Coca-Cola infuses GIFs with real-time emotions for millennial push
In a move to meet millennials on their own ground, Coca-Cola is offering a way to share an animated GIF that expresses a consumer?s feelings in that moment as part of the new Taste the Feeling campaign.
The global effort brings all of the Coca-Cola brands under one creative push, including Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light/Diet Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola Life. The multichannel campaign includes a number of television and print deployments as well as a microsite where users can pull a GIF scene, personalize it to reflect one of several feelings associated with drinking Coca-Cola and share it on social media.
?Our approach is the perfect mash-up of us taking the natural consumer behavior of 'sharing your feelings' through the digital/social ecosystem by matching that up with Coca-Cola moments ? GIFs are a great way to bring those two things together,? said Kim Gnatt, group director for digital platforms and innovation at The Coca-Cola Company. ?And our Avicii music track harmoniously brings these Coca-Cola moments together to represent feelings with the GIFS as shareable content across the globe.
?Mobile plays a major role,? she said. ?We designed the entire experience to be device agnostic and easily shareable across all social and mobile platforms, including consumers who don?t have smartphones.
?Those without smartphones can download and text the GIFs as well. We translated the content into 22 languages, which is pretty significant.
Coca-Cole is expecting users in North America to share heavily on Instagram while platforms such as Whats App will be popular in China. Everything was done through Facebook and Twitter APIs to be as easy as possible for consumers.
Mobile content
The microsite, tastethefeeling.coca-cola.com, quickly scrolls through a number of different feel-good short scenes featuring people having a good time, urging viewers to type in how they are feeling at that moment.
The site captures several shots from the unfolding scene with the viewer?s word superimposed on top. Users can pick the image they like best and download it or share it on social media.
The idea of authentic, real moments is central to the campaign, reflected in the images on TV and in print and enabled for consumers via the customizable digital experience.
The positioning hopes to grab millennial consumers, who are known to value authenticity from the brands they like and are also enthusiastic about capturing and sharing their feelings via their mobile phones. It also addresses the growing consumption of short, entertaining content on mobile and the desire for personalized experiences.
?The microsite operates utilizing a tactile UX ? clearly designed for a touch screen device,? said Shuli Lowy, director of mobile and social media marketing at Ping Mobile. ?Creating a mobile UX is particularly important for a socially fueled campaign as the majority of social media consumption is performed on mobile devices.
?The GIF display speaks to a current thrill of millennials who love to share dynamic, expressive content,? she said. ?While GIFs are fun to share, they are not as easy to create; that makes the Coca Cola campaign particularly well positioned.
?The campaign also strategically provides direct links to social sharing ? making it easy for consumers to disseminate the content.?
One brand
The new global marketing strategy, which was revealed last week, marks the first time that all of the Coca-Cola labels have been united in one creative campaign. The goal is to use universal storytelling and everyday moments to connect with consumers around the world and celebrate the pleasure of drinking any version of Coca-Cola.
By bringing all the labels under one campaign, Coca-Cola is also trying to underscore its commitment to choice.
The strategy reflects a move away from multiple brand campaigns to one overarching push designed to support both the product and the brand. It will include 10 TV spots, more than 100 campaign images, a new music anthem and the interactive digital experience.
The moments and experiences are meant to be universal and resonate with consumers around the globe.
?While it was certainly prudent to make the GIFs sharable on Facebook and Twitter, it is odd that the campaign does not provide an option to share on Instagram,? Ms. Lowy said. ?Instagram is all about a visual appeal which makes the spirited bits of content a great fit for the social channel.
?Instagram is not fully compatible with GIFs which may have been considered the obstacle that cut that social channel out,? she said. ?However, Coca-Cola could have turned the GIFs into short video downloads.
?Videos play in loop form on Instagram so it would have provided a similar effect to a GIF.?
