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Leo Roberts, Group Marketing Manager, Integrated
Marketing Communications, Coca-Cola, South Pacific
...
We all know that the world of marketing
communications has changed. Scratch that.
We all know that the world of marketing
communications is constantly changing.
It’s not fixed, it’s dynamic. It’s that dynamism
that inspires us. It’s that dynamism that
infuriates us. Just when we think we know
how to act, we actually need to react. The
pace of change is phenomenal. It’s hard to
fathom. In many ways, it’s overwhelming.
But it’s also very, very exciting.
There are a lot of factors that contribute
to this change, but there is no doubt (in my mind
at least) the greatest single factor influencing
the evolution of marketing communications
today is technological advancement. Not
only have the opportunities for marketers to
connect their brands and ideas with consumers
exploded but also, and perhaps more
importantly, consumers can now choose the
way in which they connect with brands. That’s
the fascinating bit!
Every marketer today knows that
consumers are no longer powerless recipients
of our messages. We know that they can easily
shun our advances if they so choose. While
this is important to note, the more important
fact is that it is just that, a choice, and it does
not necessarily have to be the outcome. Yes,
consumers can now time-shift their way to
a commercial free Utopia (I know I often do)
but, at the same time, technology has opened up
a myriad opportunities. It allows us to partner
with consumers. It facilitates and encourages
participation in our brands and ideas and,
ultimately, it enables us to harness them as
distribution partners.
So what are some good examples?
The fact is there are quite a few but
I’ve selected three of the most recent and
my personal favourites.
The first, New Zealand’s Powerade
challenge, has technology absolutely at its heart,
in this case, Radio-Frequency Identification
(RFID). The campaign was specifically
designed to encourage consumer interaction,
with the ultimate aim of integrating Powerade
into the training regimes of our consumer
target. We designed a fully interactive outdoor
fitness course along the Auckland foreshore
where people could train. Large-format
billboards were then placed along the course
that, using RFID, communicated personalised
messages of support to each individual. The
results spoke for themselves and are probably
best evidenced by the fact that the Powerade
challenge is now in its fourth year and consumer
participation continues to grow.
Another example is from Fanta. Given
we wanted to reach teens, we knew that our
communications absolutely needed to be fun,
participatory and interactive. Technology was
again at the heart of this campaign, in this
case a mobile application. Along with a series
of games, the application was designed to
allow consumers to interact with the outdoor
elements of the campaign. The introduction
of image recognition technology made the
Fanta characters appear to jump from the
outdoor panels and be caught within the
application. The result was that, instead of just
communicating at teens, we used technological
innovation to encourage them to lean into the
campaign, to actively choose to participate and
to have fun with the brand and its idea.
The final example is Coca-Cola’s 2011
Share a Coke campaign. For this, we took our
iconic Kings Cross outdoor site and, through
the application of different technologies,
used it to launch the campaign in a truly
participatory way. For three nights, consumers
were able to text their name, or the names
of their loved ones, and see them ‘magically’
appear on the iconic billboard. Through
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