2. situation Coca-Cola is: 3000 products sold under 500 brands in 206 countries Annual revenues of $31B 32,263, 855 likes on Facebook (today) August 2008 Two guys from LA create a Coca-Cola brand Facebook page December 2008 Facebook informs The Coca-Cola Company of the violation of policy for branded facebook pages Fan based (likes) reached 1.9M
3. challenge Coca-Cola had 4 options: 1. Ask Facebook to take down the page 2. Have Facebook transfer control of the page to the copyright owner (TCCC) 3. Approach the owners and negotiate transfer 4. Consent to have a third party host and administer the page in its name So far the fey success factors were: A fan-owned page appreciated by the community for it The fan-base initialy ‘liked’ the Coca-Cola page genuinely, not because of promotional incentives (discounts, contests, etc.) The challenge was: How to deliver a local message (through social media) to a global audience? To talk with the community, not at them. Unlearn about the conventional way to do marketing. Give up control with the risk it entails.
4. steps taken Coca-Cola invited Dusty Sorg and Michael Jedrzejewski to tour the Coca-Cola head-quarter and talk with Michael Donnelly, the Group Director - Worlwide Interactive Marketing, and his team. They discussed: How to work in collaboration Keep the fan-first successful approach Go by a ‘less about us, more about them’ strategy
5. key findings No incentives needed to attract ‘fans’ to the brand. Followers are real genuine fans of the brand; compared to Starbucks with its 23M fans on its Facebook page invited through heavy discount promotions and free bees offers exclusively to fans. Despite of the risk of not controlling the message , Coca-Cola benefits from a dedicated, passionate-about-the-brand community that stands up for Coca-Cola should the brand be under attack (from activist for example), by self-policing the facebook page. “ Accept that consumers will generate more messages than you ever could.” “ Be a facilitator who manages communities, not a director who tries to control them.” “ Speak up to set the record straight , but give your fans a chance to do so.” “ Accept that you don’t own your brand ; your consumers do”, Joe tripodi, Coca-Cola CMO.
