Coca-Cola launched its "Share a Coke" campaign in 2014 to increase sales among US teenagers. It personalized Coke bottles and cans with 250 popular names to create a personal connection. The campaign was highly successful on social media, driving engagement rates up significantly. It increased Coke revenue 11% over the previous year and reached more teens than any other market. The campaign was so effective because it engaged teens through personalized packaging and social media sharing.

1. Coca-Cola: Share a Coke
#ShareaCoke
Rachel Schmidt
February 8, 2016
AMM 5013 – Integrated Marketing Communications
Sheila Moore
Campaign Details
Brand Owner: Coca-Cola North America Group
Campaign: Coca-Cola: Share a Coke (mid-June – August 2014)
Brand: Coca-Cola
Country: United States
Media Channels Used: Internet, out-of-home, social media, television, content marketing, word of
mouth, packaging and design + more!
Prize: Warc Prize for Social Strategy: Gold, 2015
Link to Article:
http://www.warc.com.eztest.ocls.ca/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=6d5736a8-127b-
4aa6-9cbf-906712788247&q=coca cola&CID=A104360&PUB=WARC-PRIZE-SOCIAL

2. Schmidt, 1
Campaign Overview
Advertisers create target personas in order to better understand what the typical product user would look
like. However, what about completely personalizing the experience of each individual who uses your
product?
Coca-Cola has been a household name for over 100 years. Their latest campaign Share a Coke
encourages US teenagers to drink more Coke. In
2014 Coca-Cola found that 10 million US teens
had not consumed Coca-Cola in the last year, and
so they set out to create an advertising campaign
that would create a personal connection to teens,
encouraging them to purchase and consume more
Coke.
After finding the Share a Coke campaign
extremely successful in other countries, (Australia
in 2011 & Ireland in 2013) Coca-Cola North
America adopted the globally successful
campaign to increase sales and make a personal
connection with teenagers. Coca-Cola thus released new bottles and cans personalized with 250 of the
most popular North American names on them.
What was different about this campaign compared to other Coca-Cola campaigns you might ask? First,
packaging became a pivotal role in Coke’s advertising as it was a major part of the campaign. Coca-Cola
debranded their product by taking their own company name off their product and replaced it with 250 of
the most common teen names in North America. Secondly, the hashtag #ShareaCoke created a way for
teens to get involved using social media platforms to increase the idea of sharing a Coke.
Target Market & Advertising Objectives
Coca-Cola’s overall goal was thus to increase sales in teenagers (ages 13-19) in the US over the summer
months (mid-June – August 2014).
Key Message
Share a Coke with friends and/or family.
Coke encouraged teens to Share a Coke with their friends by showing them how exciting it was to get a
Coke bottle with their name or their friends names on them.

3. Schmidt, 2
Purpose
As for mentioned, Coke saw a large decrease in the amount of teenagers drinking their product. Health
concerns surrounding soft drinks has increased over the last 10 years. Popular trends in health have also
decreased the amount of overall consumption of soft drinks. Healthier choices such as water and juices
have also contributed to the decline in soft drink sales over the last 9 years. Coke’s iconic brand does not
translate into individuality for most people as there is such a vast array of beverage options available to
consumers.
A study done by Coca-Cola mentioned throughout the article states that teens think of Coca-Cola as old-
fashioned and that Coke was their “parent’s drink”. Therefore, Coke needed help securing the future of
its brand sales by recruiting a new younger generation of Coke drinkers. In order to do so, Coke needed
to build a stronger connection with younger individuals.
Insight and Strategic Implications
In order to increase sales, Coca-Cola needed to make a personal connection with teenagers. We all
know, teenagers today want everything (or believe that everything is) about them. What better way to
make a product more about someone than a customizable bottle with their own name on it? Thus the
Share a Coke concept was created.
This simple idea was powerful and connected teens to Coca-Cola.
The major elements that differentiated Coca-Cola Share a Coke campaign from others were;
1. The use of packaging – this is incredible important because instead of making Coca-Cola’s logo
as identifying factor, instead an individual’s name was placed on the bottle or can
2. Social media – the use of the hashtag #ShareaCoke created word of mouth and stir on social
media as a way to get teens involved in the campaign through social media platforms

4. Schmidt, 3
Fun Ways to Interact
Not only did Coca-Cola put names on their bottles and make a hashtag. They went further than
traditional media forms;
1. Coca-Cola created human-sized Coke bottles on bus shelters where teens could type in their
names and see it on the bottle and share a picture of it on social media
2. Digital outdoor billboards were placed in Time Square (NYC) which teens opted in via text to
have their name displayed on a giant Coke bottle in the middle of Time Square
3. Social media became the heart of the campaign with content spread across Facebook, Instagram
and Twitter and other media platforms
4. Coca-Cola enlisted teen idols and influences to share how they would share a Coke
Result
The result of Coke’s Share a Coke
campaign was remarkable. 1.25
million US teens tried Coke over the
course of the 2014 summer.
Participating packages (bottles and
cans with individual’s names on
them) rose 11%. This made the US
campaign more successful in driving
sales than any other market.
Social Effects
- Thousands shared the exclusivity of finding their name or friends names on Coke products and
share with online communities
- #ShareaCoke was used 89,000 times on Twitter and 496,000 on Instagram
- Over 800,000 virtual Coke bottles were shared via Facebook
- Twitter: engagement rate for Coke went from 1.5% to 7.8%
- Instagram: ‘like’ rate went from 2-4% to 8.7%
Business Effect
- Revenue increase 11% over the previous year
- July 2014 was the best four weeks in sales for Coke since 2009

5. Schmidt, 4
Why Was the Campaign So Successful?
The Coca-Cola Share a Coke campaign was successful because of their ability to engage with teenagers
through social media. The use of social media over
the past few years for teens has become more and
more important as a way for advertisers to influence
and target new markets that don’t use traditional
media as much as digital. Being able to use social
media spreads a message while influencing users to
tell stories that are worthy of being retold. When we
think of social media campaigns we think about how
they have the ability to amplify individual’s ideas and
spread a message. Coca-Cola’s campaign not only
spread their message but also engaged with
consumers on a personal level, creating a new way to
not only consume a product but share their
experience with friends.
Relevance to Course Material
Social and technological changes keep Coke’s need for innovation at a high. Social changes such health
trends are ever changing society’s perceptions of soft drinks. Coke has managed to target a younger
generation to influence them to continue drinking Coke despite new trends in health. Coke is also
keeping up with technological changes. They gave a strong idea of what their target market is doing and
using teens online activity to their advantage. They have been able to keep up with social media
accounts and they understand the idea of teens sharing everything they do on online platforms. Coke has
managed to keep up with the rise of consumer generated content by creating their own content for teens
to engage with on digital media platforms.
Coke is an ever changing brand. At it’s current position
in the product life cycle, it has a constant need to
innovate in order to never reach a stage of decline. It
could be argued that Coca-Cola has moved from the
maturity stage in the product life cycle to another growth
stage. Coke is growing their market by targeting a new
generation, creating a way to further target new
generations in the future. That, along with technology
advances will keep individuals seeing Coke as ‘not just
another soft drink’ but as a hip-innovative brand.
Remember guys; Sharing is caring!

6. Schmidt, 5
See the Video Here!
(Middle of the Warc article)
http://www.warc.com.eztest.ocls.ca/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=6d5736a8-
127b-4aa6-9cbf-906712788247&q=coca%20cola&CID=A104360&PUB=WARC-PRIZE-
SOCIAL
References
Tarver, Evan. (07 October 2015). What Makes the ‘Share a Coke’ Campaign So Successul? (KO).
Investopedia. Retrieved: February 4, 2016 from
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/100715/what-makes-share-coke-campaign-so
successful.asp
Moye, Jay. (14 April 2015). Share a Coke 2.0: The Hit Campaign is Back, and it’s Bigger and Better
Than Ever. Coca-Cola Journey. Retrieved: February 4, 2016 from
http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/share-a-coke-20-the-hit-campaign-is-back-and-its
bigger-and-better-than-ever/
Mendoza, Luis. (2014). Coca-Cola: Share a Coke US. Warc Ltd. Retrieved: January 27, 2016 from
http://www.warc.com.eztest.ocls.ca/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=6d5736a8-
127b-4aa6-9cbf-906712788247&q=coca%20cola&CID=A104360&PUB=WARC-PRIZE-
SOCIAL