Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 1
COCA-COLA’S TASTE THE FEELING ADVERT ANALYSIS
By [Name}
MKT 365 - Advertising and Beyond: Customer-Centric Brand Development
ASU
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 2
Executive Summary
Advertising, in recent years, has become an important tool for companies in the 21st
century. The most common reason why individuals and companies design advertisements is to
ensure that they sell their products, ideas or services through persuasive messages, images, words
of mouth, text sounds, videos or music. Coca-Cola’s adverting is one of the most powerful and
influential methods that it uses to send messages to customers across the world about their brand.
Its Taste the Feeling Advert has various features that make it the most creative forms of digital
advertising. This advertisement is tagged at the emotion and the feelings of the customer and
specifically the millennial generation given the youthful actors involved in the video advert
through the use of pathos in accordance with Maslow’s motivation-need theory that explains the
hierarchy of needs. Images in this ad include characters selected based on the type of audience
Coca-Cola is targeting to sell its brand. It uses texts such as “Coke” and “Friends with Stories” to
appeal to its audience. Recommendation for a communication campaign for this company
include using an ad that can make the audience thirsty to make it effective, putting a star in the
advert to create a positive feeling towards the brand and using animation to foster creativity, cut
on costs of creating the ad and yielding better results.
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 3
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. 3
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... 4
COCA-COLA’S TASTE THE FEELING ADVERT ANALYSIS ........................................... 5
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 5
The Ad Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 5
About the Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert .................................................................... 6
Semiotic analysis of the advert.................................................................................................... 7
The use of Pathos/Emotion and Feelings ................................................................................ 8
Targeted audience .................................................................................................................. 10
The images in the advert ........................................................................................................ 11
Texts used in the advert ......................................................................................................... 11
New Campaign communication Recommendation ................................................................... 12
An ad that can make audience thirsty .................................................................................... 12
Put a star in the advertisement ............................................................................................... 14
Use unrealistic images ........................................................................................................... 16
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 17
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 18
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 4
List of Figures
Figure 1: Semiotic analysis six of Coca-Cola’s leading ads ........................................................... 8
Figure 2: Illustration of how other companies use thirst-evoking images .................................... 14
Figure 3: Celebrity advertising Illustration ................................................................................... 16
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 5
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis
Introduction
Advertising, in recent years, has become an important tool for companies in the 21st
century. It is a message from companies or individuals designed to promote a service, an idea or
a product. The most common reason why individuals and companies design advertisements is to
ensure that they sell their products, ideas or services through persuasive messages, images, words
of mouth, text sounds, videos or music. The other purpose of advertising among firms and
companies across the world is to create or design favorable images for their products as well as
the companies themselves. According to Khang, et al. (2016, p.541), advertising is one of the
comparatively fastest and the cheapest way in which companies can inform a wide geographic
area covering a large number of people about the service or products being sold by the company
and pursued them to buy the product or services by attributing its features to the needs of such
audiences or target customers. The Coca-Cola Company is one of such companies that has used
advertisements strategically in a global context, capturing the attention and interest of various
customers from various cultures, regions, religions and walks of life. It has various
advertisements both on television, print and digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and
even its websites.
The Ad Analysis
Coca-Cola’s adverting is one of the most powerful and influential methods that it uses to
send messages to customers across the world about their brand. Coca-Cola has been keen in
regard to its advertising strategies based on thorough research given the fact that the company
sells its Coca-Cola drink globally among different cultures and markets. Khang, et al. (2016,
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 6
p.547) states that designers of advertisements keenly observe every little change that occurs in
the society and ensures that it tracks key social changes that touch on its products and tailors
advertising meant to address such changes. These changes include changes in the life of the mind
of the people done through analyzing their behavior elicited by the changes. Telukunta and
Rathore (2016, p.52) posits that researching the little change in the society is helpful because it
allows Coca-Cola to create advertisements that stick to the mind of the targeted customers
reminding them of the product every time they want to make drink purchases.
About the Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert
As this advert opens, the viewer is shown a glass filled with Coca-cola and ice cubes and
what follows this view is numerous wonderful moments of friendship, excitement and vibrancy
of love and tenderness. Also, the advert shows the ability of Coca-Cola to be available in all
aspects of life of the customers. It also shows the customer, through its vibrant actors that it is
involved in their everyday life of everyone with specific target being the youth. According to the
Coca-Cola website (updated 2019) on this advert, there is no friendship, fun and moments of
love that is complete without the presence of a Coca-cola refreshment drink. Leo and Kuntjara
(2017, p.8) proclaims that Coca-Cola through this advert informs the viewer that it is a
companion of joy and fun. Also in this advert video, one can see a girl who is skiing and the
message that accompanies it says, “ice with friends, Friends with stories, stories with fire and fire
with Coca-Cola.” These features make this advertisement one of the most creative, imaginative,
emotional and peaceful to watch and with appealing music to hear and dance to it. In general, it
appeals to the eye and to the ears.
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Semiotic analysis of the advert
In marketing, and advertising in specific, semiotics play a significant role in determining
the nature of the advert. According to Rifa’I (2010, p.3), states that semiotics is a general theory
of symbols and signs and one of the most important disciplines in advertising, branding and
marketing communication. Jabbar (2016, p.9) indicates that semiotics involves the analysis of
how an advertising company uses performative, verbal and visual elements in strengthening their
abilities to reach their potential clients. Most of these elements include cultural symbols, rituals,
colors, logos, iconic individuals, the physical environment, tag lines, texts and other elements.
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Digital Video Advert is an advert that makes Coca-Cola’s
advertising one of the most creative forms of digital advertising. This is due to the various
elements based on consumer behavior that the company included in the making of this
advertisement (Telukunta & Rathore, 2016, p.52). This advertisement is tagged at the emotion
and the feelings of the customer and specifically the millennial generation given the youthful
actors involved in the video advert. Research conducted by Lee and Hong (2016, p. 361)
indicates that if a company want the targeted customers for its brand to become loyal to it, or to
become that brand’s ambassadors, then it is important to appeal to their emotions and feeling in
creation of the advert for best results as first, it makes them care about the brand. Below is an
illustration of semiotic analysis six of Coca-Cola’s leading ads.
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Figure 1: Semiotic analysis six of Coca-Cola’s leading ads
Source: Leo and Kuntjara (2017, p.9)
The use of Pathos/Emotion and Feelings
The advert takes the viewer through various scenes of love and friendship. The first scene
of this advert, the viewer is shown a girl who is skiing on ice and then followed by a scene
showing a group of friends who are having fun throwing ice on each other, others dancing to the
music while kissing not in the most common places but in a library. In simple sense, these
opening scenes were just designed by the company to ensure that it affects the feelings of the
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 9
viewer which can be a potential customer for the brand. These scenes were also made based on a
great deal of knowledge on consumer behavior relating to the brand. Kaur (2013, p.1062)
provides an explanation about the motivation-need theory, stating that this theory coined by
Abraham Maslow provides the hierarchy of needs and how people fulfill them through five-
steps, also known as the hierarchy of needs. In the five steps, the first need, to the fifth one is
arranged regarding its priority and importance. Therefore, Kaur (2013, p.1062) indicates
physiological (survival) as the first need, then safely, followed by love, esteem and lastly the
need for self-actualization. This advert satisfies this theory because it shows the need for the
coca-cola customers to survive by taking the drink to quench their thirst by the open act of
pouring the drink into the glass and in the third scene, after having fun; she drinks it with a smile.
Safety is shown by the need to have fun, not alone but with friends. Friends and family are a
source of security. It also appeals to it through the girl skiing with safety jackets, glasses and
helmet.
The Maslow’s motivation-need theory also explains about love as a third step in
understanding consumer behavior regarding the needs hierarchy. The marketers, according to
this theory not only appeals creates awareness but also appeals to the feeling and emotion
relating to love that attaches the customer to the product emotionally (Kaur, 2013, p.1063).
Further, the theory indicates that consumers, on the fourth step, look for products that meet their
need for motivation or that increases their esteem and lastly a product that allows them to attain
self-actualization. Coca-Cola’s advert above is designed based on these elements of motivation-
need theory. It makes the viewer feel nostalgic when watching the advert because seeing the
people kissing in the library, and parting in one of the scenes holding their coca-cola and the
scene showing a young couple sharing one coca-cola bottle, sipping it while smiling makes the
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viewer miss the love and fun that comes with friends and dating, a common phenomenon in the
society today (Telukunta & Rathore, 2016, p.52). It also informs the viewer that joining a family
and friends and having fun with them while taking a bottle of coca-cola will boost their self-
esteem in the same way as the actors in the clip and eventually, after all the fun and happiness,
he or she will have achieved self-actualization through the events such as skiing, dancing in the
parties and the love and bonding that comes with the dates while sipping it.
Targeted audience
Consumer targeting is an important aspect of marketing because it allows a company to
create advertisements that are geared towards persuading the targeted customers to purchase the
product. According to Verhoef, et al. (2017, p.2), consumer targeting is important because if a
company tries to talk to everyone in their adverts, it becomes a difficult endeavor as the
messages will become generic, vague and it will not resonate with them. Therefore, Verhoef, et
al. (2017, p.2), suggests that using direct and specific communication for specific segment of the
market will yield better results because it is likely that a large number of audience in that
segment will respond to the advert’s message, hence increasing sales. This is an important aspect
of this coca-cola advert as it targets youthful audiences also referred to as the millennial. It tries
to connect with them through direct and specific communication. Ochonogor and Nwachukwu
(2019, p. 28) confirms this type of advertising used by Coca-Cola to target youth In Nigeria and
other parts of the world by stating that the advert portrays a lifestyle that tend to promote hip and
fun associate with youths. Also, the context and the accompanying activities such as dating and
partying is also associated with the life of youth. It is clear that this company understands that the
millennial youth are looking for excitement and fun as a way of shunning boredom. Through the
Coca-Cola’s website (2019), it argues that it is one of the best partners in all the moments of fun
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such as celebrating anniversaries with one’s boyfriend or girlfriend or when taking time off for
personal refreshment and relaxation.
The images in the advert
In advertising, images are quite important for the consumers to relate to the advert.
According to McStay (2016, p.43), image sin advertising represents the context and the selected
characters specific to the targeted audience and advertisers use such images for the viewers to
relate with the messages, the brand being advertised and their needs at specific time. The other
purpose of using a certain image is because they have the ability to capture the attention of the
audience (McStay, 2016, p.43). In this advert, the characters have been selected based on the
type of audience Coca-Cola is targeting to sell its brand to, depending on their research on their
behavioral patterns. In this case, young girls and boys and youthful characters partying and
having fun are used and the most obvious assumption from the clip is that this ad’s audience is
already aware of the brand as well as the drink. What comes out clearly, as stated by
Mikhailitchenko, et al. (2009, p.932) is that the purpose of this advertisement is primarily to help
the audience recall the brand and the drink. It is because the choices of images used by the
designer are selected from the targeted audience’s regular life, hence representing their lifestyle;
the millennial dressing, fun activities, clubbing, partying and dancing.
Texts used in the advert
The advert uses various texts as a way of communicating specific messages relating to
their brand. They are normally used by companies in their adverts to ensure that their concepts
are understood by the targeted audience (Jabbar 2016, p.9). Coca-Cola advert above features
various texts used for the purpose of informing the audiences. For instance, in the opening scene,
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 12
the gals containing ice cubes with the coke drink have been labeled “Coca-Cola” and even the
bottle containing the coke drink is labeled “coke” and “Coca-Cola.” As the ad plays to the end,
these texts reappear several times. Also, there are messages such as “Friends with stories,” which
according to the youthful general means the brand brings about the need to share and deepen
friendships, it produces very colorful friendships and it is recommended for a time when hanging
out with friends. Rifa’I (2010, p.4) asserts that these texts help the audience in recalling the
brand as well as the company in driving its brand recognition.
New Campaign communication Recommendation
A new campaign that Coca-Cola can use that will make a difference for its brand can
entail a wide array of features or elements that could make the customers yearn more or find
using its brand irresistible. So far, the company is facing a lot of challenges and competition
from other top soft drink companies such as Pepsi which necessitates a need for better campaigns
that appeal to the masses. Below are some recommendations for a new campaign that could help
in achieving these goals. The following advert characteristics will help in making a good
campaign.
An ad that can make audience thirsty
There are numerous tricks that companies such as Coca-Cola could use in order to
influence their customers to buy the products. One of the ways is that Coca-Cola can make an
advert that makes its coke drink seem fresh. Kim, Choi, and Wakslak (2019, p.3) asserts that the
use of high-quality video of crystal clear water has a tremendous effect on the audience. If an
advert is made where an actor sprinkles himself or herself with crystal clear water while drinking
a bottle of coke, it will have greater effects on the viewer’s mind. For it will make the viewer feel
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 13
like the drink was just pulled from one of the Amazonian’s cleanest rivers. This can be
accompanied by effective sounds such as water drops falling on a water body. According to Yin,
et al. (2015, p.153), sound is important in advertising because people are used to a lot of noise in
their lives and advertisers should ensure that it uses music or sound that catches their attention.
Soda advertisements do not work if a company does not make the viewer feel thirsty or when
they are not thirsty and using a sublime message will have little effect on the choices as viewers
will always choose the drink that appeals to them. Sound of water dropping and images or video
of crystal clear water is enough to make a viewer thirsty and look for a Coke drink. Below is an
illustration of how it can be done.
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Figure 2: Illustration of how other companies use thirst-evoking images
Source: Pinterest
Put a star in the advertisement
The use of celebrities in advertising has more effects on the viewer because of their
associated images with the customers. Rifa’i (2010, p.6) asserts that the use of celebrities in
advertising goes back to the 1940s when film stars became a great source of advertising
influence for cigarette companies. Famous faces in advertisements sell because if, for example,
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women are exposed to images or videos ads with products such as shoes that has faces of
celebrities printed on them, they are likely to buy it because women’s brain are involved in
emotional stimuli processing that is likely to be activated (Kao, Du, 2020, p.8294). The same
case can apply to coke. Creating advertisement videos in clear, high definition coke bottles with
celebrities printed on them or with celebrities as actors will ensure that such emotion is triggered
among the audience. The psychoanalytic theory of consumer behavior supports this
recommendation as it states that human beings are not able to comprehend their motivations full
since the psychological factors which shape their choices are completely unconscious (Hartley,
2019, p.12). Additionally, Freud states that consumers always respond to symbol matters or
concerns in responding to function and economics which implies that matter such as income and
age has little to do with their behavior but deeply their psyche does it (Hartley, 2019, p.12).
Therefore, using celebrities ensure that positive feelings that they have towards them get
transferred towards the product. The only disadvantage that comes with this method is that it is
an expensive adventure for companies since hiring celebrities requires heavy investments. An
illustration is provided below on how celebrities can be used in advertising.
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Figure 3: Celebrity advertising Illustration
Source (Pinterest)
Use unrealistic images
The use of unrealistic, images means using drawings, rot scope animation and digital
illustration in place of the actual products that can yield better results for Coca-Cola. For
example, instead of using actual images of the bottle of coke, it can use digital technology to
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling Advert Analysis 17
draw animated bottles and environments that customers can relate to. There are numerous
advantages that come with using animation in advertising which include its cost-effectiveness,
effectiveness and creativity. Cook and Thompson (2019, p.34) asserts that animation advertising
allows to create adverts that stand out from the others and since consumers love creative ads
because they are used to obvious images on television. Using animation will ensure that Coca-
Cola is presented with limitless opportunities to creatively explore various ways of making the
advert appeal to the target consumers depending on demographics such as age and they are not
limited to video but also others forms (Cook & Thompson, 2019, p.35). However, this method is
critiqued with the claims that it is widely used and that unrealistic images are not consumable.
Conclusion
Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling advertisement is one of the best adverts on television
because of its semiotic elements as well as the way the company uses intensive research in
coming up with adverts. It is evident that over, the years, the company has engaged in addressing
the issues affecting the society and designing products that appeal to consumers as well as
promoting them in a way that bears the needs of the customer or the viewer. This advert
effectively uses messages relating to its brand, coke that ensures that customers can relate to it
and recall it for a long time. However, the company has an opportunity to improve its advertising
using various strategies such as digital animation that offers various advantages, using celebrates
and arousing thirst among their ad viewers.
WORD COUNTS (2980 words).
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