I should have worn a helmet, because Coca-Cola blew my mind.
Today I experienced by far the best seminar in the festival yet. It was entitled "Coca-Cola: Liquid and Linked Mystique".
Three representatives from the beverage giant unveiled their marketing plans for the next decade to an awestruck audience. The first representative, Johnathan Mildenhall, narrated a chapter-by-chapter approach on how Coke planned to navigate through today's maze-like landscape of communications and how the company plans to shift focus from creative excellence to content excellence all while DOUBLING their marker share.
Believe me, I was skeptical at first too. I mean come on. Doubling Coke's market share? I felt like they already couldn't grow any larger and if they did, it would be the Roman empire part-deux.
But then Mr. Mildenhall began narrating their plan. Slowly but surely, my jaw dropped further and further.
As he went on, chapter-by-chapter, he wooed the crowd in to absolute silence. After every chapter a round of applause would erupt from the entire auditorium. One key aspect of their marketing plan was to create "liquid" content, which they described as "liquid ideas so contagious they will help Coke own a disproportionate share of popular culture".
After that presentation came to a close, the other two marketers took the stage and explained how they planned to transform Coke's marketing in to experiences that people can attach themselves to. He explained to us that they haven't achieved the market share of teens as well as they would like to. In their mind, Coca-Cola is just another brand among a thousand others. To our parents, Coca-Cola was an integral part of their culture. Teens would ask each other to, "grab a coke after class". It was woven in to their very fiber of life.
That isn't the case with today's teenagers.
I guess I'm a little biased towards the brand because I was born and raised in Atlanta, but I can definitely see where they're coming from. People my age are constantly immersed with what seems like an infinite number of brands competing for our attention. It can be a little overwhelming. I do agree that only the truly great works of advertising will get through to us on a personal level.
The marketers then went on to describe some of the techniques they're using to try and spark that emotional connection with consumers, with teens in the main light. For instance, they've created a real life twitter account for the beverage's creator, the mysterious Dr. Pemberton. People who follow him can retweet his every piece of advice.
Coke has also dedicated an entire portion of their marketing scheme to the wonder of the secret formula, which is rumored to be unknown, save two individuals in the company who aren't even allowed on the same plane for fear of the recipe being lost.
I love the wonder and mystery that Coke is implementing in to this campaign.
Unfortunately I'm not the marketing genius that Coke's specialists are. I promise you, after leaving this seminar there wasn't a tinge of doubt on my mind that Coke could actually pull this off by 2020.
I honestly wish I could do the presentation justice with my description but I simply can't.
Wish you could have seen it. If some videos come up I'll definitely put 'em on the bullblog.
AdNews' Impression on the Seminar.
No comments:
Post a Comment