Coca Cola – Selling with Emotion

Successful companies sell through emotions rather than features of a product. They connect with their audience on an emotional level which creates a strong bond.

Coca Cola don’t tell you about how sweet their drinks are or how different they are compared to water. They show you the kind of lifestyle their drink embodies.

A few of Coke’s slogans over the years:

• 1979 – Have a Coke and a smile
• 1989 – Can’t Beat the Feeling
• 2001 – Life tastes good
• 2009 – Open Happiness
• 2011 – Life Begins Here

Diversity

Coke Zero ads target men and depict epic adventures straight out of Hollywood. Yet this is a drink that has no calories, no sugar, etc. Not very different to Diet Coke then? The drinks are very similar and even taste very much the same but the key to both is how they sell themselves. Diet Coke is aimed at women and has a carefree yet fun approach to its advertising.

Social

Coca Cola is brilliant at connecting to it’s audience socially. This year it’s Facebook page reached 50million Likes!

In 2013 they began putting peoples names onto bottles and this has been a great success inspiring millions of Facebook pictures tagging friends and family members because you’ve found their name on a bottle. Some shops have had to put up signs asking people to stop going through the bottles looking for their names. This is a great example of giving ownership of a brand to people.

For me one of their most successful campaigns in recent years has been ‘Open Happiness‘

The brand also created a Happiness Machine in 2009 as part of their ‘Open Happiness’ campaign. The machine was installed in a college campus and gave out random gifts and interacted with people. Since then Happiness Machines have appeared around the world giving out different surprises in exchange for a hug, a song, a dance, etc.