Coke’s “Fans First” Approach in

Social Communities
Michael Donnelly
Group Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing
How many Social Media “Experts” are
in the house?
Working from the center…
History of “painting the town red”…

1.5 BILLION
SERVINGS A DAY
our home page isn’t
just coke.com, it
is google.com
and today, I’d say…

our home page isn’t just

coke.com, it is
google.com and
hyves.nl and
twitter.com and
youtube.com and
facebook.com and
studiVZ.net
Consumers remind us every day that
Coke is THEIR brand…

On Facebook
Facebook alone we’ve
“2 Billion photo got:
-uploads
4,600+ photos
a month - nearly 70
-million a day…” USA TODAY 8/09
95+ videos
- 500,000+ “likes”*
- 90,000+ “comments”*
(*just in the last 6 months)
5000 Mentions a Day - Here is a taste
of what they are saying…
CONVERSATION CLOUD FOR TOP TERMS MENTIONED ON FB COCA-COLA FAN PAGE
(SEPTEMBER 2009)

N = 1,276 posts*
*non-english language posts removed
Source: Analysis of Facebook for Sept 1st – 30th 2009
 General comments about the brand and
other Coke products are top topics…
Positive Conversation Tones
“Coca-Cola is the best drink!!!! I love it...”

“ALWAYS COCA-COLA!! funny add from “Biggest General

Fan” Comments
Coca-Cola with Grant Theft Auto!” Other
Coke
Advertising Products
Ideas/
Suggestions
Consumptio
n Habits/ “DIET COKE IS WHERE IT'S AT YA'LL!!!! :)”
Addicted
Low Post High Post
Availability
Volume Volume
“i am the # 1 fan. just ask anyone who knows me.”

“I adore cola! I can drink it every day :D”

“Anyone know if 'Kosher Coke' is
available in Colorado??”
“. . . Bring back the glass bottle it makes a difference”

Negative Conversation Tones

And they are producing GREAT
Content - for the LOVE of THEIR Brand
Sometimes we ask for it…
•Where have you had a Coke lately?

“It was taken from the peak of the Iztaccihuatl, Mexico's third highest mountain.
[At 5,230m... you can guess why was the bottle half-full! :-)]

“Les Grand Montets near Mont Blanc French Alps 3275m”

“NEVADO DEL TOLIMA KOLOMBIA 5.800 MTS...CHARLYTOONS”

11
120 Photos of Your Next Coke…

12
5,800 Times of day to enjoy a Coke…

13
Our Fan Focused approach has yielded
a Highly Engaged fan community…
Coke fans interact with each other, and the brand, more than they do on any other top
brand fan pages. INTERACTIONS PER POST

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
Coke Brand A Brand B Brand C Brand D

User generated content Interactions* Photo Video

Coke 73,391 3,142 77
Brand A 34,094 0 0
Brand B 10,873 0 84
Brand C 6,962 0 0
Brand D 5,092 134 4

Source: FB Fan Page Analysis , Sept 2009

*Interactions = likes + comments
In the past – We were not building
sustainable relationships
Campaigns Based on
Traditional Campaigns Earning Sustainable Relationships

Fans/Follows/Friends
Fans/Follows/Friends

Time Time

Traditional Campaigns start from zero and abandon the

audience they’ve amassed upon completion.
Campaigns based on earning Sustainable Relationships
leverage the existing audience and grow it for future use.
Our “Fans First” Approach: We will be Everywhere
Our Consumers are in an Authentic “Member of
the Community – Non BIG Brand Way”

Majority
of our
efforts

Enabling Fans to Comment, Upload Strategically targeted messaging in

and Consume THEIR own consumer support of our brand objectives
generated brand related content

Our approach is designed to foster equitable engagement to earn

sustainable relationships that are authentic, delightful and reciprocal.

Being a Fan, Friend or Follower does not mean that they opted in to have
advertising blasted at them.

16
Our “less about us-more about them”
approach is getting noticed

Missed Opportunity...MSNBC
Pepsi. The
on company makes a
disappointing showing on11/30/09
Facebook…has 250,000 fans, a
fraction of rival Coke's. The company mostly uses it
as a channel for pumping out updates of
marketing activities.
Coca-Cola “official” Social Communities…

18
this is all great, but…

how do we create
compelling content
in these online
venues that
celebrates the
spirit of our brand
and drives intent?
The Coca-Cola Happiness Machine…
Vitamin Water’s Flavor Creator…

flavor creator lab environment within the vitaminwater facebook fan page

24
Determined flavor via conversation
mining & ranking…

cloud tagging- shows the ranking of flavors

and allows you to navigate for more information
Flavor voting…

vote on a single flavor, flavor combinations or use the „wild card‟ to

vote for a flavor that didn‟t make the top ten
Gaming determined functional benefit…
do you need more energy?
Label design contest - a real-time
collaborative workspace…

28
The results…
7+ minutes of engagement
per app session

tens of thousands of total votes

40K unique label designers

174% increase in fans

29
Say hello to…connect

•black cherry-lime
•caffeine + 8 key
nutrients
•made by fans, for
fans on
•in stores march 1st

30
So, We are all about
Fishing Where the Fish are…

31
Integrating Campaigns with Common
Social Solutions…

32
Optimizing Functionality that Already Exists…

33
Creating New Ones if Necessary…

34
Clear Principles are a must to insure
everyone is aligned…

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/socialmedia
Finally, Some Quick Lessons Learned…
• SMM is a tactic and should always be in support of brand objectives
• These platforms change frequently and can be very disruptive
• Keep it simple and intuitive – fewer objectives is better and shorten
users’ paths at every opportunity
• Silly to start from zero…
• “Viral” shouldn’t BE your strategy – just part of a comprehensive plan
• Clear the Legal hurdles first – this is new for everyone so legitimate
questions arise around every corner
• Always work with pros…There is no “sticking your toe in the water”
• Each new Community is an entirely new market and should be
treated as such
• Moderation is a must!
What’s Next…

•“Fans First” will continue to be our compass

•Continue building Common Solutions to Amplify
our Global & Local campaigns
•More Brands on More Platforms
•We will continue to Test, Learn, Share, SCALE &
REPEAT…Again, and Again, and Again
Questions?