DEL.ICIO.USCoke’s new global push tells people: Be happy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, March 15, 2009
London — Be happy. Have a positive attitude. Live life to the fullest.
This is the message Coca-Cola Co. is sending to a world that’s facing an economic meltdown.
Coca-Cola Co.
The ‘Open Happiness’ ad campaign is rolling out across Europe, where new products are being introduced and where case volume rose 3 percent last year, after falling in the United States.
The Atlanta-based company is hoping to add fizz to its sales with an “Open Happiness” global marketing campaign now being rolled out in Europe.
“This campaign returns to the tried-and-tested Coke-connects-people theme,” said Bill Bruce, editorial director for Zenith International Publishing in Bath, England, which publishes trade journals on the beverage industry. “The press seems to love the campaign. … Consumers will identify with it, too.”
A new element is that the campaign carves out a spot for Coca-Cola among European technology junkies.
Marking a first for the company, interactive advertising panels fitted with digital cameras will be erected at bus stops in seven Spanish cities starting today.
The panels will let passers-by take photos of themselves designed to “capture people’s own unique moments of happiness.” The company will then display chosen photos on the panels.
Online activity will be centered on a new Web site, www.destapalafelicidad.es,
where users will be able to leave optimistic messages for newborn babies and hear from older people about their experiences.
In collaboration with Nisa Hospitals in Spain and with the consent of parents, a Web cam in a nursery will let site visitors see newborns in their first hours of life.
“Coca-Cola has always been there to share happiness, but at a time when the world is experiencing such difficulty, it is a particularly important message to convey,” said Marcos de Quinto, division president of Coca-Cola Iberia. “Coca-Cola has been communicating a positive and refreshing view of life for over 120 years.”
Analysts agree that the new campaign is a smart one.
“This is a deliberate move to tap into consumers’ desire for optimism at a time of bleak macroeconomic conditions,” said Simon Maddrell, head of soft drinks research at the Euromonitor International research firm in London.
He called the campaign a “strong movement” by Coca-Cola and a savvy way to target consumers’ appetite for more comforting products in times of economic crisis.
Replacing the slogan “The Coke Side of Life,” the new global marketing campaign — the first in three years — was unveiled at Super Bowl XLIII earlier this year and was rolled out in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Mexico in late February.
Variations of the ad will air in other European markets as the year goes on.
The ad features a real-life cast, telling the story of a meeting between a 102-year-old man from Mallorca, Spain, and a baby girl whose birth is recorded as part of the ad.
The man tells the baby that she should not waste time and that people are born to be happy.
“The campaign tells everyone that — no matter where they are — they should have a little bit of optimism in their lives,” said Carlos Chaguaceda, communications manager for Coca-Cola Spain.
He also said the campaign responds to “the philosophy coming from Atlanta [headquarters] that we must save money on marketing by gaining efficiency and reducing our number of commercials.”
He said it has been decided that campaigns should be more international in their appeal and values.
The company said last month that its goal is to accelerate spending cuts aimed at saving $500 million a year by 2011.
With more than 70 percent of sales generated overseas, analysts say it’s only natural that Coca-Cola is trying to drive sales with feel-good interactive marketing campaigns.
Officials said last month that the company’s fourth-quarter profit fell 18 percent as it bore the brunt of a stronger dollar and several write-downs.
But while unit case volume was down 1 percent last year in North America, it was up 3 percent in Europe.
Coca-Cola is also courting Europeans with new products.
On March 8, the British media reported that Coca-Cola had approached Innocent Drinks — a maker of fruit smoothies founded by three Cambridge University students — about buying a minority stake in the company. The company and Innocent declined to comment.
In December, Coca-Cola Great Britain acquired Waters and Robson, the owner of the Abbey Well water brand.
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