Share A Coke

The "Share a Coke" social media ad campaign was arguably the best social media campaign of the 2015 year. It was great for so many reasons. I will go through a few reasons based off of what is called the "Seascape principles".

Presentation:
The status updates and pictures that we choose to share or not share are all filtered through how it will make us look to others. This is extremely important to companies who have a presence on social media. We need to always remember that we are always being perceived differently based on our presentation. Coke is doing this by making sure that the slogan and message and pictures they put up are not going to be interpreted badly.

Value:
The value principle is the "why". Why should we follow this, why did they introduce it in the first place, why should we care? The value of coke doing this ad campaign is that they were able to let the customers have a sense of belonging with the brand. They shared the messages themselves, rather than the company pushing their agenda onto the consumers.

Least Resistance:
The payoff has to be worth it. When users are on social media, a lot of times they shy away from videos because they take too long to watch. They are wanting to get more information or media, and will just scroll past it when they are taking too long. Share a coke is as easy as posting a picture and using the hashtag #shareacoke. It was easy.

Zeitgeist:
Zeitgeist is a word that describes a mood or a feeling. This is definitely generated by the share a coke movement. You could almost feel the buzz across the internet as people were all talking about the share a coke. I know I definitely looked for my name in the grocery store when they were printing a ton of names on the bottles.

Attention:
This principle is pretty self explanatory. Attention is great for companies because when they get attention, and if it is good attention, then they get money from the people buying their product. They get the money that they would otherwise not get. In 2015, more than 500,000 photos were shared by using the #shareacoke hashtag. That is a lot of attention.

Expectations:
If you have developed a brand with a straight journalistic voice and then you toss in an article written with a loose conversational tone full of racial slurs and cursing, you are going against the expectations of your audience. They will be angry and dissatisfied with the relationship. Not meeting the expectations of your audience will damage your brand, while continuing to meet their expectations will keep them engaged and satisfied.

Story:
The share a coke campaign was all about the story. It was all about how when you share a coke with John, then you and John become friends. It can heal relationships. It can mend neighborly battles. It can get you a better grade in a class. Sharing a coke was all about the story because it was all about the experience.

Progress:
Progress is a great thing. Progress helps you to expand, and to grow. When share a coke happened, they changed their logo for the event. They changed a ton of things, and it worked. It seemed like a brand new Coca-Cola because of the branding and because of the campaign. It definitely helped coke to remain a household name.