brand inducing them to promote the brand. This leads to many users engaging themselves on various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Connecting with the consumers at a personal level.
-
Stepping Into The Crowd:
The main reason for the success of this campaign was that Coca Cola aimed to connect emotionally with its consumers and that achieved by the personalization. Coca-Cola felt the new way to engage with its customers was through personalization and, therefore, designed the campaign in such a way that it encourages personalization in a prospective way. Consumers like to self-express themselves creatively through storytelling and staying in touch with its friends and as a result, the campaign leveraged on this kind of consumer behaviour. Moreover, Coca-Cola wanted to engage with its customers and at the same time promote its own brand name. For instance, when a consumer shares a name-branded Coke bottle with his father, he feels as if he is honoring his father rather than promoting the Coca-Cola brand itself. Moreover, by taking and sharing photos with the #shareacoke hashtag on social media, it drives more personal online media content which leads to many shares across.
-
Analysis Of The Campaign:
-
The ratio of young to adult consumption of Coca-Cola was up by 7%.
-
The campaign earned around 18.3 Lakhs media impressions.
-
Around 76,000 virtual Coke cans were shared online.
-
A total of 378,000 custom Coke cans were printed across the country.
-
The campaign created a positive image of Coca-Cola as a brand.
-
The Facebook website saw traffic increase by 870% while the Facebook page, on the other hand, grew by 39%
Following the success of this launch in Australia in 2011, it was later passed on to Britain 2013 and then to the USA in 2014. Moving forward it continued with innovative ideas and was also spread to other countries. In China, instead of first names, pet names were printed on the cans. In 2016, the campaign got improvised to ‘SHARE A COKE AND A SONG’, famous song lyrics were printed on the cans. One important collaboration of this campaign was with the American singer Selena Gomez. Following the release of her album ‘REVIVAL’, the lyric of the song ‘Me And The Rhythm’ from the album was printed on coke bottles. Selena posing with the coke bottle was the most liked post on Instagram at that time.
REASONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN’S SUCCESS:
-
The Personal Connection With Public:
This campaign gave a personal experience to the customers. It also enabled them to personalise the product they buy. So when they posted in social media it was more of a personal thing like sharing their memories than promoting the brand. So for Coke it was two birds in a single shot, they upheld their idea that coke spreads happiness and goodness and also got their brand promoted.
-
Call To Action:
The entire campaign had a powerful CTA. It demanded the people not only to buy a can of coke but also to share it online. The slogan was catchy enough to remember and all these added up to the feat.
-
Improvising The Original Idea:
​
TAKE AWAYS:
Coca Cola ‘Share A Coke’ Campaign was one of the best campaigns Coca-Cola has ever designed. It just shows how a brand like Coke which is such a reputed brand can engage with its consumers by allowing them to change the logo with their name. Share a Coke Campaign success taught us that personalization can only be highly engaging and effective if it can be shared with a wide audience. It just doesn’t motivate the customer to share but also provides them with the platform to explore their creative side through customization. Moreover, this campaign taught us that social media can play a huge role to make an impact and can be utilised in a customised manner to suit the needs of the consumers as well as the company itself. The untold secret of this campaign was that Coke connected it with its consumers at a personal level.