Addressing a media launch in Maboneng, Johannesburg, on Monday, 22 February, Coca-Cola marketing director for Southern Africa Sharon Keith said the “
One Brand” marketing strategy represented the “next chapter in the world’s love affair with Coca-Cola, the brand”.
A video was shown of De Quinto addressing a gathering in Dubai, where he explained what “One Brand” was all about.
In the past, if a Coca-Cola customer wanted less sugar but still wanted to be associated with the Coca-Cola brand, they’d switch to a separate brand such as Coca-Cola Light or Coca-Cola Zero, which had their own brands and identity.
What “One Brand” did was bring all the different Coca-Cola brands under one umbrella, working off the original Coca-Cola brand.
Keith said; “For a long time, we’ve been treating the variants of Coca-Cola as brands in themselves. What we’ve done is confuse our consumer. We are now going to integrate all of the brands together.”
What the new campaign did was extend the Coca-Cola brand globally and equally.
“In this country, we are calling it ‘Enjoy the feeling’ which uses universal storytelling and everyday moments to connect with consumers around the world,” she said. “It features the product at the heart of the creative and celebrates the experience and the simple pleasure of drinking Coca-Cola.”
The campaign’s communication idea blends Coca-Cola’s benefits as a product with Coca-Cola’s brand values, which are all about “simplicity, authenticity, positive optimism, and it’s young but inclusive,” Keith said.
“The simple pleasure of drinking any Coca-Cola makes the moment special. It might be catching up with an old friend, it might be a couple of teenagers waiting for the bus.”
When it came to the visual identity of the campaign, it revolves around the theme of “Norman Rockwell meets Instagram”, with part of the process being finding participants in the campaign who actually enjoy Coca-Cola, adding increased authenticity to the campaign.
The design concept was “context is king”, and when talking about South Africa, Keith said: “You are going to see the streets of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and all sorts of places.”
An important facet of Coca-Cola campaigns over the years has been the inclusion of music, and with “One Brand”, this is continuing.
“It wouldn’t be a Coca-Cola campaign without music and once again we have developed new music for the campaign. We have a kind of formula for the music that we use for Coca-Cola. Firstly, a catchy melody that can be played out in lots of different genres,” Keith said.
Regarding the music signature and tagline, the lyrics needed to mention Coca-Cola as did the tagline ideally.
Contemporary artists such as Avicii were used for the campaign, with Keith telling the audience saying the research out of South Africa received the best score which the company was excited about.
A number of the upcoming TV spots were played for those assembled, with three in particular, called “Anthem”, “Brotherly Love” and “Under Pressure” to begin the launch. Others would follow in due course as part of the campaign.
When it came to digital, Coca-Cola were going for “GIF the feeling”, which is an interactive digital experience, where teens can view and engage with feelings associated with Coca-Cola.
“It’s something we know that teenagers will use across their social networks,” Keith said.