Getting social
Many of Coca-Cola's online efforts are based on a simple premise: It's important to listen to consumers and let them have a voice. Kruse notes that Coca-Cola, in addition to having its own corporate blog, does listen to the blogosphere -- and participate, when appropriate.
"As far as marketing in other social networks -- the MySpaces, Bebos and Facebooks of the world -- we are testing a lot of things, but we are very careful," Kruse says. "We don't want to interrupt the consumer's experience in a social network. We only want to enhance what that experience is. As far as throwing up banners and disruptive advertising, we know that's not how we want to participate in social networks."
In trying to break through the marketing noise on social networks -- yet do so in a consumer-acceptable way -- Coca-Cola has leveraged some of its high-profile relationships. Consider, for example, the company's partnership with the latest James Bond movie, "Quantum of Solace." The fit between Agent 007 and the Coke Zero brand was an easy dotted line to trace (i.e. Coke ZeroZero7 -- get it?), and the two melded seamlessly into a sleek TV commercial, as well as a mobile giveaway promotion.
In addition, the company leveraged the partnership through its Facebook CokeTags application, which is a personalized widget for packaging and sharing links to content across the web. Consumers can use CokeTags to promote themselves and their interests and then track how popular their links are other Facebook users.
"James Bond CokeTags is a trivia game," Kruse says. "As you're playing, you can ask friends for help, and all these questions, answers and user connectivity are flowing through the user's news feed."
This use of a widget, Kruse notes, represents one of the latest and most effective ways that brands are marketing through the popular social network. "Facebook apps kind of got pushed behind the scenes in the redesign," Kruse says. "What is unique about the James Bond CokeTag is that it's not an application that sits buried. It's an interesting way to bring your brand into the news feed."
Emerging opportunities
Beyond social networks, Coca-Cola is actively reaching out to consumers through a variety of emerging media. But the way in which the company is doing so goes well beyond buying premium banner ad placements. In fact, in many cases, it avoids such a strategy altogether.
"I don't think most consumers want to be served up ads on their mobile phones," Kruse says. "It is one of the more personal communication devices, and consumers still think about it very much as a communication device rather than a replacement for the internet. So, when we think about mobile as a way to reach our consumers, we think less about placing ads on a mobile phone, and we think more about entertaining them or providing functional information."
For example, Kruse notes, enabling consumers to enter My Coke Rewards codes from their mobile phones has always been an integral part of the loyalty program. Likewise, she says the company has been testing venue-specific mobile applications. For example, as a part of Coke Fest, a concert series held in conjunction with the NCAA playoffs, consumers were able to text messages to the screen above the stage (messages that were, of course, screened before being posted). Attendees could also text to enter a contest to meet the artists backstage or sign up to receive music downloads.
Kruse notes that Coca-Cola has also dabbled in marketing through gaming by integrating elements of its various brands with games such as "Need for Speed" and "Guitar Hero II." But again, she comes back to that familiar mantra: Enhance, don't interrupt.
"We've done several tests of gaming because we think it's a smart way to reach our target consumer," she says. "However, we want to do it in a way that's acceptable to our consumer. We definitely don't want to interrupt game play. And I don't believe that the aliens in "Halo 3" are drinking Coke -- I don't think they're drinking any consumer packaged good. I think that's an example of something that would be very disruptive and wouldn't be true to the game."
Indeed, when it comes to emerging channels, the takeaway message for marketers is the same regardless of the medium: Respect your consumer.
"There are some companies that are saying, 'Great, I can reach that consumer in different ways,' and they're kind of pushing their brands in the consumer's face," Kruse say. "There's a high risk in doing that because you might end up turning off the consumer."
Lori Luechtefeld is editor of iMedia Connection.
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