Coke sees social media gold at Rio Games

Rio Summer Olympics: Coke will turn a train stop in Rio's Praca Maua area into a Coca-Cola digital hub for millennials, athletes and musicians.

When the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro kick off this Friday, Coca-Cola won’t rely solely on heart-tugging commercials or glossy print ads to play up its sponsorship and get people to chug a frosty bottle of Coke.

This time Coke wants its own customers to help sell the brand, too.

Coke’s team in Rio will deploy a social media strategy that includes converting an entire train stop into a Coke-branded hangout for millennials, athletes and musicians. The goal: to get Coke fans to upload photos with athletes to Instagram, brag about musicians they’ve met on Snapchat or livestream the whole event on Facebook.

“(Millennials) don’t want to participate in a one-way conversation,” said Roldolfo Echeverria, vice president of global creative and connections for Coke.

Connecting with millennials and others in new ways is important to Coke, a longtime top Olympics sponsor that, like others, is striving to make the reported price tag of around $100 million pay off.

That has become more challenging in an age of fragmented media, but at the same time social media at the same time opens new channels of messaging.

Coke is hardly new to the game and has reason to be confident its social media strategy in Rio will work. The company’s main global Facebook page has 98 million “likes.” Coke has a presence across every social media platform, from Pinterest to Tumblr to apps on iPhone and Android.

At its headquarters in Atlanta, Coke has about 45 people dedicated to nurturing the company’s digital presence year-round, up from 12 people four years ago.

“Being relevant has always been important to marketing,” said Peter Callaro, group director of integrated marketing content for Coke. “We found that one-on-one conversations lead to the ability to be creative.”

Fans bombard Facebook

Customers have demonstrated they know how to use social media to get what they want from Coke.

Citrus-flavored cola Surge, a 90’s favorite that was discontinued early in the last decade, was resurrected after the brand’s fans bombarded Coke’s Facebook page two years ago with demands the drink be brought back. Coke heard the call and made Surge available as a special order on Amazon.

Coke also used Twitter to bolster its struggling Diet Coke brand last year with a “ReTweet of Love” campaign. The company asked consumers to tweet and retweet their adoration for Diet Coke, a request that was answered by millions of fans proclaiming their love for the brand on Twitter, some of which ended up in Diet Coke advertising.

Social media can cut both ways, of course. Health advocates have used the medium to voice their concerns about sugary drinks and diet colas.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a vocal opponent of Coke, has uploaded several videos to YouTube calling on consumers to drink less of the brand’s soda products. One spot uses polar bears — a mascot of Coke’s — to link sugary drinks with diabetes; another spot invokes Coke’s famous “Hilltop” commercial with altered lyrics that detail the consequences of exposure to sugary carbonated drinks.

Coke is listening to the critics, said Doug Busk, who oversees Coca-Cola Journey, the company’s digital magazine. Social media has helped the company have a conversation with detractors and answer questions from consumers who want to know if critics have a point.

“We are always learning from the positive and negative responses,” he said. “We encourage and allow open dialog.”

Ads still coming

That is not to say that Coke is abandoning commercials or print ads in Rio. The company knows its ability to produce feel-good moments tied to its drinks has made it one of the most recognized brands in the world. (Think a jolly Sundblom Santa drinking a Coke or the iconic ’70s ad showing a softer side of Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Mean Joe Greene.).

Coke has launched an Olympic-themed “#ThatsGold” campaign for Rio with two commercials and several prints ads that emphasize the little “gold” moments consumers experience in day-to-day living.

Chris Lemley, a marketing professor at Georgia State University, applauded Coke’s social media focus. He said consumers make the best advertisers because their praise is authentic.

“It’s always more powerful if others are vouching for a brand than taking the word of the brand,” he said. “Brands no longer control the conversation, they have to be part of it.”

Mike Musso agreed. Musso, managing director at consulting firm Conway MacKenzie, said social media works when the content is relevant. Just exuding passion for a brand is not enough, he added, because consumers want to feel that it has meaning to them.

“With millennials you can’t buy engagement,” Musso said. “They have to have a connection to the product.”