#MarketingExcellenceAwards highlight: How Coca-Cola SG drove consumers to convenience stores by unleashing the force

Coca-Cola is always a popular option amongst consumers and its Coca-Cola No Sugar (CNS) item saw a 8.8% volume growth in 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. Despite this, sales from its main impulse channel, convenience stores, saw a decline compared to 2017. To boost sales in this segment, The Coca-Cola Company Singapore (TCCC) and Ogilvy Malaysia tapped on the popular Star Wars franchise to draw consumers to convenience stores and purchase the Coca-Cola No Sugar. The Coca-Cola Galactic Bottles campaign resulted in the company winning gold for Excellence in Customer Engagement at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's recent Marketing Excellence Awards 2020

Challenge

Singapore's Ministry of Health has been running campaigns on the dangers of sugar on one's health since 2008 and volume sales for TCCC has seen a dip of 2.6% from 2012 to 2017. The company managed to bounce back with the introduction of Coca-Cola No Sugar but bottle sales for this product at convenience stores, particularly 7-Eleven in Singapore, dipped by 2% in 2018 compared to 2017, while other channels fuelled the brand's growth.

Convenience stores are the main channel targeted at TCCC's core audience - teens and young adults - who are always on the move and make frequent visits to the omnipresent 7-Eleven stores, family marts, and petrol marts. A dip in convenience stores sales pattern implied that the younger generation was not joining Coca-Cola No Sugar's growth trajectory, making it unsustainable in the long run.

For a generation with shrinking attention spans and an unrelenting hunger for novelty, Coca-Cola knew it had to go well beyond the usual tricks of the trade to capture their attention. Hence, reviving appeal and boosting convenience store sales for Coca-Cola No Sugar among Singapore's "Butterfly Generation" became its biggest challenge. In response to this, TCCC signed a sponsorship deal with Disney for the final film of the Star Wars franchise. However, as the deal was neither exclusive nor unique, Coca-Cola was going up against other major brands with similar Star Wars sponsorship deals with exponentially larger budgets committed to the campaign.

Hence, its main objectives for The Coca-Cola Galactic Bottles campaign were to excite and drive disproportionate reach and engagement through owned, earned, and shared media. It also wanted to endear the brand to Singaporean youths to boost appeal and uplift brand scores for Coca-Cola No Sugar. At the same time, TCCC wanted to energise convenience store sales revival to make it the growth engine for Coca-Cola No Sugar again.

Strategy

Star Wars has enthralled audiences with the most advanced special effects of the time with its array of futuristic characters, spaceships and weapons. Meanwhile, the Butterfly Generation is known to always be on the lookout for the latest cool stuff to obsess over. They also feel the need to participate or be seen participating in every culturally landmark event or moment. Reason being, it not only satisfies their hunger for experiences but also gives them bragging rights on their social media platforms.

To cash in on the fame of Star Wars, many major brands created branded merchandise and produced big budget ad campaigns. However, TCCC decided to cut through the clutter by creating a Coca-Cola X Star-Wars crossover. This involved turning regular Coca-Cola No Sugar bottles into a Star Wars collectible.

Execution

TCCC combined the most iconic artifact of the Star Wars universe - the light saber - with that of the Coca-Cola universe - the Coke bottle. Working with tech partners, it sought to light up the lightsabers on the Star Wars bottle labels through cutting-edge and sustainable OLED technology. This result in a Coca-Cola bottle with paper-thin lighted label that looks no different from an ordinary one. The mechanism was built to intuitively respond to a simple touch on the bottle. While the lighted packaging is not new, TCCC said the Star Wars bottles were the world's first OLED plastic bottles.

To drive maximum hype, TCCC seeded out media kits to selected news outlets and influencers, and pushed out teaser videos on digital and social platforms in early December last year. The bottles then went on with a launch showcase to an enthusiastic crowd at Comic Con with over 50,000 attendees. Star Wars fans at the advance ticket sales also received the bottles.

As the buzz grew, TCCC launched 8,000 bottles exclusively in Singapore. As the limited number would turn the bottles into a premium exclusivity, TCCC decided to maintain its accessibility by calling for consumers to hunt for the bottles nationwide instead of increasing the price. This is where The Galactic Hunt game in. The treasure hunt involved solving daily riddles to reveal specific 7-Eleven stores that sold these bottles at the normal price of a Coca-Cola. As this would be exclusive to 7-Eleven, TCCC partnered with them to secure prime shelf space in store for the month of December, which was the peak traffic period. 7-Eleven also prioritized their top stores for the hunt, and they doubled their orders of Coca-Cola No Sugar X Star Wars non-lighted bottles for the promotion period.

The treasure hunt was carried out over three days across three weekends for a total of 45 locations. Brand ambassadors were positioned at each of the locations to manage crowds and queues. Hints were revealed on TCCC's social platforms the night before, and each set of hints revealed five different locations across the island for the day. Availability of these coveted bottles were updated real-time through its website and Instagram stories.

Results

Key opinion leaders shared their excitement around the lighted bottles and this garnered an immediate organic reach of about 800,000. Influencers which did not receive the bottles were also posting about the campaign. The campaign doubled the amount of followers on Coca-Cola Singapore's Instagram and the company saw a PR value of more than SG$1 million. The campaign was featured in more than 250 articles worldwide, from FOX News to CNET, Hypebeast, Mashable, and The Straits Times. The bottles were also resold on eCommerce sites such as eBay and Carousel for as high as SG$1,000.

The campaign was also a success for 7-Eleven, which had queues outside its stores, as early as one and a half hours before opening hours. The brand was also constantly mentioned on social media as the locations were revealed, discussed, and shown in posts and conversations. Sales for TCCC's bottles also increased by more than 50% during the last quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.