Well that’s the Christmas period almost over with for 2015
and we saw lots of brands and companies marketing their products and services
through experiential marketing in different ways over the last couple of
months. In my next few blog posts I will discuss a couple of different
campaigns that we all potentially saw and took part in.
Coca-Cola
First up is the Coca-Cola experiential campaign that runs
yearly and has been for several years now, and it is an indication for a lot of
people that the ‘holidays are coming’ as soon as they see the icon that is the
Coca-Cola truck. Which has been used as a promotional tool for Coca-Cola since
1995.
This year the truck visited a total of 46 destinations in
the UK from November 22nd to December 23rd, where members
of the public were able to get a free photograph with the iconic truck whilst
listening to some Christmas classics and sipping on a complimentary can of
Coca-Cola.
Firstly this campaign taps in to our sensory receptors. The
truck’s lights are all lit up making it look magical for everyone to appreciate
and mirror how it looks in the adverts, with Coca-Cola written literally
everywhere you looked. These are connecting with our vision senses, creating a
memory for the public who came along to this event.
Secondly, sound was used at the event. There were classic
Christmas songs being played from large speakers around the truck to get
everyone tapping their feet and getting in to Christmas spirit creating a happy
atmosphere. As it is seen that aspects of sound affect the way people behave
and their feelings towards products and experiences (Soloman, 2006, pg. 43).
Taste, of course the main reason of these campaigns, is
another receptor that is used. Everyone who visits the truck (under 12s must
have been accompanied by an adult) where all given a free can of Coca-Cola,
Diet Coke or Coca-Cola Zero, which you were given along with the Coca-Cola
tagline of “Taste Christmas with this uplifting taste”. If you also decided to
go for the option of Coca-Cola Zero you were reminded about the fact it has
zero calories, Coca-Cola’s way of educating their customers.
There were a couple of methods to receive a free can of
Coca-Cola, some visitors found themselves having to perform a little dance
along to the music in order to receive their free can of Coca-Cola. This
consumer involvement added to the memorable experience Coca-Cola was trying to
create.
Another opportunity to get yourself a free can and the most
popular way was to get a picture with the iconic Coca-Cola truck. You were
handed a can and a unique code, and then sent up on to a podium to get a
photograph, which after was edited and then uploaded on to the Coca-Cola
website, accessed with your unique code. This created an opportunity for
consumer involvement again as it gave the chance for the customer to share
their photograph on their social media sites with the hashtag
#holidaysarecoming which is promoting their brand, however the consumer is
actually doing the promoting instead.
The photograph that the customer receives has a filter added
over the top which includes several more Coca-Cola branding on it. Below is the
picture I got, as you can see there is 7 promotional signage on it, making it
hard for you not to forget where this picture came from.
Below is an example of the picture you recieve:
By sharing the photograph also links to the Self Concept.
The picture creates the idea of the customer being in the Christmas spirit and
possibly creating a happy family image which can be linked to the ideal self
and the looking glass self. It is promoting this image to their friends and
family in hope that it portrays an image of happiness and that they are in the
Christmas spirit.
Creating this memorable experience will keep the idea of
habitual when decision making around this product as this positive consumer
involvement, it will encourage the consumers to keep on buying this product so
the company can keep putting on events such as these. It may even open up a new
market, with people trying Coca-Cola for the first time, it could encourage
them to start buying Coca-Cola more often.
Here are a couple of other photographs taken whilst visiting the Coca-Cola truck this year.
< Queuing for the free can of Coca-Cola.
Choice of different Coca-Cola products on offer >
< Coca-Cola truck all lit up
Me and my flat mate's selfie with the truck >
