Coca-Cola launches new label promotion

Coca-Cola is capitalizing on the success of its ‘Share a Coke’ campaign and will swap out names for song lyrics in a new marketing campaign launching this spring in the US.

Coca-Cola launches new personalized label promotion

‘Share a Coke and a Song’ will feature more than 70 song lyrics – from classic hits to recent chart-toppers – on 8oz glass bottles, 7.5oz mini cans, 20oz bottles, 1.25- and 2-liter bottles and 12oz cans of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coca-Cola Life.

‘Share a Coke’ originated in Australia in 2011 and has since rolled out in more than 70 countries, and was a huge hit in Europe and in the US It’s been one of the company’s most successful US campaigns ever.

‘We’re proud of the success of ‘Share a Coke’ over the last two years,’ said Racquel Harris Mason, vice president, Coca-Cola/Coke Zero. ‘We’ve seen incredible enthusiasm from consumers who love the campaign’s personal touch, and we wanted to push ourselves to innovate and provide our fans with new experiences.’

The wildly successful campaign represented a shift in the label industry toward personalized products and interactive promotional marketing. These programs, as well as other big brands who have leveraged digital printing in these ways, were highlighted at Dscoop San Antonio last week.

Alon Bar-Shany, HP vice president and general manager of HP Indigo, said at Dscoop: ‘The soft drink industry gets it. They’re looking at advertising campaigns as a way to attract new customers.’

‘Share a Song’ also lets fans sing along. With the Shazam mobile app, consumers can scan the lyric on Coke bottle, then record a digital lip-sync video to share on social media with the hashtag #ShareaCoke.

‘We’re creating an entirely new and different way to connect with music through our packaging,’ said Joe Belliotti, head of global music marketing for Coca-Cola. ‘It will be interesting to see this campaign trigger memories of songs fans may have forgotten as well as help them discover new favorites.’ Lyrics featured on the debut collection of ‘Share a Coke and a Song’ capture the feeling of falling in love (‘The Way You Love Me’ and ‘You Belong With Me’) and celebrating victory (‘All I Do is Win’ and ‘We Are The Champions’) to moments of friendship (‘Lean On Me’), to flirtation (‘It’s Getting Hot in Herre’), sass (‘We Never Go Out Of Style’), motivation (‘I’m Your Biggest Fan’) and patriotism (‘I’m Proud To Be An American’ and ‘Sweet Land Of Liberty’). The complete list of lyrics featured on pack will be available at www.shareacoke.com.

Chelsea McDougall

  • Group managing editor