Students Use Social Media To Uncover Global Coke Distribution Network
Coca-Cola is launching a new social media initiative called, “Expedition 206” pitched directly at Millennials.
From the site:
In January 2010, a team of three travelers will begin an unprecedented journey. A mission. An expedition. A quest to visit in 365 days 206 countries where Coca-Cola is sold. These three travelers are more than mere explorers–they are Happiness Ambassadors, and they will seek and share the optimism and happiness of Coca-Cola
Happiness Ambassadors? Seriously? Is that what our generation has come to? Are we so easily wooed by a branded version of The Amazing Race that we happily ignore all other aspects of the pitch?
On the positive side:
Video blogging a trip around the world seems like a cool idea.
It’d be cool to get a perspective on different events (FIFA World Cup, Winter Olympics, World Expo) from people in my age group.
It’s nice that a huge brand is trying some cool stuff with social media.
On the negative side:
206 Countries in 365 days means spending less than two days in each country if travel weren’t a factor. Include travel time and it’s fair to say that these Kelly, Tony, and Tono will have about 8 hours to get a perspective on entire countries. If you’ve traveled at all, you know this is a laughable amount of time.
It seems like Coke is simply trying to copy an existing model, only without the genuine fun that makes Matt’s video so compelling:
The problem with a campaign that draws only from existing examples of success is that any chance of remarkable innovation is lost. There’s nothing surprising about 3 people handing out bottles of carbonated corn syrup to starving children. Is it remarkable? Yes, but not in pleasant ways.
Coca-Cola is managing the possibility of negative feedback by keeping the campaign in what seems to be a mostly-broadcast mode. They get to share and we are supposed to follow along, slurping at the dregs of their caramelized experience.
What is your reaction to this campaign? Will you buy more Coca-Cola because of it?
I took a quick survey of some Millennial friends to see what they thought of the campaign. They all said it would be cool to be a traveler on Expedition 206, but none of them could see the effort having any real benefit to those outside the expedition.
Do you agree? What would Expedition 206 need to do in order to win you over?
Photo Credit: 55935853@N00
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by nakedgen_heledd: The Coked-Up Side: Coca-cola’s ‘Happiness Ambassadors’. Brilliant concept or cringe-worthy attempt at engaging #GenY? http://is.gd/5fVVh...
i’ll drink Coke because i like the taste and not how they market to me. i’m not sure i would have thought about them only spending 8 hours a day to show what a country looks like, thanks for pointing that out!
ok, Korea has to be the funniest part
It won’t drive me to buy more Coke, but I like the idea.
Aside from the amount of time spent traveling and actual time spent in each country, I don’t think the negatives you listed are really negatives.
It’s a cool idea and sounds fun.
The first thing I thought was, “How do you even get THAT job?! I want to do that!”
I never used to prefer Coke over Pepsi, I liked them equally. Recently I watched the CNBC special Coca-Cola: The Real Story Behind the Real Thing and seriously can’t drink Pepsi anymore. It’s crazy, but being immersed in the brand during a 2 hour long tv special actually made me feel more connected to Coke. http://www.cnbc.com/id/33307309/
Expedition 206 probably will drive Coke sales, and I’m interested to see how the whole campaign pans out, but “Happiness Ambassadors” sounds cheesy. There must be a better name out there.
Would you prefer “Corn Syrup Distributors”? =)
You make a great point about feeling some connection with a brand through immersion in an associated narrative. It’s a bit of a stretch to assume that drinking coke will turn a consumer into a member of the apathetic jet set.
Now, if they’d had a contest to give away two more spots on the team, I’d have to be more positive because I’d definitely put my name in.
I think you really nailed their research brief: copy “Where the Hell is Matt” and apply Coke’s “Happy” branding. I think the term Happiness Ambassadors is lame too, but maybe it will float by as ironical. A few months ago when the Levi’s “Go Forth” ads started to run I wasn’t sure they would work, felt like a cologne or perfume ad–Levi’s = sexy and young! But when I realized that the campaign was a celebration of Americana, not just a pitch for Levi’s, it felt more genuine in that context, and that’s the key. If Coke can pull off this campaign so that it feels genuine then it might work. Unfortunately, I doubt that Coke will actually let this be that transparent or “real,” as most of the fun had while backpacking probably won’t make it through the corporate filter–and you just can’t be that cool, or accepted online, when you have a filter on all the time.
Agreed re: the Levi’s campaign.
The big difference between Angelina Jolie as a “good will ambassador” and these happiness ambassadors is that Jolie typically brings a baby back with her. You think we’ll be allowed to see when one of our exhausted heroes breaks down on camera because they’ve realized that their cans of coke aren’t helping things?
There were a lot of opportunities to give this campaign some real weight… and it didn’t happen.
I abosolutely love that Levi’s campaign.
I probably won’t buy more Coca-Cola because of this campaign. Initially it seems like a cool idea but a bit rushed and recycled. Coca-Cola already had a huge brand following anyway and it’s the classic soft drink. I’t probably already the soda of choice for many Millennials.
Nice try but it’s not going to change anything about how I view the Coca-Cola brand
No matter how much I’d love to spend a year being one of these ambassadors, nothing will make Coke taste better than Pepsi to me. When I think of the two, Coke is old, forever trying to reach new generations with stuff like this, trying too hard. Amongst my peers, my brand loyalty to Pepsi is in the minority, so I shouldn’t think Coke needs to be reaching out with this large of an initiative to get more fans.
Coca-Cola is one of those brands that needs no explanation. It will always sell. There are so many knock-off brands of Cola (Sam’s Choice, RC Cola, Rally Cola), but you always say “I’ll have a Coke”. It’s like Kleenex or Band-Aid or Tylenol, the competitors may put out a good product, but it will always live in the shadow of the leading brand names. Do these 3 need to exhaust themselves traveling around the world to promote a product that probably could still turn an incredible profit with no advertising? No. Is it a cool idea that I’m jealous of? Oh yes!
Evan, I wonder if Coca-Cola has built such a brand because they insist on promoting their product even when it might seem unnecessary. The beverage industry is vicious and I’m certain a healthy sense of urgency is behind much of what CC produces in terms of advertising. A giant corn syrup rat race. =)
This campaign reminds me of that “Greatest Job in the World” stunt for New Zealand Tourism a while back. They had a world-wide video contest for who would become an Island Caretaker, basically living in a mansion, swimming in the ocean, and occasionally blogging about it. I don’t know exactly how many people applied for that job, but it was a LOT of people. Coke should have followed that model instead… it would have been so much more buzz-worthy.
I hardly drink soda–Pepsi or Coke, so this campaign will be lost on me in terms of Coke earning my purchase. I think they sell a pretty disgusting, proven-to-be-unhealthy product that would benefit more from a revamping of ingredients than this whirlwind trip.
Seth, you make a great point about how long they will be in each country (though I wonder if there’s a chance they might land near a border and make a quick hop over to the next country kind of move) Either way, it would seem like they are going to be doing event after event after event–how is that happiness? Sound like they’re going to be worked like dogs!
Is coke also chipping in for their health care and dentistry bills after the fact? Are they paying these “happiness ambassadors” in addition to giving them this free trip? Will they let one of the ambassador’s quit? Will they be blogging about their trip? Will Coke allow them freedom of speech, or will they just chirp pre-approved slogans and stories.
If this is an authentic trip with authentic people, I’d love to hear what the experiences of the three actually are. But if Coke thinks they’re pulling the rug over anyone’s eyes about the fact that their product is one of the unhealthiest beverages around, I imagine not everyone will be fooled.
I don’t actually think they’ll do so much work. Just a bit of jet setting and vlogging.
As for Coke being unhealthy, they’ve yet to advertise their product as having any health benefits. Just happiness.
As an aside, I was at a grocery store today and noticed coke products in round, christmas ornament-shaped bottles. Just a fun gimmick but still kinda fun. I’ll stick to the orangina when I can get it. =)
I think Christine’s comment is right on the money. If Coke had used this as an opportunity to have 100,000 people apply to be the poorly named “happiness ambassadors,” the campaign likely would have generated tons more buzz and engagement for its millenial target.
I’ve seen this first hand when my company (http://www.buzz-university.com) launched our ROCKSTAR on Campus program. We got hundreds of applicants who generated thousands of wall posts and interactions on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/rockstaroncampus) in a matter of days. The application and selection process probably generated a comparable amount of buzz as the actual representatives did for the first week after being selected.
It just doesn’t seem relevant to me – I don’t really see a significant connection between the Open Happiness campaign and Expedition 206. It might be more interesting to me if they were to visit fewer countries for longer periods of time, volunteercations, essentially, where they could (for instance) help reconstruct homes in New Orleans for a week and then promote HIV awareness in the Congo. Then they really would be ‘opening happiness’. But who has time (addressed further here http://www.thenextgreatgeneration.com/2009/12/01/ive-10-minutes-gimme-skinny-good/) to read incomplete snippets of information every day for a year?
Wanted to focus on two p[oints. First: the video blogging. Well, it’s not planned to be live.
I’m prejudiced because I work for LiveU, where we use our unique technology to offer live quality video over multiple cellular links simultaneously, in one compact device. Quite revolutionary, and being used by leading TV broadcasters and internet portals.
This tool could offer a great value to such a campaign. Viewers interest and engagement, putting the live element into the Expedition, leading social media and technological innovation, interacting live with local communities …
Yet Coke is not planning to do so.
Which brings me to my second, more general, point. I find it hard to really win social media with a conservative attitude. Some businesses attempt to implement conservative thinking to the new social media and to marketing in this space. It works to some extent. Yet it creates an inherent conflict between brands: the “social media” brand itself and the intended brand. Such thinking limits the intended brand rather than leveraging it to the full potential.
After all, when will Coca Cola make another world expedition?