Aims and Objectives of the Campaign
Discuss about the Coke Coca Cola Campaign.
“The Share a Coke” marketing idea relies on the belief that consumers find it hard to resist personalization of products (“incitrio,” 2017.) The campaign will employ above the line (ATL) marketing strategies for example television, below the line strategies, for instance, billboard, innovative strategies like allowing consumers to custom make their bottles (Heble, 2016). As Heble (2016) explains, Coca-cola is a massive product that will promote its success in the online platform whereby the hashtag #shareacoke will be used to encourage customers to share the bottles with their names on Twitter and other social media sites. The campaign appreciates and celebrates the powered of the first name in a fun, social, and playful way and that to boost the sales of Coke (Moye, 2014). The Campaign will print most popular names in the across the world and for those who would not find their name on the cans and bottles, they were given an opportunity to a customized bottle for the same retail price (“The Share a Coke Story” 2015).
The objectives of the campaign include:
- Connect as well as interact with consumers on a personal level.
- Make Coca- Cola the most trending drink all over the globe.
- Make Coke the most noticeable brand that makes the consumers love the brand
- Engage and encourage social media presence (“Share a Coke Campaign Post-analysis,” 2014)
- Boost the sales of Coke all over the world (Go, 2014).
- Statement of Communication Problems
Even though the campaign is a genius idea and is likely to interest many customers, there would be a backlash from angry fans all over the globe. The campaign has led to a couple of public relation issues, for instance, Coke has been associated with cavities, obesity, and diabetes and many health (“incitrio,” 2014). Coca-Cola has therefore been criticized for their unhealthy products as many health groups continue to urge consumers to make healthier choices.
The campaign is to target the 50 percent of the young adults who had not tried coke. For Coca-Cola to successfully market the “Share a Coke” campaign will use Twitter, bloggers, and Facebook to spread the emotional message (“Share a Coke Campaign,”2016). The message appeals to the masses. However, the target audience is between 18 and 34 years of age (“Share a Coke,” n.d). The center of the marketing campaign is the middle-class households of more than 3. The consumers include young professional, teenagers, and multicultural families (“Share a Coke,” n.d”).
According to Morse (2014, Feb), The psychographics that Coca-Cola takes advantage of values for instance happiness, unity, and diversity (as cited in “Share a Coke,” n. d). Moreover, Coca-Cola aims to attract consumers with a busy as well as a mobile lifestyle to sell its convenience perception. As The Private Label Food and Drink Consumer (2010, December) states, Coca-Cola takes advantage of consumers who are brand conscious (as cited in “Share a Coke,” n.d”).
Stakeholder Analysis and Target Market
Stakeholders represent a group of organizations or people with either direct or indirect stake in support of a company or an organization (Maelo, 2016). Stakeholders influence, and are at the same time influenced by the policies, objectives, and actions of a company. Interested parties in an organization include unions, creditors, directors, customers, the government, and the suppliers. In the Coca-Cola Company, Stakeholders are:
Customers are usually categorized under external stakeholders (Maelo, 2016). Customers in the greatly influence the Coca-Cola business strategy. That is why the company invests many resources to ensure that it achieves consumer satisfaction. On the other hand, consumers often prefer to purchase a product from trusted companies and therefore affect the sales which coca cola can make.
Suppliers, as well as business partners, are key to the success of Coca-Cola Corporation. For example, the help the organization deliver their products and services which refresh people around the world (Maelo, 2016). It is, therefore, critical for Coca- Cola to have a stable, ethical, and sound Supply base in local communities and regions all over the globe. Also, the organization has a responsibility of ensuring that its direct suppliers abide by the values provided the appropriate laws and regulations (Maelo, 2016).
Coca-Cola takes part in investor assessment and provides briefs for its investors. Equally, the organization incorporates sustainable performance in its annual financial reports. In so doing, creditors have a significant influence on Coca-Cola’s business strategies as well as decisions (Maelo, 2016).
Coca-Cola has joined with various governments to implement sports as well as fitness programs. Also, the firm has committed to the action on diet, health, and is a member of, among another union, the Union of European Beverages Association (UEBA) (Maelo, 2016).
The owners of Coca-Cola according to Maelo (2016) are categorized as the internal stakeholders. Moreover, they have a direct stake in the firm since all activities their money. As such, the owners of Coca-Cola affect the business as well as decision-making processes in the company.
Employees are valuable because they help coca cola evaluate whether it is a good employer. Similarly, when the Coca-Cola wants surveys on the impact of company’s standards, it is the employees who carry out these surveys (Maelo, 2016).
The main message in the “Share a Coke” campaign is to reunite the old consumers and persuade new ones especially those who recently tried coke (“Share a Coke Campaign,” 2016). The presence of the consumer’s names in a global brand will generate a buzz because it has never been done in any part of the world. Starbucks has been writing customers’ names on taking away cups. However this campaign those consumers whose names have not been captured to individually customize their bottle and cans, an experience that Starbucks does not offer. Sharing photos of customized bottles over the social media may be the beginning of a real conversation with people who have lost touch for a while (“Share a Coke Campaign,” 2016).
Key Message
Apparently, the product connects with the consumers on an individual level. Coca-Cola has been known for emotionally connecting with the consumers through personalization. This campaign will take the consumer personalization of products to another level. First, with the printing out of the first 150-200 common names, people will run around retail centers in search of Coke with their name on it. Sharing of photos with the hashtag #shareacoke on Twitter and other social media sites drives more individualized media content hence many shares across the web. This strategy will be evaluated through how many shares the hashtag will gain at the end of the campaign. Because the media particularly television picks up on the most trending topic on the web, when the hashtag become one of the tops most shared topic, most news outlets will start a discussion it and inviting the viewer to contribute to the topic.
The campaign targets the young adult who without a doubt actively participates in social media (Heble, 2016). Therefore, the center of this strategy is to create a platform on the Company’s social media page and website so that customers can customize a bottle with their name on it. This strategy will give the consumers a feeling of ownership, and they will be excited to have their names on a global brand. This strategy will be evaluated by counting the number of customized bottles and cans created online. Facebook, Twitter as well as other social media sites usually rank the most visited pages and put their links on their home page. Therefore when over a million customers visit the Coca-Cola home page, it will be most likely capture the social media attention and be index on the home page where every user in that particular site will see it when they log in.
The “Share a Coke” campaign will be rolled out via various channels, for instance, television commercials, and newspapers (Heble, 2016). However, it is important to stress that social media will be the first place to start as to test the publicity of the campaign. Consumers will be encouraged to send an SMS with their friends’ name which would be displayed live on a billboard in a prime position (Heble, 2016). This strategy will be assessed by determining the number of SMS sent and the number of impressions on social media. The media like where the attention of the public is. Therefore if many people send messages with their friends’ name to be displayed on the billboard, the media will cover it.
Campaign Strategies
The message “Share a Coke” is a call for customers to share their memorable moments with family and friends on social media (Heble, 2016). When for example friends are watching the movie in different places, they can use social media to analyze different scene while sharing their custom made bottles. In so doing, there is a higher chance that they will also use the #shareacoke hashtag to show their friend that they have their individualized coke. The call to action strategy will be evaluated by how much time Coca-Cola was used as a means of self-expression on social media.
So as to start conversations, Coca-Cola will print out 150 of the most popular names in country labels of Coke cans and bottles as a first action. For those who will not find their customized bottles, Coca- Cola website and its Social media page will be configured to allow the individual create their bottle. Television reaches up to 30 percent of the population in various parts of the world. Therefore the “the share a coke” message will be displayed during prime time. Coca-Cola will partner with the musician to create custom made songs to market the campaign specifically. The #shareacoke will be started to allow consumers to express their memorable moments when sharing a coke.
Soda contains a lot of sugar and Coca-Cola being among them; the campaign will experience resistance from groups advocating for healthy low sugar diets. Also, some names may not be acceptable in some parts of the world, and therefore the company will have to screen them leading to a feeling of discrimination among some customers.
Conclusion
The campaign will start in one Country, Australia as a test. However, if this is successful, it will mean that the clients in other nations will have to wait for their custom made bottles. Coca-Cola is a global brand, so it is within reason to anticipate that the “Share a Coke” campaign will be picked up by almost all the media outlets around the world as soon as it trends. The strategies and tactics mentioned above will be used to market the campaign. However, this strategy will be customized to suit different markets in every country which Coca-Cola has its presence.
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Moye, J. (2016). ‘One Brand’ Strategy, New Global Campaign Unite Coca-Cola Trademark. [Online]. Available at https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/taste-the-feeling-launch
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Go, R. (2014). Share A Coke: Case Study. [Online]. Available at https://www.slideshare.net/RanzelleGo/share-a-coke-case-study-41551448?next_slideshow=1
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