I recently came across an announcement by Coca-Cola, USA (Read it here: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/news/coca-cola-promotes-summer-moments-on-packaging) on June 1, 2021, which summarized three tactics that the beverage giant has come up with for the summer of 2021. With majority of the world continuing its vaccination drive, Coca-Cola wants to “welcome back summertime rituals,” which will be more appreciated this year after a year of lockdowns and isolations to fight the pandemic.
Firstly, Coca-Cola has introduced new packaging that would feature short poems reminiscing “beloved pastimes like family beach trips, backyard BBQs and baseball games.” This is part of the “Summer Tastes Better” campaign, which brings me to my send point – a 30 second video (which is still unlisted at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLLa_i2fo2o) to launch this campaign. The video tells the tale of families finally being able to enjoy this summer together like they used to earlier. While it is still early days of the campaign, which is primarily offline, I am sure there would be a rub-off in the digital world when people start sharing the photographs of the new packaging on their social media. The short poems could make people nostalgic, reminding them of their past behavior and inducing them to post about them on social media.
Finally, Coca-Cola has launched the “This Coke’s on Us” promotion as part of the “Summer Tastes Better” campaign, wherein “fans can register at Coke.com/Summer to receive an email prompt to complete signup on June 15 for a complimentary Coke, redeemable June 17-21.” This promotion has also been given a CSR undertone by Coca-Cola and is being alluded to support local restaurants as they recover from the pandemic. According to Kelley Emrey, senior manager of foodservice channel strategy, Coca-Cola, “We’re giving fans an incentive to revisit and rediscover restaurants reopening after a very tough year. The restaurant business has been heavily impacted, so we want to do all we can to support them in this critical phase.” I feel this free Coke also has the potential of drawing in online frenzy with people who grab the offer posting about it on social media along with their role in supporting the local restaurants as they recover from the pandemic.
I also found this campaign to be relevant to the knowledge-attitude-behavior journey that a brand takes its audiences through. The knowledge about the brand and the attitude towards it is unhindered through the pandemic. But, with the behavior of the people towards social gatherings going through change during the past and now slowly returning to normalcy, it is evident that Coca-Cola wants to position itself at the forefront of this journey.