The integration imperative
When it comes to blockbuster sporting events, it would be an understatement to say that Coca-Cola doesn't skimp on its marketing and sponsorship dollars. Indeed, it's hard to imagine the Olympics, Super Bowl or World Cup without a Coca-Cola logo prominently displayed somewhere in the background.
But when it comes to advertising around such events, it's traditionally been the landmark TV commercials that have garnered the most buzz among consumers, rather than the online efforts. But those days may be changing, Kruse notes. After all, she points out, the truly successful TV commercials are not stand-alone marketing tools anymore. This was certainly the case with Coca-Cola's "Happiness Factory" commercial, an epic Super Bowl campaign that took consumers inside the inner workings of a Coke machine.
"Happiness Factory was an iconic ad that we launched, and we took that ad and extended the TV concept into an immersive, engaging online experience," Kruse says. On the campaign's website, consumers could watch the commercials, apply for jobs at the Happiness Factory and interact with the commercial's cast of animated characters.
Such integration between traditional and online marketing channels flows the other way, too. For example, My Coke Rewards -- Coca-Cola's hugely successful online loyalty program -- has crept beyond its digital boundaries to intertwine with the company's traditional TV sponsorships of programs such as "American Idol."
"Coca-Cola has been part of 'American Idol' from the beginning, and we've really kept growing the consumer connection with 'American Idol' online," Kruse says. Since the beginning of the hit TV show, Coca-Cola has featured behind-the-scenes 'American Idol' footage on its website. But this past season, the company took it one step further to enable viewers to submit questions, via MyCokeRewards.com, that they wanted to hear Ryan Seacrest ask contestants. A handful of questions was selected from these online submissions and asked on-air.
Beyond the "American Idol" connection, the My Coke Rewards program stands on its own as an integrated marketing and loyalty promotion. To date, the program has more than 11 million registered members, who enter about 1 million pin codes every day. "When you're looking at consumer engagement, clearly we have a winner there," Kruse says. "Consumers keep coming back, keep entering their package codes. But while they're there, they are participating in games, they're looking at branded content, they're entering sweepstakes. So we've really created a whole communications platform beyond a loyalty program."
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