Share A Coke, Share A Sale

Chances are you've seen Coca Cola's latest initiative, 'Share A Coke', whether it be while grocery shopping or while skimming Instagram. Soda has become a product placed in the category with things people don't necessarily feel good about buying - this puts companies in the niche industry under the same pressure as marketers of both alcohol and cigarettes. Thank you for drinking soda. The communications team at Coca-Cola needed to think outside of the box, and that, meant printing our names on their labels.

(Source: Coke Zone)

Since its release in June 2014, the 'Share A Coke' campaign has been correlated with a 2% increase in Coca Cola, Co.'s carbonated-beverage sales. The company dodged a lot of bullets towards carbonated beverages with this well-executed campaign that made buying the drink and handing it to your friends and family worth it. According to the Wall Street Journal, Coca Cola's soft-drink volumes had been decreasing for the last 11 years, and now increased in August. Over the same period, other companies in the niche industry, like PepsiCo. and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. remained with lower sales.

Here are a few details of the successful campaign :

• First launched in Australia in 2011
• Replaced logos on Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero products
• 250 names were printed
• General nicknames, like "BFF" and "Sister" were included
• Most-stocked names: Chris, Jess, Alex

(Source: Coca-Cola)

Coca-Cola's goal was to replace their name with ours. Ultimately, they sought to include their consumers, hoping to reach them personally. Let's not forget, Coca-Cola isn't half bad at playing up our emotions through advertising. Three months until the holiday season and I'm already missing that cute polar bear drinking out of a glass bottle in the middle of winter.