Sip on Success: How Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" Campaign Became a Viral Sensation and How it Can Inspire Your Business to do The Same
When I think about marketing campaigns that impacted my youth the most: this one comes to mind first.
Do any other Gen-Z/Millennial now adults remember going to the grocery store or gas station and seeing a wall of Coca-Cola products in the fridge and hoping to see your name? Or even sometimes they’d have a heartfelt generalized message like “family” or “friend”. My parents loved Diet Coke growing up, and coming home from the grocery store and surprising my dad with a bottle that had his name on it might be one of my core memories.
The "Share a Coke" campaign was a marketing strategy implemented by Coca-Cola in 2013. The campaign encouraged customers to purchase Coca-Cola products with personalized labels featuring their friends and family members' names. The idea behind the campaign was to create a sense of personal connection with the brand and to encourage customers to share the product with others.
The campaign was launched in Australia, but quickly went viral, and demand spread to other countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. To kick off the campaign, Coca-Cola introduced over 250 of the most popular names in each country, and then expanded the list to include thousands of additional names over time.
The campaign was a huge success and became an immediate viral sensation in the countries that followed. According to data from Coca-Cola, sales of the company's products increased by 2% in the countries where the campaign was launched. That might not sound like much but for a powerhouse like Coca-Cola, the campaign generated over $500 million in additional revenue for the company! Just because they added some text to the labels.
Social media played a significant role in the success of the campaign. Coca-Cola used platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to promote the campaign and encourage customers to share pictures of the personalized cans and bottles. The hashtag #ShareaCoke was used to track the campaign's progress and reach, customers were encouraged to post whenever they found their name!
In addition, the campaign was supported by a series of print and television ads, as well as in-store displays. The company also partnered with music festivals and sporting events to promote the campaign and provide customers with the opportunity to purchase personalized cans and bottles specifically for certain events and festivals.
The "Share a Coke" campaign can and does serve as inspiration for other businesses today looking to create a marketing campaign with viral potential that still speaks to a sense of community.
Here are a few key takeaways for the next time you’re brainstorming:
Create a sense of personal connection: By personalizing the labels on Coca-Cola products, the company was able to create a sense of personal connection with customers. This made them more likely to share the product with friends and family.
Use social media to your advantage: Coca-Cola used social media platforms to promote the campaign and encourage customers to share pictures of the personalized cans and bottles. This helped to create a sense of community and build buzz around the campaign.
Partner with other brands and events: Coca-Cola partnered with music festivals and sporting events to promote the campaign and provide customers with the opportunity to purchase personalized cans and bottles. This helped to increase the reach of the campaign and made it more accessible to a wider audience.
Use multiple channels of communication: The company supported the campaign with a series of print and television ads, as well as in-store displays. This helped to ensure that the campaign reached a wide audience and was able to generate significant revenue for the company.
Use Hashtags: The use of a specific hashtag- #ShareaCoke -helped Coca-Cola to track the campaign's progress, and reach and also measure the success rate of the campaign! It also helps that it encourages social conversation based on its very existence.
Have any ideas about how your business can create similar experiences for your audience? That’s what it’s really mostly about after all. The experience, and the memory. Hopefully, these key takeaways give you a few things to consider the next time you’re at the round table brainstorming marketing ideas. Are you inspired?
AUTHOR: Jacqueline DiPietro