Coke takes the social out of media
This week Coke Analog Labs have released a new promotional video called Social Media Guard. As wake up calls go, Coke nails it: Funny, poign...
26 Feb 2014 9780 ViewsThis week Coke Analog Labs have released a new promotional video called Social Media Guard. As wake up calls go, Coke nails it: Funny, poignant and oh-so-true. By far the best piece of social commentary on our anti-social social media habits since the Zombie Apocalypse meme. In its first week it has racked up over 3.6 million views on YouTube for the brand.
Kudos to Memac Ogilvy, Dubai and, in particular, the video’s copywriter Sascha Kuntze who penned lines like “The real world. Remember that? It’s the thing that happens when you run out of battery.” and “Coke’s Social Media Guard takes the social out of media and puts it back in your real life.” Brilliant.
The cure for our antisocial social media habits
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3 replies
Dear author,
I am not sure if I can agree with your conclusions. Yes, this might be a brilliant video but it is not happening on Coke's digital platform.
And if Coke is right, social engagement is, what it is about ….
See here what the problem is: http://commetrics.com/articles/how-to-create-better-engagement-1/
Yes cute video, created lots of buzz. Unfortunately, as the Coke Social Media boss said, creating little if any sales.
Is that success?
Thanks for sharing
Urs DrKPI.de
Thanks Urs,
Great post on Coke's engagement woes. I'm looking forward to following your blog. I agree that just because an iconic brand like Coke has a significant following on social media does not mean it is doing a particularly good job there. As you point out, Coke's social media presence is a rather low-engagement, self-centered affair.
With regard to the Social Media Guard video, you raise an interesting point: Assuming this video had no effect on sales, does the fact that it has been viewed 5.4 million times in two weeks, prompted 6.3 thousand comments on YouTube and hundreds of positive articles in publications like Time, Mashable, Huffington Post, etc. count for anything?
I can't speak for Coke's entire social media effort, but with regard to this one video I'd say it does, especially when one weighs the positive publicity against what appears to be a relatively modest production budget for the video. This, of course, is also based on the assumption that short-term sales can't be the only valid metric for determining the success of a marketing endeavor.
To really assess the success of the video would require scrutinizing the brief and its underlying assumptions. I guess one would also need to determine the value of the positive brand exposure for Coke and what, if any, impact it has on sales and brand equity. But as someone who is not a cola fan, I can't help but feel a little bit better about the brand for having put a smile on my face and generating so many interesting discussions.
Dear Sean
Great answer and actually, I can only agree with what you write in your comment above.
I cannot spell out everything vor various reasons BUT, Coke's goal was to get more engagement on its platform. The video did not help there. Accordingly, not a success.
Of course, all the engagement on other platforms you point out… and I agree, great buzz and attention to the brand. However, the folks at Coca-Cola felt what they had targeted the video to foster brand engagement on their own platform – not those of others such as YouTube.
Besides, when one spends over $100mio on marketing in some markets…. then outlets like Huffington Post or Mashable do write about it (what else is there to write about without having to invest in investigative journalism?). Better write about a Coca-Cola video then spending money and time to write about the Ukraine, for instance. More fun and gets more attention. Sad truth.
Thanks so much Dean for taking the time. I am glad that basically we agree and YES, I wish our videos would get this buzz. But that remains wishful thinking. I look forward to your reader comments on our blog.
Respectfully
Urs
DrKPI.de