What are the characteristics of consumers (research provided those characteristics) that Coca
Cola needed to know to generate the following campaign, the Share A Coke campaign? And why
was this BIG IDEA so effective?
The share a coke campaign was launched first in Australia back in 2011 after the staggering
statistic that over half of the continent had never tasted a coke came to light the previous
month. The conclusion drawn from this was that Coke was disconnected and unimportant to
the people. To fix this, Coke launched the share a Coke campaign that printed 150 of Australia's
most popular names on millions of Coke bottles. This campaign blew up due to its personal
nature. However, the personal characteristics of their consumers were needed before anything
was launched.
The first and biggest characteristic of their target audience was the age range. Coca-Cola
targeted young adults because that was who lacked in their consumption and a good
demographic to launch a campaign that would interact well on social media. CEO Lucie Austen
stated “Our research showed that while teens and young adults loved that Coca-Cola was big
and iconic, many felt we were not talking to them at eye level” [ CITATION Dan21 \l 1033 ]. The
Share a Coke campaign reached these consumers at a personal level and allowed Coke to solve
a problem they had been having.
The Share a Coke campaign gave coke consumers some value in what may seem like a mundane
product. A special possession is an emotional attachment a consumer feels to a certain product
or brand when they see it as part of themselves [ CITATION Way08 \l 1033 ]. Putting people’s
names on Coke cans made them personal mementos for them and gave those who may have
never had their name on something like a key chain something to seek out. This tactic of
personalizing the cans created a lot of WOM marketing and buzz on the internet as was
planned, but in addition, allowed for more brand loyalty to be developed.
Through this research and implementation, Coca-Cola was able to achieve two goals: increase
their sales (which also proved extended reach) and increase their reach to the specific young
adult audience. Through this, they were also able to make people feel valued and cared for in a
way they may have never before. Colossians 3:14 tells us, “And above all these put on love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (English Standard Version, 2001). The
thoughts and insight behind this marketing plan were not only strategic to boost sales and
revenue, but at the bottom of it reveals a company that cares and values its connection with
and the attitudes of its consumers.
Bibliography
Codela, D. (2021, April 6). The Winning Coca-Cola Formula for a Successful Campaign . Retrieved
from Wrike: https://www.wrike.com/blog/winning-coca-cola-formula-successful-
campaign/
Hoyer, W. D., MacInnis, D. J., & Pieters, R. (2108). Chapter 16: Symbolic Consumer Behavior. In
W. D. Hoyer, D. J. MacInnis, & R. Pieters, Consumer Behavior. Boston, MA: Cengage
Learning.
