Celebrate the feeling. Celebrate Coca-Cola!
From ‘Drink Coca Cola’ to ‘Red, White & You’ to #OpenHappiness and finally, to #TasteTheFeeling. The brand has definitely come a long way from 1886 to 2017, ruling the world market of beverages over a century.
Coca Cola Company has been making not just a refreshment soda, but creating a feeling with it as well. Today, Coca Cola promotes an idea, binding the world as one through their campaigns which are timeless and classic, signifying the brand’s essence over the time that celebrates the feeling of sharing Coke with each other.
So when I say Coca Cola has been an Experiential Marketing veteran in the world of brands, that’s because I have a lot of campaigns to associate with the Coca Cola Company.
Unveiling the experiential marketing side of Coca Cola
Let me highlight you the major attempt of Coca Cola in the experiential marketing arena and that begins from the ‘Coca Cola… Real’ campaign, launched in 2003, where the objective was that the consumers were becoming more concerned about the authenticity, genuineness and, sought ‘realness in a brand’. This was understood by the Coca Cola Company and hence, incorporated in their campaigns.
Chris Lowe, chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola North America, said, “Coca-Cola…Real campaign was designed to reflect authentic moments in life and the natural role the brand plays in adding that the campaign would vary from country to country to reflect the differences in ‘reality’.”
Well since then, Coca Cola continued the usage of experiential marketing in each of their ad campaigns. Not taking you too far, but showcasing the recent eminent Coca Cola ad campaigns will #OpenHappiness and make you #TasteTheFeeling of what I have been talking about.
Coca Cola Open Happiness Campaign
Coca Cola Open Happiness campaign was one such exciting experiential marketing venture that significantly shows how well Coca Cola understands its consumers and achieves a point of fulfilment and satisfaction in them. With their Open Happiness campaign, Coca Cola focused on giving back to its consumers and they marketed the concepts in a very massive yet, experiential ways.
Let’s have a look on one of the experiential campaigns under #OpenHappiness, known as, Coca Cola Happiness Machine!
- 2010 – Coca Cola Happiness Machine
Launched in 2010, this open happiness video is a touching experiential ad campaign.
Dispensing happiness is unique and Coca Cola showed this in a very beautiful way. In 2010, this Open Happiness ad campaign was carried across the globe in universities, where students are presented with the installation of a Coca-Cola vending machine, which very creatively delivers ‘doses of happiness’ which then get multiplied. The students on a college campus are fans of the brand wondering, “What’s happening?” while they could be seen happier than ever before. Very smartly does Coca Cola conclude its Open Happiness ad campaign, signing off with, “Where Will Happiness Strike Next?”
Well this experiential marketing campaign of Coca Cola was relatable to the campaign ideology, the concept was engaging on an emotional level, establishing a connection of Coca Cola with the feeling of happiness.
One can say, that Coca Cola Open Happiness campaign is consumer oriented as the brand believes to be and at the same time, it’s always working towards making a difference through their campaigns, activities, and TVCs. Through the Open Happiness ad campaign, Coca Cola is providing a memory of a lifetime to carry, for those who participated in this Happiness vending machine idea but moreover, an experience to remember for those who watched this online, wishing somewhere to be a part of it. This impact, is the result of, the execution of a successful experiential marketing campaign.
The same idea of distributing happiness when showed such amazing heart-warming response to Coca Cola, they expanded their idea from a fixed source of happiness through a vending machine, to a moving source of joy with the Happiness Truck!
- 2012 – Coca Cola Happiness Truck
After the Happiness Machine striking in universities across the globe, Happiness Truck made sure that, the power of joy crosses borders and each person is gifted with happiness. This experiential marketing venture of Coca Cola not only is a delight to watch, but an experience to remember for the people who got the chance to indulge in it.
Coca Cola, through this campaign supported their tagline of #OpenHappiness and made this Open Happiness ad campaign a huge success. After such an indulgent marketing move, where a brand makes their consumer feel supremely important, how can it not have a following as good as they have!
Dispensing Coca Cola and equating the feeling & meaning of ‘Happiness’ with a product was to be captured, which their Experiential Marketing campaign did well, i.e. highlighting #OpenHappiness.
- 2014 – Coca Cola Hello Happiness
This experiential marketing oriented Open Happiness ad campaign was specifically designed targeting the market of UAE, where Coca Cola is not popular. So, to increase brand awareness and ‘brand love’, Coca Cola Company came up with the Hello Happiness campaign, targeting the large Asian population, most specifically the ‘Blue Collar Workers’, who leave their families behind and come to UAE in search of a better future.
Developing a successful campaign meant, creating something which the workers could relate to. Here, Coca Cola helped these people connect to their families back home, more often, which is through the Hello Happiness Phone Booth.
Coca Cola invented and installed this phone booth which was powered by Coca Cola bottle caps, extending the value of their products to currency. In the span of 1 month, locking 1,40,000 minutes, 3 million views online and over 820 million media impressions, which accounted for 13.55% increase in brand love, in a country which has hardly talked about advertising, was talking about Hello Happiness & how they could get involved. It ended spreading happiness to every demographic in UAE & beyond. Coca Cola incorporated the attention for brands and made everyone wanting to live the experience that a selected handful of people got, which they will cherish forever, making an everlasting impression on the minds of consumers.
- 2014 – Coca Cola #WishUponACoke
Coca Cola came up with a heartwarming experiential marketing induced, brand activation for Asian expats in Dubai. Coca Cola Open Happiness marketing strategy targeted to the half of UAE’s population which is made up of expats who deeply miss their families and make regular trips back home.
#WishUponACoke campaign focused on the Asian expat community in UAE which was an Open Happiness ad campaign which again reflected the consumer oriented campaigning that Coca Cola believes in. Through this campaign, they again made sure of maximum customer engaging ideas & concepts, producing an experiential marketing campaign that not only increased the brand value but also, increased the relevance factor that Coca Cola wanted to associate ‘Happiness’ with their brand.
The concept, #WishUponACoke campaign in the Middle was created in October 2014, with activation taking place at Dubai Airport. Coca Cola also did an on-ground activation, by installing special several “Wish Booths” across Dubai powered by Coca-Cola bottle caps again, inviting the hardworking ex-pats in Dubai who are from many parts in Asia to make a wish for their loved ones, resulting in another viral open happiness video.
Coca-Cola kicked off its ‘Wish upon a Coke’ campaign on 22 December 2014 at Terminal 1 of Dubai Airport. Through a one-day activation, it sought to delight those flying back home in the peak holiday season in need of extra baggage allowance. As part of Coca-Cola’s new #WishUponACoke campaign, we decided to surprise people on their way home for the holidays at one of the busiest airports in the world – Dubai International Airport. To do this, we created a special label for Coke bottles that doubled as an excess baggage tag. Passengers unable to carry many presents because of overweight luggage were then surprised with our special bottles, allowing them an extra 5 kilos of happiness – a wish come true! – Coca Cola YouTube Text
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDBNRY46Kjs
As you saw in the Open Happiness video, Coca-Cola promoters approached the expats who were struggling with excess baggage, were offered a bottle of Coca Cola with a surprise on the second label on the bottle. This surprise was an excess baggage tag for 5 kg, making the people not only happy but feel grateful to Coca Cola on living the opportunity of taking all the gifts and things that they had got for their family, which in return made them happy. This associated Coca Cola with a memorable experience for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh_oWpoBpmE
Based on the success of ‘Hello Happiness’ campaign film, many wish booths were set up in cricket fields, parks, labor camps and shopping malls in Dubai. Out all those who made wishes, four people were selected at random and then the #WishUponACoke team traveled to fulfil their wishes and deliver happiness.
Coca Cola Open Happiness Marketing Strategy in Conclusion
In my view, the Coca Cola Open Happiness Marketing Strategy highlighted the idea that when it comes to happiness as in – the feeling; the consumer should be able to relate that feeling with their brand. By giving doses of happiness, Coca Cola Company created a memory in the consumers’ lives and imprinted on their mind through the experience provided from their campaigns.
The experiential marketing campaigns that were set up, were set with the idea of consumers being able to relate with the campaigns should be emotionally engaging, it should bring out insights from the consumer that contribute to their happy feeling and they are able to associate the happy feeling with Coca Cola.
For Coca Cola Open Happiness Marketing Strategy, the basic idea was to see Coca Cola not as a soda refreshment, but as a bond of commonality between all people, that is universally loved – which can be done by the feeling of happiness. If Coca Cola’s mission is to sell its product to everyone in the world, it will have to find mediums to incorporate & feature all kinds of people in its ads & campaigns, including the most downtrodden. So, to persuade them of the message that Coca-Cola is synonymous with happiness, Experiential Marketing campaigns ideally fit, because making someone feel connected to your brand through a feeling, has far more impact than just selling the product and its idea.
Coca Cola Zero Sugar – Drinkable Ad
Coca-Cola Great Britain launched its biggest campaign of the decade as Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, under its new global One Brand strategy which hit shelves across the UK in 2016. The launch in April, is the biggest in any marketing strategy. It’s marked as the next step in Coca Cola Company’s strategy as it moves from ‘offering choice’ to ‘shaping choice’. It’s the latest action which brought out Coca Cola Company’s £30 million reformulation and new product development programme.
This campaign was very new and well-strategized, which persuades the people who love Coca-Cola to try Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. All the marketing activity, from advertising to experiential marketing, was focused on making consumers reconsider their view of sugar free soft drinks and indulge in the new product.
This experiential marketing initiative has not only presented forth the cutting-edge technology used in the campaign and OOH activities, but also, portrayed Coca Cola’s outside-the-box creativity in dispense more than just soft drinks. With every move in this campaign, the consumers are not only refreshed in entertaining & engaging this new idea, but also wanting to try out living this experience. This experience offered a sensory experience of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar for consumers in UK. Through this, people were encouraged to join the interactive experiences by sharing personalized content, and by participating in the #TasteTheFeeling conversation across social channels.
Welcome to Coca Cola #TasteTheFeeling
Coca Cola #TasteTheFeeling is the latest campaign launched by the brand that revolves around a new business research, and follows a new campaign approach, which unifies one brand idea, i.e. all Coke Trademark brands will be united in one global creative campaign: ‘Taste the Feeling’.
“We are reinforcing that Coca-Cola is for everybody. Coca-Cola is one brand with different variants, all of which share the same values and visual iconography. People want their Coca-Cola in different ways, but whichever one they want, they want a Coca-Cola brand with great taste and refreshment.” – Chief Marketing Officer Marcos de Quinto
The idea behind, #TasteTheFeeling is that, the simple pleasure of drinking Coca Cola, any variant of the brand instead will make the moment special. Through this campaign, the element of positioning Coca Cola as a simple pleasure in the everyday simple life is congregated in three words, ‘Taste the Feeling’.
Coca Cola #TasteTheFeeling campaign emphasizes to bring life into the idea of drinking any Coca Cola is a simple pleasure that makes everyday moments more special, which means associating feelings with the brand & its products. While, Coca Cola’s award-winning Open Happiness ad campaign focused heavily on one feeling specifically for the last seven years; here, #TasteTheFeeling will feature universally on storytelling about relating different feelings with one brand, which is, Coca Cola, reflecting both functional & emotional aspects of the Coca-Cola experience.
- 2016 – Coca Cola Last Customer
As you saw in the video, how beautifully it captures different feelings, and associates Coca Cola with it. Well, that’s the objective of #TasteTheFeeling campaign.
The idea behind this experiential marketing campaign for Coca Cola was to give back to those who are always ensuring on holidays in shopping places, restaurants, & malls that our loved ones get the best of things & moments to enjoy. This campaign was in the outlook of connecting with those people, who are a part of a different economic class but belong to the same. They may be financially different but, belong to be honored in this one world. The idea was to provide them an experience that they have never dreamt of. It had to be emotionally appealing and needed to be carried out on a large scale to make them feel equal and provide them a feeling through Coca Cola that ‘tastes of connection’ and creates a lifelong memory.
Coca Cola ‘The Last Customer’ really encapsulates the experience of the ‘last customer’ in those places, who deserves to feel as happy as he/she makes feel others. This experiential marketing activity not only increased the brand value but also increased the brand love for Coca Cola.
- 2017 – Coca Cola Taste the Feeling Song
“No one can stop, me when I taste the feeling.
Nothing could ever bring me, down…
No one can stop, me when I taste the feeling.
Nothing could ever bring me, down…”
This new anthem of Coca Cola is the promotional song for their new campaign, #TasteTheFeeling was launched in March 2016. The song is sung by Swedish DJ Avicii and Australian singer, Conrad Sewell.
After launching #TasteTheFeeling campaign, it was very important to connect with the consumers, with the approach of One-brand strategy and the best way to connect to people’s heart and soul is, Music.
This video is an experiential marketing technique used by Coca-Cola in its promotion for the new campaign telling a story of Coca Cola and its relation with the moments of a consumers’ life. Since Coca Cola is central to each moment; each feeling in our everyday life, that without it, our story seems incomplete today. In the video, it shows how well Coca Cola has imbibed itself into our life that it plays a lead role, amplifying the mood & emotion. In every interaction, Coca Cola has become a part of our experience & life journey.
