Share a Coca-Cola -- perfect example of WOM marketing
In 1886, a pharmacist
named Dr. John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola and was selling it for 5 cents per
glass.
Aim
The Coca-Cola Company
wanted to gain more popularity and decided to change their image by creating a
more personalized experience
It’s evident that
Coca-Cola wanted to get their name more exposed and seen through the different
eyes of consumers
sharing a good time
over a Coca-Cola.
Problem
. In 2011, the
Australian branch of Coke saw that only about 50% of teens had ever tasted the
soft drink.
Teens increasingly
thought of Coke as an old-fashioned drink, a perception we needed to overcome
by improving our brand health scores among teens (i.e. “favourite brand”, or “a
brand for someone like me”).
Objectives
The primary campaign
objective was simple increase consumption of Coca-Cola over the summer period.
The secondary
objective was to get people talking about Coke again.
They wanted to
jumpstart real conversations and remind people of those in their lives they may
have lost touch with, or have yet to meet.
Our 2020 goal is to
get one in two teens to enjoy a Coke.
help secure the
future of the brand through recruiting a new generation of regular teen
drinkers by
building a deeper
connection between them and the brand.
Consumers were
encouraged to find bottles with names that held personal meaning to them, share
them with friends and family, then tweet about their experiences, using the
hashtag #ShareaCoke.
The concept was to
replace the Coca-Cola logo on cans of Coke, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero – arguably
one of the most recognized logos on the face of the planet – with 150 of the
most popular names in Australia.
Background Study before Campaign
In 2013 carbonated
soft drinks were down 3.3% (source: Beverage Digest, 2014). half
of all US teens had
not enjoyed a Coke in the past year (source: client research).
Many teens think
Coca-Cola is their parents’ drink – “trusty but dusty” – and only 13% think it
is unique
(source: Coca-Cola
Teen Attitude and Usage Study).
With the world
flocking to the digital space, the way we connect has started to change, and,
it would seem, the more friends we gather online the fewer we see in real life.
Coke needed to adapt
to this changing environment and needed a campaign that would encourage people
to connect with the brand both online and offline.
Problem in Austrelia
So in summer 2011,
Coca-Cola wanted a big idea to combat this competitive market and get
Australians to sit up and notice Coke.
A campaign was needed
that would make a big splash and disrupt and excite Australians.
It also needed to have mass appeal, while
hitting the 24-year-old bull’s-eye target.
Coca-Cola wanted a
core idea that would reunite Australians with the idea of getting together and
sharing a good time over a Coca-Cola.
Solution
The labels on Coke
cans and bottles were changed to feature 150 of the most popular Australian
first names. This gained a huge following and over the next two years, Canada
and the United States adopted the idea. When the campaign began in the United
States, only 250 names were expressed on the bottles but eventually increased
to over 1000. To Coca-Cola’s surprise, this campaign was extremely successful
and they didn’t stop at the names. They have began using terms like “buddy” and
“family” and are even writing song lyrics. Not only can you buy these in store
but the now have online customization as well. You can go online and order your
own Coke bottles and write what you want on them. The only exception to this is
that you cannot write inappropriate language.
Target Audience
The Coca-Cola Company
knew that they needed to innovate and by creating this campaign they could
target a more specific audience. Although they are still targeting all Coca-Cola
consumers, this campaign was more geared toward the millennials due to the fact
that they could personalize what they were drinking and then post about it on
social media. The goal of this campaign was to get people talking about Coke,
bring people together, and reintroduce their new label and idea.
Media being used
They used media
outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for people to show their
pictures and use their hashtags.
Purpose of this Campaign
. Their message
simply was “Share a Coke” thus meaning that you could share a coke with someone
and create a memory.
The campaign needed
to make consumers see Coke in a way that would encourage them to actually
consume the product, not just love the brand.
Coca-Cola wanted a
core idea that would reunite Australians with the idea of getting together and
sharing a good time over a Coca-Cola.
Logic Behind the Campaign
buying Coca-Cola
products for others (
Marketing campaigns
are all about communication and one of the biggest ways that separates
millennials from other generations is the way that they communicate
In order to increase
sales, Coke needed to make a personal connection with teens. There is nothing
more personal than your name. That is where the ‘Share a Coke’ concept was
born:
Coca-Cola encouraged
teens to ‘Share a Coke’ with their friends by showing them how
exciting it was to
get a Coke bottle with their name on it.
Australians are known
for calling each other by their first name, or ‘mate’ for that matter.
And, in order to bring
people together, Coca-Cola needed to encourage this on a more personal level…
and what better way to spark conversation than
by using a first name!
So in 2011, Coca-Cola
initiated these conversations by putting Australians front and centre and
encouraging them to connect and ‘Share a Coke’.
Putting people’s
names on bottles was the incentive that caused more people to go out and buy
the product and post it.
Even if consumers did
not like Coca-Cola or other affiliated products they still were more drawn to
buying them because it had their name it, thus this being the budge. What
Coca-Cola did to “persuade” their consumers was almost subliminal, to a point
where all they had to say was “ Share a Coke with Matt.” People then ran to the
closest store to buy drinks for their friends. They are not really thinking
about contributing to the company itself, but rather just getting a
personalized drink for their friend.
We listened to our
captive Facebook audience and asked them who they wanted to ‘Share a Coke’ with
most. After 65,000 people got their say, Coke bottles with 50 new names were
released.
Our key insight was
to increase sales further by encouraging teens to purchase and share
bottles with their
friends’ names on them.
Social was at the
heart of the campaign right from the start, as sharing is a very social
behaviour.
The hub of the
campaign was the hashtag #ShareaCoke.
"Mobile is at
the core of everything we're doing. If we can't make a story work on a
4-inch-by-2-inch screen, then it doesn't work and it doesn't go further."
Solution
So in 2011, Coca-Cola
initiated these conversations by putting Australians front and centre and
encouraging them to connect and ‘Share a Coke’.
Coca-Cola printed 150 of the country’s most popular names
on labels of Coke bottles for the first time in the brand’s history, to remind
Aussies not only of those people currently in their lives, but also people they
may have lost touch with, giving them a reason to connect.
The campaign struck a nerve that would eventually expand
to over 70 countries and over 500k names
The multi-platform communications strategy acted as an
invitation to ‘Share a Coke’ with someone you know, or want to know and gave
people the tools to find, connect and share.
Varied content was created to suit a broad target
audience allowing people to engage with the campaign in different ways, to
varying degrees and via different contact points, making the campaign relevant
to people who wanted to get highly involved or for those who just wanted to
take part in the fun.
Execution:-
First,
packaging played a pivotal role in this campaign.
The
second element was social.
Coca-Cola
created a 500-stop cross-country "Share a Coke" tour, which lets fans
customize a mini can for themselves and a second one for someone special. The
company also provided alternative pre-printed options with monikers such as
"Bestie," "Star" or "BFF," for those with more
unusual names, that were not represented.
In
2015, in addition to increasing the personal names from 250 to 1,000, Coca-Cola
opened an e-commerce shop where consumers could order personalized bottles.
Prior
to campaign launch, Coke bottles with names on them began appearing in fridges
across Australia, allowing consumers to discover the names on-pack themselves,
sparking online conversations and media interest.
The
campaign then launched with a big bang across multiple channels.
First,
the campaign story broke on page three of The Australian newspaper, followed by
a flow of marketing trade coverage.
The
TVCs, which featured a montage of volunteered photos of real people who shared
that name, first aired across the biggest weekend in Australian sport – during
the AFL (Australian Football League) and NRL (National Rugby League) grand
finals, reaching 30% of the population.
Key
media and celebrity influencers with a large social media footprint were
identified and sent personalised seeding kits with a Coke product bearing their
name, including campaign messaging to share with their network of fans.
Through
a partnership with Austereo, 150 name songs were created and broadcast on-air
nationally. Consumers then used these songs as inspiration to connect via
Facebook.
Consumers
were invited to SMS a friend’s name, which was projected live onto the iconic
‘Coca-Cola’ sign at Sydney’s King’s Cross. They then received an MMS enabling
them to share their friend’s name up in lights, via Facebook and email.
Coca-Cola created a depth and breadth of content and
ways for teens to get involved in the campaign and use the functionality of
social media to amplify the idea.
The
only paid media was search, which we used to react to organic interest and
drive traffic to
ShareaCoke.com.
In 2017, the company
added a feature that let consumers hear a short jingle with their name in it.
And in 2018, Coke made their now-iconic name labels removable stickers that
could be fastened to clothing, cell phones, notebooks, and other items.
What we find so
compelling is the dozens (and dozens of dozens) of hurdles (and tunnels, and
hoola-hoops, and Iron Man Triathalons) this little idea had to go through to
come to life.
Result
Results
6-MONTH AUSTRALIA
RESULTS
7%
increase in young adult consumption
5%
more people drinking coke
3%
increase in sales transactions
4%
increase in volume
870%
increase in Facebook traffic
12,020,000
earned media impressions
76k
virtual coke cans shared
378k
extra coke cans printed at kiosks
330
million impressions on Twitter
170,000
tweets from 160,000 fans.
2
out of 5 Australians bought a Share a Coke pack
SINCE
2012 LAUNCH
Over
a thousand names on our bottles
998
million impressions on Twitter
235,000
tweets from 111,000 fans using the #ShareaCoke hashtag
More
than 150 million personalized bottles sold
More
than 70 countries have launched the campaign
Coke
picked up seven awards at the 2012 Cannes Lions festival
A
2% increase in U.S. sales after over a decade of declining revenues.
consumers
shared more than 500,000 photos via the #ShareaCoke hashtag, within the first
year alone. Coca-Cola gained roughly 25 million new Facebook followers that
same year.
The
Coca-Cola “Share a Coke” campaign succeeded in many ways including getting
everyone involved.
This
campaign was originally created to get more teens to drink Coca-Cola in
Australia but succeed in affecting other countries such as Canada and the
United States.
This simple idea of placing individuals’ names
on the label of a soda bottle led to the company’s rise in sales.
As
a group, we looked at the numbers and saw the growth and increase in popularity that this phenomenon created.
They got every demographic involved and we saw
the huge groups that clustered around the #ShareACoke campaign.
It brought millions together and will continue
to with their more recent advancements.
The
campaign earned a total of 18,300,000-plus media impressions.
The
campaign exceeded expectations with millions of Australians getting together
and ‘Sharing a Coke’ either virtually or literally.
Young
adult consumption increased significantly during the campaign, up by 7%, making
2011 the most successful summer ever.
Traffic
on the Coke Facebook site increased by 870% and the Facebook page grew 39%.
In
Australia, we were the number one most talked about Facebook page and 23rd
globally.
Seventy-six
thousand virtual Coke cans were shared online and 378,000 custom Coke cans were
printed at local Westfield malls across the country.
The
campaign also changed attitudes over the campaign, teens claimed it gave them a
‘very positive’ impression of Coke.
Scores
on ‘always doing new things’,‘is a brand I love’ and ‘for someone like me’ all
improved with the young adult audience.
The result was that
1.25 million more teens tried a Coke during the following summer and sales of
participating
Coca-Cola packages
rose by a phenomenal 11% in the US. ‘Share a Coke’ in the US was more
successful in driving sales
than in any previous
market that had run the campaign.
Coca-Cola attempts to
show millennials that they care for their audience
Naturally, the
#ShareaCoke campaign became part of social interaction.
company realized that
they need to shift their focus on the next largest generation (Moye 2015). By
using popular names on products, (Nguyen 2015). This is the first step in
building a life long relationship with millennial consumers.
Learning
it is important to
find out from millennials why they reacted so positively to #ShareaCoke.
To do this, we must
find out the motivations consumers had when sharing a Coke.
Coke
constantly listened to what consumers were doing with the campaign in order to
be able to surprise, maintain momentum and spark further conversations
throughout the campaign period.
Two
elements differentiated this campaign from others in the category. First,
packaging became an incredibly important
piece
of owned media. Second, the hashtag #ShareaCoke created a depth and breadth of
content and ways for teens to
get
involved and use the functionality of social media to amplify the idea.
millennials as
“impatient, practical, results oriented, multi-taskers, with non-linear
communication patterns” (2007). Knowing who millennials are makes understanding
Coca-Cola’s thought process in their #ShareaCoke campaign much easier.
In order for viral
marketing to occur, the content must be spreadable.
if a company video
contained funny content, people would watch and share because people enjoy
humor.
Campaigns stick with
people when the roles of marketers and audience are not distinct.
Social Network Success
The
platform quickly became home to 75% of Share a Coke public mentions. As a
result, we gained more than 100,000
new
followers.
Facebook:
Insights
summary
• Fan-led activity occurred at
purchase as thousands shared the exclusivity of finding their name or the names
of
their friends and families with their online communities
• #ShareaCoke had 89,000 uses on
Twitter and 496,000 uses on Instagram
• Fans of the programme were also
eager to share virtual bottles on ShareaCoke.com
• There was better than a 1:1 ratio
of visits (6.8 million) to virtual bottles made (6.1 million)
• The 14% share rate (against a
benchmark of 3–5%) meant over 800,000 virtual bottles were shared on
Facebook.
• 70% of public relations-driven
social posts included the campaign’s #ShareaCoke hashtag
• Organic celebrity posts generated
approximately 13.6 million impressions and 381,424 expressions
• Coca-Cola’s owned social channels
generated significant engagement. A robust content calendar of organic
work
helped provide a strong paid social cadence throughout the life of the
campaign.
• There were 51 million impressions
with an average engagement rate of 7.8% (the benchmark being 1.5%)
• Influencer tweets promoted via
@CocaCola delivered an engagement rate of 13.88%.
• There were 3.79 million
impressions with an average ‘like’ rate of 8.7% (the benchmark being 2–4%)
• There were 9.1 million impressions
and over 204,000 engagements resulting in an overall 2.3% engagement
rate
(on a par with the benchmark of 2.5%)
• Coca-Cola gained 9,000 new
followers since the start of the campaign bringing the total follower count to
over
118,000 followers (+8%)
• Paid support of organic posts
generated 105 million impressions by the campaign’s end
• There was a click-through rate of
2.16% and 11,760 shares
College
Humor:
• Content was amply promoted with 50
million impressions across the College Humor site and social, including
Jake
and Amir’s personal Twitter and Facebook accounts.
• The associated video delivered
over 1.3 million YouTube/site views and 18,000 likes.
5
US Coca-Cola – Case study
Niche.co:
• There were 67.6 million
impressions and 1.6 million expressions.
• Sixteen Vines were created and
there were more than 43.9 million views/loops that generated more than
900,000
total engagements.
• Impressions by post averaged two
million (twice the benchmark) and engagements by post ranged from
40,000
to 190,000 (30,000 is considered successful).
• Volume (+11% versus a year ago)
• Revenue (+11% versus a year ago)
• Share (+1.6% versus a year ago)
• Velocity (+10% versus a year ago)
References
References
Esterl,
Mike. “‘Share a Coke’ Credited With a Pop in Sales.” WSJ. N.p., 25 Sept. 2014.
Web. 21 July 2016.
“The
Share a Coke Story.” Connect Marketing. N.p., 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 21 July 2016.
Tarver,
Evan. “What Makes the ‘Share a Coke’ Campaign So Successful? (KO) |
Investopedia.” Investopedia. N.p., 07 Oct. 2015. Web. 21 July 2016.
“Coca-Cola
History ¦ World of Coca-Cola.” World of Coca-Cola. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July
2016.
Matheson,
Whitney. “Is Your Name on a Coke Bottle? Find out Now …” USA Today. Gannett,
2014. Web. 21 July 2016.
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