It’s no secret that social media is
everywhere nowadays. We see those tiny Facebook and Twitter icons in the corner
of almost every product, ad, and website. I get it. Companies are looking for
ways to directly “interact and engage” with the consumer. But in a world that’s
so captivated by social media, how do you break through the clutter? How do you
grab and hold an audience’s attention? Sure, you could throw a contest or offer
them some other incentive to like your Facebook page, but that’s been done
before. It’s the ones that push the boundaries and think outside the box that will
have the most success.
A couple of weeks ago, I read an article
about Coca-Cola’s new campaign in Romania called “Let’s Eat Together”. The
campaign, which took place last spring, included a series of commercials that
featured viewers’ live tweets. You see Coca-Cola realized that in Romania (much
like North America) people aren’t eating meals together anymore. In fact, they
discovered that 60% of people eat by themselves in front of the TV (my guess is
that number is even higher in North America). Using the hashtag
#LetsEatTogether, Coca-Cola encouraged people to tweet at their family and
friends and invite them over for dinner (to enjoy with a Coke, of course). With
the help of MRM Worldwide, the agency that created the campaign, and Romania’s
Pro TV, hundreds of these viewers’ personal tweets were seen during the campaign
period.
Talk about media integration!
On paper, this social media campaign was a
huge success for Coca-Cola. Their Twitter followers increased by 15% and earned
them a million social media impressions. Looks like that’s another win for the
red can.
Coca-Cola’s brand message has always been
to bring people happiness. This campaign did just that. Whether or not people
actually visited their relatives after seeing the campaign is questionable, but
it certainly got them interacting with the brand. People were actually excited
to see the commercial. In fact, they waited around to see it on TV. Isn’t that
one of the ultimate goals of advertising? To expose people to your brand?
Coca-Cola also seemed to capture the compelling
truth that people love it when something is personalized. It makes them feel like
an individual and not just a number. Being able to see their 140
character-or-less personal message on the TV set in front of them made them
feel special. Of course, the emotional feeling people got from it transferred to
Coca-Cola, ultimately helping building their brand value.
The next question will be whether or not Coca-Cola
can expand this campaign outside Europe and into North America. I have my
doubts, especially since so many people watch television online now. If you
think about it, the campaign may also be counterproductive. Their goal is to
get people to enjoy dinner away from the television set; however, that’s
difficult to do if they’re waiting around to see their tweet scroll across the
bottom of the screen. With the additional challenge of real-time monitoring and
editing of the incoming tweets, Coca-Cola will have to determine if the cost in
time and money outweigh the benefits. But alas, time will tell.
Source: http://mashable.com/2013/09/09/coke-ad-live-tweets/
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