Michaela

Joines
Coca Cola Life
Creative Brief

Product: Coca Cola Life
Client: The Coca Cola Company

The Industry Problem:

The soft drink industry has seen a 10-year decline in soft drink sales, as consumers turn to
an ever-diversifying selection of waters, teas, and juices instead. Instead of a daily dietary
staple, the younger demographic considers soft drinks an occasional treat. Concerns exist
over both high sugar intake and alternative sweeteners.

Problem:

Consumers are constantly reminded of the unhealthiness of soft drinks. The beverage has a
bad rap, and is often blamed for several societal ills: obesity, unsafe alternative
sweeteners, diabetes, and the like. A healthier soft drink cannot be sold without claims of
duplicity.

Key Insight:

Consumers know the perceived unhealthiness of soft drinks. Nonetheless, they have shown
a desire for an occasional treat. With an occasional treat, they want something real, not a
substitute.

Our Goal:

1. To portray Coca Cola Life as a worthwhile treat, not a healthier substitute of an
inherently unhealthy product.
2. To convince the consumer that we support their naturally occurring trend of
enjoying the product as a special treat, and
3. To encourage the consumer to enjoy the product in a way consistent with our
existing brand: in moments of refreshing happiness with close friends and family.

Who will we engage?

18-36 year olds, who represent the most likely age groups to consume soft drinks1 and who
tend to see the beverage as a treat, not a dietary staple2. This demographic largely prefers
full-calorie drinks to diet options, having grown up in a society wary of artificial
sweeteners. Specifically, the product will target consumers who are largely unconcerned
about the nutritional value of an occasional indulgence. This demographic often responds
to a continuous two-way dialogue between the consumer and the brand, especially through
social media3

Michaela Joines
Coca Cola Life
Our consumers knowledge gap deals with the discordant advertisement of naturally
sweetened soft drinks as healthier alternatives. Portraying soft drinks in this manner is
inconsistent with the consumers existing knowledge of these beverages, and appears
duplicitous. Applying the healthier tag to a soft drink beverage affords the public the
opportunity to condemn the industry as hypocritical and unaware of the issue with highsugar beverages. We must show consumers that our brand encourages the occasional
enjoyment of our product, and that it can be consumed in a manner that does not inhibit a
healthy lifestyle.

Our Competition:
Direct: Similar soft drink products, in the full-calorie, mid-calorie, and no calorie classes.
Brands including Pepsi and Dr. Pepper.
Indirect: Alternatives beverages to soft drinks, including water, juice, and energy drinks.
Alcoholic drinks

Features:
Natural sweeteners sugar and stevia
Green label
Authentic Coca Cola taste
Classic Americana image

Key Consumer Benefit:
A classic American treat that can be enjoyed as a refreshing beverage. Especially enjoyable
as a quick refresher during a long workday or while enjoying the company of friends and
family on a summer day.

Mandatories and Limitations:
Advertisements for Coca Cola life must support the existing brand image of Coca Cola. This
can be accomplished by employing a style similar to existing Coca Cola advertisements.
Also, advertising for Coca Cola life must not hinder the sales of existing Coca Cola products,
either regular and diet, by painting them in a negative light. This would include direct
comparisons of calorie content or ingredients that would make one product appear
superior to the others.

Michaela Joines
Coca Cola Life
Consumer Profile

The Coca Cola Life consumer is a 25year-old college grad turned entrylevel office worker/morning donut
pickup specialist. He comes in
Thursday morning after a night of
good times with other semi-poor,
similarly employed buddies at the
bar. Today, his red eyes ducked the
contacts for a pair of wide-rimmed
Warby Parkers. His scruffy face hasnt
been tended to this week, but is a far
cry from an unkempt bird nest. He
wears a worn pair of brown leather
shoes, the founding member of his
Im an adult with a job wardrobe
from three years ago. His iPhone 5 S
whistles a text alert. He pulls the
phone out of his pocket, and struggles
to read the message through a 2-week-old crack in the screen. Give it another week, and
hell send it in to be fixed.

Hes grown up in a culture of artificial intelligence, artificial food, and artificial people. Hes
heard the chatter, read the news, knows the trigger words. Aspartame causes cancer.
GMOs are bad. Wash the pesticides off your apple. Does he believe the bad rap? Eh, maybe.
He doesnt have a strong opinion, but would probably concede the subliminal power of the
chemical-cancer association as he passes McDonalds each lunch break carrying a GMO-free
Chipotle burrito. He drinks a regular Coke as the occasional treat, not daily at dinner like
his old man and Diet Coke. He really doesnt consider the nutritional value as long as it
tastes good. However, he finds no harm in trying natural things. Sugars probably tastier
than chemicals, or whatever aspartame is. And if hes going to indulge in a treat every once
in a while, it might as well be the real thing.

Having finished his coffee from the morning donut run, he now needs a 2pm spark and
heads for the convenience of the coke machine. His considerably more disheveled bar pal
meets him there, where they exchange the Im with you, bro, glance, understanding now
more than ever the importance of high-sugar, caffeinated beverages. Thankfully, the dollareating machine was replaced last week, this time with an offbeat green one sporting the
name Coca Cola Life. A matching drink stands out among the usual selection of blue, red,
and silver cans, and vaunts its cane sugar and stevia sweetener. Still on a caffeine high from
the coffee, he decides to try the new shooter out. The green color is unfamiliar on a Coke,
but novelty is a welcome rarity in the 8 to 5 office shift. Plus his wife of 2 years, a yoga
enthusiast who jokingly condones his mild caffeine addiction, would applaud the decision.
With mild curiosity, he pops the top and takes a swig.

Michaela Joines
Coca Cola Life
1. http://www.gallup.com/poll/163997/regular-soda-popular-young-nonwhite-low-
income.aspx

2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/23/america-hasfallen-out-of-love-with-diet-sodas-and-possibly-for-good/
3. https://hbr.org/2011/10/shaking-things-up-at-coca-cola

4. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/30/coca-cola-coke-cokelife-open-happiness-soft-drinks-beverages-colors-branding/16477457/


5. http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/cocacola-accused-of-greenwashing-withlaunch-of-sugarreduced-coke-life-20150330-1mas6u.html#ixzz3lBKfxuJO


6. http://www.thewire.com/business/2014/06/coca-cola-life-isnt-actually-good-foryou/372962/#disqus_thread