A red can with swooping white lettering on its label moves to the center screen, drops of condensation running down its side. An invisible hand pours a brown, fizzing liquid out of the can, slowly filling up a glass of ice, stopping directly at its brim as it fizzes in the glass.
Can you visualize this imagery? Chances are you filled in the blanks and saw a can of Coca-Cola featured center stage in this imaginary advertisement.
But how did Coca-Cola become such a worldwide phenomenon? And what can marketers learn from this soft-drink giant’s massive success on the world stage over the past century plus?
Coca-Cola’s advertising history dates back to 1886, which makes it difficult to pinpoint specific campaigns or advertisements which ultimately set the brand on its eventual path to the domination of the soft drink industry.
From the 1971 hit song “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” to the Share a Coke campaign, Coke has had countless sponsorships, commercials, and many more campaigns. Coke has created a brand heavily ingrained in the cultural zeitgeist of the U.S. and the world. And to think, it all started with a simple yet iconic brand.
If there’s one thing that has set Coca-Cola apart from other brands in their industry, it is the ability to grow brand awareness and ingrain itself in the cultural zeitgeist. This awareness didn’t happen overnight, but specific tactics have helped Coca-Cola become one of the biggest brands in the world.
For one, Coke, specifically the Coca-Cola brand, has maintained a consistent visual identity since its founding. The image of white, flowing lettering over a red background is one of the most instantly recognizable worldwide. This visual identity has been supported by years of high-quality, product-centric promotions that put that brand at center stage.
A brand, however, is only effective if it has excellent publicity, and Coca-Cola has done this incredibly well over the decades. Their countless sponsorships, from the Olympics to professional sports leagues to charities, have helped Coke grow its brand by ensuring that the population views them as synonymous with organizations they view positively.
Coke has done a fair share of content marketing that is unforgettable, here’s one that just launched to promote Coke Zero and the thirtieth anniversary of Coke being the first soda in space. The video ad makes thirty-six years ago feel like just yesterday.
One of Coke’s most notable and successful global marketing campaigns is the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. First launched in Australia in 2011, the campaign involved adjusting the bottle wrapping to feature common first names after the tagline ‘Share a Coke with…’. Is there anything better than having a keychain license plate personalized with your very own name? Not to fifth-grade me. That’s part of what Coke capitalized on here.
The opportunities for social media engagement and participation here are clear. Who wouldn’t want to share a picture on Instagram of themselves with their besties accompanied by their named bottles or ‘their song’? But, the best things about the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign are the personalization elements and the emphasis on creating experiences and shared moments for their customers.
Coke knows a few things about brand positioning and growing with its audience. Take a moment to think about how the Coca-Cola brand identity has evolved over the years and how they still create an emotional connection between customers and the brand.
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