Coke Wins The Summer With ‘Share A Coke With…’ Promotion
Coke has had great advertising campaigns for as long as I can remember. From "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" in the early 1970's through the iconic Coke Bears, the soft drink giant has always found a way to stay in the public's consciousness.
But this summer's promotion may be the most genius of them all. With the explosion of social media over the past couple of years, everybody knows that if we think something is cool (or even if we don't think it's cool) we're going to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Reddit, etc. etc. etc.) Coke's "Share A Coke With..." campaign has filled my feeds for weeks.
In case you've missed it, Coke is doing this here in the U.S. and also in Great Britain where they have printed the top 250 names in the country on limited edition Coke and Diet Coke bottle and distributed them to major retailers everywhere. I walked into Walmart for the first time since the promotion started over the weekend to find giant cardboard boxes filled with Coke bottles and surrounded by people trying to find their names.
Like I said. Brilliant. Even people who AREN'T Coke drinkers want to buy a bottle with their name on it. My wife has been on a quest to find hers, and she's not a cola drinker of any kind. And yes, I know for a fact that "Sarah" is available since I saw a half-finished Diet Coke with her name on it on stage at JazzFest this weekend (and don't think I wasn't tempted to take it for her!)
I had a conversation with the Coke man at JazzFest over the weekend and told him whoever came up with this idea deserves a huge raise because it seems like Coke is everywhere and half-joked that I'd obviously never find a bottle with my name on it. He came back the next day with one made just for me.
Tell me Coke doesn't 'get it'. Well played Coke. Well played.