The Coca-Cola "Share a Coke" campaign launched in Australia in 2012, printing 150 popular names on bottles and cans. This personalized the brand and encouraged sharing on social media. The campaign increased Coke's Facebook traffic by 870% and sold over 250 million named bottles. It succeeded by fostering connections between friends and families, driving word-of-mouth promotion on social media. The campaign was expanded to over 80 countries due to its initial success in Australia.

1. Case Study:Coca-Cola‘Share a Coke’Campaign
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Case Study: Coca-Cola ‘Share a Coke’ Campaign
Erin Stehlik
Grand Valley State University
CAP 320

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An Overview of The Coca-Cola Company
The drink, Coca-Cola, was invented on May 8, 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia by pharmacist
Dr. John S. Pemberton. Two years later, Pemberton sold his rights to an Atlanta businessman,
Asa G. Candler and soon after Pemberton passed away. Candler managed to expand the
distribution of Coca-Cola to soda fountain far beyond Atlanta. In 1894, Joseph Biedenharn
installed bottling machinery in the rear of his Mississippi soda fountain and became the first to
put Coca‑ Cola in bottles (“About Us - Coca-Cola History,” n.d.).
In 1899, three enterprising businessmen in Chattanooga, Tennessee secured exclusive
rights to bottle and sell Coca‑ Cola. The three entrepreneurs purchased the bottling rights from
Asa Candler for just $1. Benjamin Thomas, Joseph Whitehead and John Lupton developed what
became the Coca‑ Cola worldwide bottling system (“About Us - Coca-Cola History,” n.d.). By
1895 it was being sold in every state and territory in the United States and in 1899, The Coca-
Cola Company began franchised bottling operations (“Coca-Cola Journey,” n.d.).
Since The Coca-Cola Company began, the company has expanded far beyond the
original flavor of Coca-Cola. Fanta is the second oldest brand, introduced in 1940. Fanta is the
second largest brand outside the US and has a flavor of almost every fruit grown is available
somewhere in the world (“Coca-Cola Journey,” n.d.). In 1960, The Coca-Cola Company
acquired The Minute Maid Corporation, marking its first venture outside of soft drinks. Sprite
was introduced in 1961 and is now sold in more than 190 countries. On August 9, 1982, Diet
Coke was first introduced in the United States and has become one of Americans favorite soft
drinks. Besides soda and juice drinks, The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures DANSANI
water, POWERADE, Glacéau Vitaminwater and Smartwater, Fuze, and many other brands
(“Coca-Cola Journey,” n.d.).

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‘Share a Coke’ Campaign
In 2012, Coca-Cola teamed up with Oligvy and Mather Australia, to launch an ambitious
digital media campaign named ‘Share a Coke’. The campaign was first launched in Australia in
2012 and then Britain in 2013. The Coca-Cola Company wanted to increase its market share in
Australia where it was no longer connecting with consumers. The brand had lost relevance and
it's ‘cool’ factor with Aussies. Their idea was to print 150 of Australia’s most popular names on
the cans and bottles (“Coca-Cola Share a Coke,” n.d.). They needed something ground-breaking
and innovative to raise their status in Australia’s pop culture. The main success was attributed
through the digital platform, wherein each bottle mentioned the hashtag #ShareaCoke, in order to
pursue users to share bottles with their names on social media (Heble, 2016).
Research
In my research, I did not find much of what they researched beforehand. It is implied that
they researched what the popular names were to come up with a list of the 150 most common. I
would hope that they had held focus groups to figure out why they were not connecting with
consumers anymore. I read that Aussies value when brands try to see them eye to eye and by
using first names the hope was to create a friend like bond with the consumers. In order to know
this they would have to research but I could not find any exact studies.
Objectives and Key Messages
Two objectives were put in place, 1) increase sales throughout summer, and 2) get
people in Australia talking about Coke. They wanted consumers to be encouraged to consume
the product as well as love the brand. Their goals are simple and clear but they are not very
measurable or timely. They state that they want to increase sales “throughout the summer” but it
is not very clear what dates this is associated with. The objectives also need a measurable

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number goal so that this can be examined in the evaluation at the end of the campaign. I think it
is acceptable to only have two objectives, but they need to be very clear and have all the
requirement to make them useful in the end. A better way of phrasing these two objects might be
1) increase sales by 25% by March 1, and 2) raise mentions of Coke on social media in Australia
by 50% by March 1. It is important to note that I chose March because an Australian summer
runs from December to February.
In addition to this I believe that they need to defined the target audience better. They talk
about engaging with Australians but it might be too broad of an audience. Australia is home to
more than 24. 54 million people therefore it could be greatly beneficial to narrow down who they
want to target. A suggestion is to focus on a specific age rang such as 10-60. It may still be a
large range but it focuses more on those who drink soda, assuming that parents do not allow their
young children to drink it and the elderly may avoid it for health reasons.
Strategies and Tactics
They used many media channels to promote the campaign such as ads online, in papers,
and on billboards. However, it was social media, particularly Facebook, that really helped the
campaign take off. Consumers could SMS their friend’s name in and it would be displayed live
on the iconic Coca-Cola sign located at Sydney’s King’s Cross. The user then would receive an
MMS via which they could then share their chosen friend’s name lit up in lights on Facebook.
They created cans with 150 of the most common names printed on them. If the
consumers name was not one of the most common, they also had a feature to create a custom can
online. To engage consumers further, they had a function to share a virtual can as well as search
the list of existing 150 cans. These functions targeted consumers who are very active on social
media and engage with their friends by sharing photo and posts. They began connecting with

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consumers on a personal level. Consumers were promoting the brand without even realizing it.
When a consumer shares a personalized name-branded Coke bottle with his father, he feels as he
is honoring his father rather than promoting the Coca-Cola brand itself.
The campaign also used social media by challenging consumers to take and share photos
with the #ShareaCoke hashtag on social media. Doing so drives more personal online media
content which leads to more positivity and interest. Other than media outlets, they also developed
interactive kiosks that toured 18 Westfield centres, inviting consumers to personalize a ‘Coca-
Cola’ can with any name of their choosing.
I think their use of social media was most important to the success of their campaign. The
summaries of strategies and tactics show that they spent an extensive amount of time creating
unique ideas for interacting with fans. This really make the campaign stand out and become
memorable for fans. In my research, I could not find an exact list of strategies and tactics but
they had to have had some.
If I were to create strategies for the campaign they might be 1) create a hashtag for social
media that will encourage fans to interact with the campaign, 2) create a way for consumers to
personalize a can for purchase and/or to digitally share with friends, and 3) use a digital billboard
to display multiple names.
If I were to create tactics for them they might be 1) Use #ShareaCoke hashtag on social
media and challenge consumers so share photos with their can and their story, 2) create a website
where consumers can search a list of existing can, create a custom can to purchase, and share a
virtual can on social media, and 3) use the Coca-Cola sign located at Sydney’s King’s Cross to
display names sent in by fans via SMS.

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One tactic I would suggest is teaming up with snapchat to create a filter. This would be a
simple way for consumers to customize their experience and “share a coke” easily. They could
also create a story for consumers to submit their snapchats to. This is a great way to engage with
and advertise to younger generations.
Evaluation
By the end of the campaign, the Facebook website had a traffic increased of 870% and
the followers on the Facebook page grew by 39%. There around 76,000 virtual Coke cans were
shared online and total of 378,000 custom Coke cans printed across the country. Coke sold more
than 250 million named bottles and cans in Australia’s nation of just under 23 million people.
When looking at the objectives, 1) increase sales throughout summer, and 2) get people
in Australia talking about Coke, it is clear that they did in fact meet these. When considering that
the objectives are vague it could be argued that they were written in a way that would be easily
met.
This campaign called people to action in a way that benefitted themselves thus making
more consumers interested. They stayed along the lines of friendships and families which
everyone can relate to, this kept people interested and engaged in the campaign. It thrived on
word-of-mouth and social media amongst family and friends. Overall the campaign was a
success and was expanded to over 80 countries around the world.
Suggestions
In my research, I came across an interview with the creative excellence lead on the
campaign, Jeremy Rudge. They asked him what he would do differently today and he
commented on the fact that he would send much less on television ads. He explained that they
weren’t confident in solely running a social media campaign but by the end most of the results

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had come that way. I completely agree with this idea. The money would be better spent on
website ads. They could have partnered with sites such as YouTube or Spotify to engage and
target the younger generations even if they are not super active on social media.
One thing I found interesting in the execution is in the original the idea they wanted to
print names in the traditional “Coca-Cola” Spenserian script however they couldn’t because of
trademark issues. Due to this they created a brand-new typeface inspired by the “Coke” logo.
They call it the “You” font because it’s about the consumer, not Coca-Cola. The new typeface
really seemed made the campaign and is now being used for other campaigns globally to connect
more with consumers. This was a flaw in the original plan but I found the alternative to be
brilliant. The success could have just been opportunistic but the thought that went into it clearly
shows the loyalty to the consumer.
Initially they reached out to a few opinion leaders and influencers to get them to them
lead the conversation and encourage others to seek out “Share a Coke” for themselves. However,
other celebrities came in to contact with the bottles and began talking about them without any
formal connection. Again this may have been opportunistic but it worked out exactly how they
had dreamed. Now, not only would their friends and social media “share a coke” with them but
the want to be like the influential people would drive them to seek out a bottle. This is important
because it covers all the bases of where people seek information and brand approval from.
I find it so creative that they had traveling kiosks for people to design their personalized
cans. This was an amazing idea and a fun activity for consumers to engage with. If someone
could not get to a place that housed a traveling kiosk, then they had the alternative to order a
personalized can online as well. These two ideas covered all the bases so that no one had to be
left out due to unpopular name

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Conclusion
I think the most important thing to remember about this campaign is that the company
focused it by inviting people to “share a coke” with someone. The cans may had had names on
them but they were meant as a way to show appreciation to someone by giving them a Coke.
This angle hit people emotionally and caused the campaign to really resonate with consumers.
I would have liked to see a more defined target audience and an actual write up of the
strategies and tactics but overall I felt they had a very good campaign. I would also say that since
this campaign was used in 80 other countries that it had to be successful the first time for the
other countries to want to use it. With this being said, it could have also made the research bias
and only showing the successes of the campaign in Australia.
In my opinion, the campaign was successful because of the way it included all people and
gave them many ways to interact with the Coke bottles. In the end, I would say that this
campaign was well planned out and did not leave much room for error.

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REFERENCES
About Us - Coca-Cola History. Retrieved December 2, 2016, from World of Coca-Cola,
https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/about-us/coca-cola-history/
Coca-Cola Journey. (2016). Retrieved December 2, 2016, from Coca-Cola Company,
http://www.coca-colacompany.com/brands/product-description
Coca-Cola Share a Coke. Retrieved December 2, 2016, from Ogilvy, http://ogilvy.com.au/our-
work/share-coke
Heble, A. (2016, February 24). Case study on coca cola’s ’Share A Coke“ campaign.” Retrieved
December 2, 2016, from Digital Vidya, http://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/case-study-on-
coca-colas-share-a-coke-campaign/#
Moye, J. (2014, September 25). Share a Coke: How the Groundbreaking Campaign Got Its Start
“Down Under.” Retrieved December 8, 2016, from Coca Cola Journey, http://www.coca-
colacompany.com/stories/share-a-coke-how-the-groundbreaking-campaign-got-its-start-
down-under
Our Work: Coca Cola Share a Coke. Retrieved December 8, 2016, from Ogilvy,
http://ogilvy.com.au/our-work/share-coke
Scanlon, P., & Marketing Magazine. (2014, April 24). Retrieved December 8, 2016, from Slide
Share, http://www.slideshare.net/Marketingmagau/share-a-coke-33885469