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Coke Zero Dabbles in Multichannel Marketing
Food and beverage companies predominantly focus on taste and presentation when creating ads, and Coke Zero has been no exception, until now. They have decided to take advantage of a multichannel marketing technique geared towards millennials that focusses on how the drink sounds as opposed to how it tastes. How do they do this you ask? By utilizing the music-identification service app, Shazam.
Coke Zero is looking to market their product by launching a new partnership with ESPN College GameDay and Shazam. The ad is a walkthrough with the GameDay cast explaining how to use Shazam to get a free Coke Zero from Domino’s, 7/11, QuickTrip, and Speedway. View the ad here.
According to research, 85% of millennials have not tried the product, but 50% of people who do try it become frequent drinkers. Coke Zero refers to this as a “drinkable” ad and aims to get consumers to try the product before dismissing it for something else. Football is a key factor in Coke Zero’s ad as their target audience is consumed with this specific sport this time of year. Combining their brand with GameDay is smart to establish a positive brand correlation while simultaneously portraying themselves as modern to their target audience.
In keeping with sports and their competitive nature, Coke Zero will introduce a virtual “sip-off” where fans from opposite teams will need to drink their “virtual Coke” faster than the other player. To play, participants will use their microphone as a “straw” and the “Coke” (on the smartphone’s screen) will disappear with each “sip” that person takes.
Coke Zero also has introduced a “drinkable billboard” where the drink flows through a large straw to a sampling area of different fountains for people to try at the base of the billboard. More information on this can be found here.
The people involved in this ad campaign stress that normal broadcasting is not enough to reach consumers today. They suggest that the viewers need an all encompassing experience to fully intrigue them. For more information and to read the full article, click here.
