Earlier this year Coke launched Coca Cola Music, a new branded platform for experiencing and sharing music. Not letting the rather indifferent response towards the launch using Maroon 5, Coke has announced overnight that it's amping up the service and pitching it against Apple's iTunes and the crippled Myspace.
Apparently just drinking Coke is the key to connecting you with other people to share music. Too easy.
So easy in fact that Joe Bellioti, director of global entertainment marketing at Coca Cola, states that this social media project aims to double the entire company’s revenue to more than $200 billion by 2020.
A great blog on SMM as an integrated marketing tool highlighted the differing views on the effectiveness of Coke's design and monitoring of it's social media activities, and with this new platform announcement, will surely only intensify.
So if it is to believed that past social media activities by Coke have been underwhelming, do you think this can reverse their luck??
Post your comments below!
no doubt Coke and music go together and have a long history. It's interesting that the clip is so heavily targeted to tweens and teens? Is it because once we are Coke loyalists, we are more likely to buy Coke as our cola of choice to mix with Jacks, Bundy and Bicardi etc? It's also interesting to see how these companies are active online and in the SM space. Note: you must be 18+ to view their links
ReplyDeleteIt'll be very interesting to see if this works for Coke. Competing against iTunes will be hard, so many have tried and failed. Can Coke offer something more than iTunes? So many of us have iTunes on our computers and it's 'easy' to use it rather than going through the hassle of using another program.
ReplyDeleteHubba: Even with drinks, do people really care if it's Coke or Pepsi? Many times in bars they use Pepsi postmix instead of Coke and when you ask for a Jacks and Coke what you really get is Jacks and Pepsi but who can tell the difference? And if they'd say it's Pepsi, would people turn it down?
I like the way Coke are connecting with their target audience via a deep understanding of their psychographic characteristics. As @Hubba says, Coke and music go together, and this strategy just reinforces that connection.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think Apple have too much to worry about... "Coke music" will barely put a dent in iTunes' sales, I suspect.
Interesting Post Craig! I agree with @Wags and @Hubba about the statement 'Music and Coke go together'. I think Coca Cola uses music because this concept has a perfect association with "open happiness" which is one of the messages that Coca Cola want to communicate to their fans and people...In general, I think that you can associate music with happiness...and It's a perfect tool to connect the brand with teenagers as well!
ReplyDeleteYep, I agree completely, Coke = music and music = Coke. Being from South Africa, we never got really good international bands, but who made it happen? Coke! It was hugely successful and the whole country now look forward every year to the Coke Fest. Certainly great for the brand!
ReplyDeleteRoss
Just realised my post had nothing to do with SM. But the way coke lines itself up with ideas such as music, be it through festivals or SM, shows how well they know their market and what appeals to them.
ReplyDeleteRoss
@Wags I actually think that Coke have a great potential to rival iTunes... maybe not surpass them (lets not go crazy here) but think about Apple's success, they managed to tie their brand with being young/cool/having status..... and I think Coke consumers have a similar 'air' about them.
ReplyDeleteWhilst @Roni raises a good point (people dont know what they are consuming) realistically every person either likes Coke or Pepsi... not usually both. If Coke can leverage the 'lifestyle' elements of their brand and their massive reach - with the right strategy they could be very successful!
Cheers for the feedback guys! It's been some time since this launch and well... not looking too flash just yet. COke has distracted itself with the new "Share a Coke with..." campaign, so I guess the next six months will really dictate the relationship btw coke and music
ReplyDelete