Coca-Cola’s Revolutionary Campaign that Sparked Success on Social Media with the Use of User Generated Content
Due to their innovatively rich history of advertising campaigns that began in the late nineteenth century, Coca-Cola has since been the world’s leading sparkling beverage seller (The Coca-Cola Company, n.d.). The classic Coca-Cola bottle and Spencerian script can be recognized by almost anyone — and that’s exactly what the company aimed for. Over the decades, Coca-Cola’s advertising campaigns have included celebrity influencers, radio and television ads, and clever campaign names that help their consumers get to know their iconic brand on a new level.
Some of their most well-known campaigns include: “The Best Friend Thirst Ever Had,” “Have a Coke and a Smile,” “Always Coca-Cola,” and “Open Happiness” (The Coca-Cola Company, 2011). These campaign names allowed for the brand to bring to light the warmth, happiness, and inclusivity the brand lived to provide. Most recently, the Director of Digital Marketing of the South Pacific region for Coca-Cola based in Australia knew a recently pitched concept would be groundbreaking for their Summer 2011 campaign (Moye, 2016). Director, Lucie Austin, knew that they had the right campaign when she first saw her name on a Coca-Cola bottle (Moye, 2016).
Austin was searching for a new way to meet their Australian consumers face-to-face. By taking the Coca-Cola logo and replacing it with common names would change the way people viewed the very familiar Coke bottle. It would allow the consumer to feel a part of this world-wide brand. It would stir excitement through the country, increase sales during the summer, and bring people together to share a coke. The “Share A Coke” campaign had much success in Australia (Moye, 2016). Coca-Cola had sold more than 250 million name bottle and cans to a country with only 25 million residents (Moye, 2016). That success soon launched the same campaign the following summers in dozens of countries around the world. It was not until the summer of 2014 that it made its way to the United States of America.
The Campaign
With the groundbreaking success of the Australian summer campaign, the United States soon aimed to create its own outstanding results. The U.S. team aimed to spark conversation with this new design launch, but also to drive sales — specifically sales on the name bottles and cans. When it first launched in the U.S. they included 250 names for the campaign (Tarver, 2019).
Content Themes
The “Share A Coke” summer campaign was first launched with little to no traditional advertising in the U.S. (Fulgoni, 2015, p. 235). Coca-Cola decided to see how Millennials, teenagers at the time, would engage with the product (Fulgoni, 2015, p. 235). These “custom” Coca-Cola bottles and cans allowed teenagers to purchase them for their friends and family and share their purchases and gifts on social media. The spread of influence happened naturally as many people wanted to give or receive a Coke with their name on it. During this launch, the only paid media was search — leading organic interest and to traffic to their campaign site (Fulgoni, 2015, p. 235).
Quickly after, Coca-Cola began to incorporate television and online ads — but ultimately aimed to make their advertisements present in the digital world by urging their consumers to create user-generated content (UGC) by including the hashtag “#ShareACoke” in the caption of their posts or in their tweets (Fulgoni, 2015, p. 235). Along with this Call to Action (CTA) that brought the increase of UGC came their social strategy to use both paid and organic content on popular social media platforms such as: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr (Fulgoni, 2015, p. 236).
The content on these sites included illustrated graphics, videos, and still images that featured their “Share A Coke” bottles and cans.
This example from Coca-Cola’s Official United States Facebook page is one of the earliest online video advertisements on social media for this specific campaign. In the video, the bottle continues to spin revealing new names each time it turns. The copy for the social post is brief but provides vital information for the campaign. From this, we know that Coke bottle will now be sold with various names and that we are to share a coke with someone we know. Whether we find a Coke bottle with our name on it or a friend’s — It’s all about sharing in person and on social media. (Coca-Cola, Facebook, 2014).
Target Audiences
The target audience of the initial launch was geared towards a younger generation of consumers. Typically, those who would be able to purchase their own Coke bottle or can and that had the capability to post it to social media. This initial target audience’s response on social media invited others to do the same. Ultimately leading to Coca-Cola’s intended audience of everyone who has the ability to purchase a Coke. This concept of allowing a generation of tech/social media-savvy youths promoted the rise of the campaign on social media with little to know funding and effort from Coca-Cola (Fulgoni, 2015, p. 235).
Campaign Success
With Coca-Cola encouraging their audience to share photos of their Coke bottles and cans, UGC tagged with #ShareACoke increased and created a positive tone on social platforms. Within the first month of the campaign, there were approximately 125,000 posts across various social media platforms (Lukovitz, 2014). 96 percent of all tagged UGC was positive or neutral, leaving only 4 percent of negative feedback — typically from those who could not find their names on a bottle (Lukovitz, 2014).
Along with the positive growth and feedback on social media, Coca-Cola saw an increase in sales by 11 percent from 2013 (Fulgoni, 2015, p. 236).
Although most of the #ShareACoke posts were created by UGC, Coca-Cola did create content for social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. For Facebook specifically, they saw an increase of 25 million followers after the first summer of the campaign (Tarver, 2019). Quite a distinguishable increase also provided growth in their reach and engagement. Sine the campaign was so successful during its 2014 run in the United States, they continued it on in 2015 by adding an additional 1,000 names to the bottles and cans (Tarver, 2019). The amount of views on their online video advertisements grew tremendously. Exceeding their expectations and growing Coca-Cola’s presence on Facebook.
As the years progressed, Coca-Cola decided to add to the campaign and by 2016 they aligned with celebrity influencers and later extended the campaign to be “Share A Coke and A Song” (Tarver, 2019). With celebrity partnerships like Singer and Actress, Selena Gomez, and Major League Baseball Player, David Ortiz the amount of social media engagement continued to see exceedingly high numbers (Coca-Cola Facebook Engagement). Consumers could now not only find their names on Coke bottle and cans, but share lyrics from their favorite songs, support sports teams and also engage in popular culture moments.
Results
The results of the first “Share A Coke” U.S. summer campaign set up the success for the same campaign the years to follow. Coca-Cola had met and far beyond exceeded their goals for the campaign. With an increase in followers on all social sites, UGC, and Coke sales it is known to be one of the most successful campaigns in social media history (Tarver, 2019).
The Reason for Success
Going back to the Director of marketing in the South Pacific Region, Lucie Austin, believes that this campaign gave consumers the ability to “express themselves through a bottle of Coke,” and that this “campaign capitalized on the global trend of self-expression and sharing, but in an emotional way.” (McQuilken, 2014). With Coca-Cola tapping into the psychological nature of wanting to fit in, consumers became enthralled with wanting to have their name on one of the most recognizable sparkling beverage bottles (McQuilken, 2014). This, along with encouraging the consumers to share their name bottles brought upon an organic way to spread brand awareness on social media (“Coke’s “Share a Coke” Campaign,” 2014). Ultimately people lean into personalized products and tend to feel included and invited to share because they feel appreciated (“Coke’s “Share a Coke” Campaign,” 2014). Coca-Cola saw that they needed to meet their consumers in a new way, and it changed everything for the best.
In terms of platform and content success, Coca-Cola saw the most immediate results on Facebook. By being the most versatile platforms for content types it continued to see the most success in the first few years of the campaign, ultimately leading to an increase of 25 million followers.
Discussion
The “Share A Coke” campaign in the United States sparked a new way for companies to market their products on social media without needing a large advertising budget. The use of user-generated content is what took this campaign to a whole new level. During its launch in 2014, social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr were in full swing and apart of so many people’s lives — especially young people. Young people who wanted to be a part of something, share every aspect of their lives and document it on social media.
When this campaign launched in the summer of 2014, I can recall being “influenced” by peers on social media to find and purchase Coke bottles with my friend’s names on them. Everyone was sharing pictures of their name bottle and cans on social media and no one wanted to be excluded. For those of us that had more unique names, mine in particular, we could opt for a can that stated trendy terms like “BFF” or “Superstar,” or customize a can on the campaign website.
There was a can for everyone and that’s why it was so successful. Coca-Cola tapped into our basic human tendencies to realize that everyone wants to be included. We all, for the most part, go along with trends that come and go, and typically like to engage with others around us. By taking one of the most famous logos and replacing it with a customized name, Coca-Cola allowed for the consumer to take charge of the success of the campaign — and it paid off.
Conclusion and Future Application
Seeing how well Coca-Cola took their consumers into consideration when establishing this campaign almost a decade ago allows me to see that companies should always strive to please the buyer. This seems like an obvious step to do when running a company, but many miss the mark or do not fully understand the needs of their audience. Coca-Cola’s extensive history lends to the success of their business model and brand persona. By witnessing this campaign first hand and now analyzing the results, I will take this concept and business model into consideration for future projects and work endeavors. There is a reason why Coca-Cola has been the best-selling sparkling beverage company for 2 centuries.
References
Coke’s “Share a Coke” Campaign: An Integrated Marketing Success. (2014, October 1). Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://incitrio.com/cokes-share-a-coke-campaign-an-integrated-marketing-success/
Foster, J. (2020, January 9). Top 10 Most Popular Soft Drinks (Sodas). Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.caffeineinformer.com/top-10-soft-drinks
Fulgoni, G. (2015). How Brands Using Social Media Ignite Marketing and Drive Growth Measurement of Paid Social Media Appears Solid But Are the Metrics for Organic Social Overstated? Journal of Advertising Research, 232–236. doi:10.2501/JAR-2015–004
Lukovitz, K. (2014, July 28). ‘Share A Coke’ Results Lead Summer Campaigns. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/230889/share-a-coke-results-lead-summer-campaigns.html
McQuilken, T. (2014, September 26). ‘Share a Coke’ Campaign Grows Sales For First Time in 10 Years, WSJ Reports. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/coca-colas-share-coke-campaign-grows-sales-first-time-10-years-160433/
Moye, J. (2016, July 16). Share a Coke How the Groundbreaking Campaign Got Its Start ‘Down Under’. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/au/news/share-a-coke-how-the-groundbreaking-campaign-got-its-start-down-under
Tarver, E. (2020, May 16). Why the ‘Share a Coke’ Campaign Is So Successful. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/100715/what-makes-share-coke-campaign-so-successful.asp
The Coca-Cola Company. (n.d.). About Us Coca-Cola History. Retrieved from https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/about-us/coca-cola-history/
The Coca-Cola Company. (2011). A Short History of the Coca-Cola Company 125 Years of Sharing Happiness [Brochure]. Author. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/our-company/history/coca-cola-a-short-hisotry-125-years-booklet.pdf
https://www.trivisioncreative.com/3-reasons-why-share-a-coke-campaign-is-successful/
