Coke Scores With The "ME" Factor

Twenty years ago, McDonald's was looking for an advertisement that would appeal world-wide.  An agency came up with the familiar "dah dah dah dah dah.  You're Loving It".  McDonald's executives loved it until a young marketing genius said:  "Hey, why am I telling other people to love McDonald's?  Don't we want  'Me'  to love it? "  Right away, the slogan was changed to "I'm Lovin' it"  and that iconic phrase has been used around the world ever since.

Early this summer, Coca Cola confronted dropping sales with their own "personalized"  marketing campaign.  They began labeling Diet Coke, Coke and Coke Zero with 250 common names from Adam to Zoe.  Under the slogan "Share a Coke",  the company launched a product blitz in June right across America.  It became an instant hit, particularly with younger consumers.  The result - a 2% rise in sales.

One market analyst said:  "A Coke can or bottle is the most iconic design in the world and the fact you can impact that with your name has a huge curiosity and wow factor".  One couple in Ohio named Alyssa and Shane spent the summer searching for bottles with their names on them.  Three months later, they had both and 24 year old Alyssa said:  "I'm thinking of keeping them on a living-room shelf next to our wedding pictures.  I'll keep them forever".

Coke's website also let customers type any name to make "virtual"  Coke bottles they could share on social media.  More than 6 million of these imaginary bottles have been created.  On the social-media site Instagram, 500,000 photos of customers or their pets (imagine your dog Barney clutching his personalized bottle)  have been posted with the hashtag #shareacoke.  Now that the summer campaign is over, real, personalized bottles and cans are selling on eBay for $3.00 - $5.24.

"Share A Coke"  was first introduced into Australia in 2011 and immediately sales rose 7%.  Now the summer campaign runs in 80 countries.  What a great marketing gimmick - the perfect union of an iconic Brand Name and "ME".