Coca-Cola launched its Coke Zero campaign in 2005 to target young adult males. The campaign utilized covert guerrilla strategies and viral videos employing humor. Television ads featured men "ranting" and reinforced the "no downsides" message. The campaign stereotyped masculine ideals and was highly successful, making Coke Zero the most lucrative food/drink launch. Some criticism argued the campaign pandered to gender cliches to promote another diet drink.

1. Analysis of the Coke Zero Campaign

2. THE ORIGINS OF COCA-COLA
Coca-Cola Zero or Coke Zero is
a product that exists under the
brand of Coca-Cola, arguably
the world’s largest and most
successful soft drinks company,
being sold in over 200 countries
and with an average
consumption of 1 billion drinks
per day.
Coca-Cola is therefore a multi-
national, commercial company
who’s main motivation is profit
gain and domination of the
competitive market place of soft
drinks

3. THE ORIGINS OF COCA-COLA
The Coca-Cola Company was
established in 1886 by John
Pemberton with the original
intention behind its Coca-Cola
drink being a patent medicine
(something that is alleged to have
medicinal purposes although its
purpose is questionable and its
ingredients are kept secret)
The Company was then bought
out by businessman Asa Griggs
Chandler whose marketing
tactics led to the dominance of
Coke as the leading Soft Drink
within the 20th
Century

4. THE COKE BRAND
Coca-Cola is the brand name
under which many other Coke
products are sold.
Coke Products include:
Diet Coke Cherry Coke
Vanilla Coke Caffeine Free Coke
However, Coke also manufacture
other soft drinks including:
Sprite Fanta Lilt
Powerade Pibb

5. COKE’S ADVERTISING
Coca-Cola advertising is said to
have had a huge impact on
American Culture.
One such argument is that Coke
is frequently credited with the
‘invention’ of the modern image
of Santa Claus as an old man in
red and white garments. In the
1970s, a song from a Coke
Commercial ‘I’d like to teach the
world to sing’ became a popular
hit single, its lyrics promoting an
America and world that could be
united through the consumption
of Coke.

6. COKE’S ADVERTISING
Coca-Cola have a policy of
avoiding the use of children
under 12 in any of their
campaigns as a result of a lawsuit
against the brand at the
beginning of the 20th
century that
alleged that Coke’s caffeine
content was bad for children
Despite this, Coke continues to
target a young demographic,
often using animation or CGI in its
advertising which is arguably
appealing to children

7. COKE’S ADVERTISING
The use of the persuasive
advertising technique of slogans
is something that Coke has
continued to draw upon
throughout it’s campaigns. Their
slogans have included:
“Coca-Cola…pure drink of
natural flavors” – 1928
“What you want is a Coke” – 1952
“It’s the real thing” – 1969
“Coke adds life” – 1976
“Can’t beat the real thing” 1989
“Always Coca-Cola” - 1993

8. COKE’S ADVERTISING
The majority of these slogans are
directly promoting Coke as the
‘original choice’ of soft drink for
consumers, drawing on its
longevity as the one of the leading
soft drinks on the market
The current slogan, “The Coke side
of Life” presents the brand as a
stable part of our culture, so much
so that it has become an important
part of our very existence. The
connotations of the brand now
pertain that Coke acts a diversion
from everyday life, supporting a
lifestyle of fun and freedom

9. A SYMBOL OF AMERICA?
Coke now has a high degree of
identification with the United
States itself, being considered by
some to be the pinnacle
American Brand that
encompasses the “American
Dream” of freedom, family values
and the success of capitalism
However, with rising obesity
figures in both the US and UK,
Coke is continuing to receive
scrutiny for its high sugar content
and adverse effects on young
consumers (hyperactivity)

10. SPONSORSHIP OR DAMAGE CONTROL?
Ironically, Coke was the first ever
sponsor of the Olympic Games in
1928 and has continued to
sponsor various sporting events
and activities including the FIFA
World Cup
As well as their sponsorship
activities, the brand also endorse
a ‘Make every drop count’
campaign which is committed to
keeping us hydrated and
refreshed , stating that ‘coffee
and soda are two ways to help
you stay hydrated’.

11. Coke 2.0
As well as their successful
sponsorship deals, Coke have also
tapped into the Web 2.0
phenomenon with their multi-media
online community website ‘MyCoke’
as part of CokeMusic. The site is
obviously an intertextual reference
to MySpace.
The primary focus of site is to create
new friends and music, and
decorate your own personal studio.
A user can create their own music,
demo it, and listen to others.
Participants earn ‘decibels’ or dB,
the currency of Coke Studios

12. A NEW ERA OF COKE CONSUMPTION
In 2005, a campaign was
launched to promote the new
Coke Zero brand that was named
due to its zero lack of calories
and sugar.
Coke Zero is Coca-Cola’s biggest
product launch in 22 years with
its primary target audience being
young, adult males as opposed to
its sister brand Diet Coke which
targets more health conscious
females

13. A NEW ERA OF COKE CONSUMPTION
Coke’s emphasis on the word
‘Zero’ immediately summons
more positive connotations for
the male demographic. This is in
direct contrast to the product’s
sister brand Diet Coke. It is
believed that the word ‘diet’ has
more feminine characteristics
associated with weight loss and
the ‘struggle’ to maintain a
satisfactory body image
A similar idea was pioneered by
Pepsi who refer to their zero
sugar drink as ‘Pepsi Max’

14. COVERT STRATEGIES
One of the more modern aspects
of the product’s campaign has
been the utilisation of a viral
marketing strategy based on
the marketing claim that Coke
Zero is almost undistinguishable
from the classic Coke brand.
The advert are based on the
bogus idea that Coca-Cola are
suing Coke Zero for ‘taste
infringement’ and involve 2
‘executives’ for Coke having
discussions with an unknowing
lawyer

15. COVERT STRATEGIES
Watch the viral adverts for the
Coke Zero Campaign:
1) What media language
techniques are used to
construct meaning and a
sense of verisimilitude?
2) What persuasive techniques
are focused on within the
campaign
3) Who are the target audience
and how does it appeal to
them?

16. COVERT STRATEGIES
1) Use of zoom and disruptive
camerawork to suggest a
sense of immediacy.
Cameras appear to be hidden
and unobtrusive in a candid
camera style, suggesting
reactions of lawyers are real
and linking in with reality TV
characteristics. Medium
Close-up and Close-up shots
are used to focus on reaction
and response. Mise-en-scene
appears to resemble that of
an office with large desks,
leather chairs and flip-chart

17. COVERT STRATEGIES
2) The main persuasive
technique used within the ads
is humour that largely derives
from the humiliation of others,
linking in with texts such as
Jackass etc. The ads can
also be seen as hedonistic,
suggesting that the brand is
care-free and has a fun, and
devious nature without fear of
consequence. This lifestyle
can therefore be acquired
upon purchase as a form of
value transference.

18. COVERT STRATEGIES
3) Although the brand now
explicitly targets health aware
young males, the virals could
be seen to attract a wider
demographic with its overt
use of humour. The audience
are encouraged to be active
in their deconstruction of the
ads by guessing which
lawyers are real and which
are actors, promoting a sense
of involvement. The audience
are then encouraged to
download the ads or ‘tell-a-
friend’

19. COVERT STRATEGIES
3) This involvement of the
audience allows for Coke
Zero to spread their message
throughout the globe in a
seemingly detached manner,
allowing the audience to feel
a sense of ownership and
control over the campaign.
Therefore, the Coke brand
are generating awareness for
the product with minimal
effort whilst still maintaining a
positive brand identity

20. COVERT STRATEGIES
Other covert strategies preceding
the virals included a serious of
posters, coasters and chalk
drawings on the streets promoting
the enigmatic ‘zero movement’.
These begun in 2005.
The consumer are
encouraged to visit
‘the zero movement’
website where blog-
type entries were
set up including
wistful questions like
‘Why can’t every
weekend by long?’
and ‘why can’t I still
get toys for
Christmas?’. In the
early stages of the
campaign, there was
no explicit link made
to Coke in any of the
methods used

21. COVERT STRATEGIES
Despite it’s guerrilla-style status, the
campaign received some criticism
due to its patronising nature and
hijacking of counter-culture
credibility, resulting in subversion of
the messages within the campaign
The founder of the
‘The Zero Movement
Sucks’ website
stated that
“The whole point of
grassroots campaigns is
that they’re driven by
passionate people who
spread the message…In
essence, they’re
{COKE} attempting to
buy credibility and
buzz.”

22. THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN
In order to target the largest audience possible, it was
inevitable that Coke Zero would use the overt medium of
television as part of their £7 million campaign. The ads
included a theatrical and other teaser enterprises that feature
men generally ‘ranting’ about why they can’t have the things
they want without consequences.
Watch the Coke Zero TV
adverts:
1) How would you apply the
concepts of audience,
representation, media
language and ideology?
2) What advertising
techniques are being
used?
3) What does this ad say
about the brand?

23. OTHER STRATEGIES
Other aspects of the campaign have included the use of
Cheryl Tweedy as the new consumer face of the brand.
1) What persuasive
devices are being
used in this advert?
2) What are the
connotations
associated with
Cheryl Tweedy and
what does she say
about the brand and
its values?

24. OTHER STRATEGIES
The most recent campaign drive has include Wayne Rooney
who stars in an advert entitled ‘Raiders’ which was aired
exclusively on Sky TV’s Soccer AM on 10th
March 2007. The
advert again reinforces the brand’s ‘no downsides’
message’ with a tongue-in-cheek look at how far defenders
will go in order to stop players like Rooney.
Cathryn Sleight, Marketing director for
Coca-Cola Great Britain stated that:
“Wayne is seen by many to be a guy with no
downsides: hugely talented with a great job and
a beautiful girlfriend - a great fit for the brand.“

25. BRAND SUMMARY
CCGB's launch of 'Coca-Cola' Zero
last year, dubbed "Bloke Coke",
was the company's biggest in over
twenty years and has since been
revealed as the most successful for
a food and drink product for three
years and in value terms is expected
to be worth a staggering £108m at
the end of its first year of launch.
However, it can be argued that the campaign
is highly stereotypical in its targeting and
representation of men, pandering to cliché
and dominant ideological values in order to
promote what is effectively another form of
diet coke

26. BRAND SUMMARY
• Use of red, black and white as a way
of giving the brand a more masculine
look and feel
• Use of covert and guerrilla
strategies to create a sense of
counter-culture and hedonism
• Focus on the persuasive techniques
of enigma and humour in the covert
campaign mediums
• Persuasive techniques of
stereotypes, elite people and needs,
fear and aspirations in the overt
campaign mediums
• Use of the word ‘zero’ to conjure up
more positive connotations than ‘diet’
Coke