Coke's Peace Tea brand encourages 'randomer' acts of kindness through influencer campaign

Dive Brief:

Coca-Cola brand Peace Tea is tapping its group of influencers, called the Peace Tea{m}, for a #ChoosePeace campaign that encourages "Randomer Random Acts of Kindness," a news release announced.
Peace Tea's influencers will share their own acts of kindness on Facebook and Instagram. For every like on Facebook and Instagram, the company will donate $1 to RandomActs.org, a group that encourages random acts of kindness worldwide. For each Facebook share or Instagram comment on a post, the company will donate $2 to the organization. Peace Tea will donate up to $75,000.
The Peace Tea{m} consists of nearly 20 influencers who collectively have more than 5.3 million followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Musical.ly. The full campaign will include online video pre-roll, sponsored social content, banner ads and point-of-sale displays. Street teams will also give away Peace Tea samples at summer events and encourag consumers to engage in "Randomer Random Acts of Kindness."

Dive Insight:

Peace Tea is trying to leverage the popularity of its influencer partners to create a sort of pay-it-forward initiative on social media, which fits into the brand's motto of supporting peace and might prove resonant with younger consumers.

Gen Zers and millennials are often noted as favoring brands that share their values and want to make a difference in the world. The trend is not lost on Peace Tea. The company cited data that 75% of 17- to 24-year-olds have performed a random act of kindness in the last three months. Of those who received a random act of kindness, 83% were inspired to do the same for someone else.

Younger consumers also tend to prefer to engage with influencers as opposed to more traditional advertisements. Peace Tea appears to be working mostly with micro-influencers, or those with less than 250,000 followers. Two members of the Peace Tea{m}, Branden Harvey and Morgan Harper Nichols, both have over 100,000 followers, for example. These types of creators don't necessarily have celebrity-sized audiences but might have the curated, niche followers that Peace Tea is looking to target.

Coca-Cola acquired Peace Tea in 2014 as a potential bid to connect with younger consumers who prefer healthier beverages, like bottled water, tea and coffee. Health claims, like low-calorie, organic, all-natural and vitamin-enhanced, particularly resonate with Gen Zers, as the group tries to avoid drinks with artificial sweeteners, flavors and preservatives, according to a 2016 survey from Beverage Marketing Corp. and the college marketing and insights agency Fluent.