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CEO Muhtar Kent | Number of employees worldwide

90,500 | Company Revenue worldwide 2007 $28,857m |

Most relevant communication media TV | Main target

group of Coke zero 18-29 years; male | Claim Coke zero

Real taste, zero sugar | Slogan fits brand character Life as it

should be | Character Coke zero Masculine, urban, energetic,

a little rebellious, tongue in cheek, no-nonsense, edgy

Coolbrands: K

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a W

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anssens

A man can dream, can’t he?

Coca-Cola Zero was launched with a no-holds-barred 360-degree

communication campaign. Regular media, like print, TV and POS

materials in supermarkets, were back-upped by extensive sampling

and online promotion. Brand awareness was ensured by a looming

television presence, kicked off by a commercial that first aired in

Australia. It showed the epiphany of a man on a bus, who realises

that if a light Coke with real taste is possible, there’s no stopping the

good times from rolling. Weekends starting on Wednesday, maturing

without boredom or even waking up on a tropical island; life as it

should be.

The Zero-word was spread by almost unprecedented sampling as

well, with a whopping four million bottles distributed for free in

four weeks. The revolutionary beverage was handed out at basically

every place where the young males of the target group hang out;

car washes, video stores, supermarkets and on the streets. Against an

unmissable backdrop of massive retail displays, of course.

After the first wave of communication hit the real-taste aspect of

Coca-Cola Zero out of the park, the campaign extended into a second

stage that was all about life attitude. Under the banner of ‘Life As It

Should Be’ the brand urged young adults to see that life’s pleasures

come with responsibilities too. Responsibilities that can be twisted

to their own advantage, in order to create life as it could and should

be. This campaign was developed exclusively for Germany and

Scandinavia in 2006, but got so much buzz that was implemented in

other countries as well.

Carbonated copy

See a pattern emerging? Reproduction of ads and campaigns is a

very common practice with Coca-Cola, and it has no qualms talking

about it. Why invent the wheel twice? Regina adds: “It is the way to do

it. Cooperation between Coca-Cola divisions of different countries is

an automatism that seems to work without any problems.”

To add to the experience Coca-Cola developed an online race

game, where people registered to race each other in a lifelike

virtual environment. A second game followed hot on its heels, this

time themed around Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. The

highly enticing ‘Soccer As It Should Be’ was a perfect tie-in with the

campaign, and even used the same characters as the commercials.

Again, the game was first launched in Germany and copied to several

other countries. Score? Score!

Popping the question

So far, so good. But did it really go over as smoothly as pictured here?

Regina: “The biggest challenge was the extremely short time available

for the decision-making process, preparation and implementation

of the launch. The launch was not added in the business plan yet,

when it became known that the introduction of Coke Zero was a big

success in Australia.”

Suffice to say, things went a little nuts at Coca-Cola HQ: After people

started thinking about launching Coca-Cola Zero in Germany in

March, a decision had to be made in April, followed by a GO in July.

Convincing everybody within Coca-Cola in such a short time was hard,

but not impossible. Naturally, the question on all lips was a logical

one: why launch a second light drink if there already is a successful

one? “Internally, all noses had to point in the same direction in order

for this to be a success,” Regina explains. “A conference was organised

where we took key Coca-Cola people and showed them the whole

program.” The rest is sparkling history.

Three’s company

In future the brand plans to bank on the valuable lessons that

Coca-Cola has learned, and tomorrow is all about strategically

building further on the foundation of knowledge. “We will develop

our understanding of how to further build and differentiate

Coca-Cola Regular, Light and Zero. We know now when and where

to communicate every single one of these,” Regina explains.

Coca-Cola Zero’s rise to the top of the beverage chain shows

enormous potential. Especially when considering that it took Coca-

Cola Light 35 years to get to where it is now. Soon, both drinks will

reign the roost in equal, supreme manner and divide the German

light-drink market amongst themselves. And if that doesn’t deserve a

toast, we don’t know what will.

Zero to hero

It doesn’t take a genius to see why Coca-Cola Zero was introduced.

Nowadays, sugar comes in many shapes and supersizes, putting

obesity at the number-one spot on the list of fatal diseases worldwide.

The female market was happily covered with Coca-Cola Light, but

that left millions of parched man’s men, who found that the taste

and image didn’t live up to the regular Coke. Sure, they could turn

to a sugar free soda, but wielding a can of light isn’t exactly the

pinnacle of manliness. In this day and age, where metro sexuality has

just disappeared from the rear-view mirror and health and weight

issues dictate magazine covers, the average male is at a loss where

quenching his thirst is concerned. Regarding the fact that 60 percent

of regular Coca-Cola gets consumed by men, it was time to heed their

call for a healthier alternative.

After launching Coca-Cola Zero in the USA, Australia was next. In Oz,

viewed by some as the last bastion of macho swagger, the brand

chose to go with a different approach than the American campaign.

Coca-Cola Zero focused on young male adults, and gave them the

drink they had been waiting for. Positioned directly opposed to its

billion-seller Coca-Cola Light, the überbrand shipped Coca-Cola Zero

in black, classy packaging to stress that there was nothing girlie about

this beverage. The slamming success down under made it easy for the

brand to decide on how to launch the product in Germany, France

and the UK. Real taste, zero sugar; four words every man longs to hear.

Unsurprisingly, the European launch was the most successful since

Coca-Cola Light swept the market.

The fit & the shameless

Coca-Cola Zero consciously steered away from the image of being

a light drink. This made it OK to drink it, without necessarily being

seen as a wimp by the boys. Now a funny thing happened on the way

to the counter: consumption charts show that Coca-Cola Zero is as

much of a hit among women as it is among men. About fifty percent

of total sales is racked up by female drinkers, although the drink

exclusively targets men. Luckily Coca-Cola Light wasn’t really fazed

by its masculine counterpart; its cannibalisation is only half of what

the brand expected it to be. Moreover, Coca-Cola Zero lighted a spark

within the whole category of fizzy drinks. As it turns out, Coca-Cola

Zero is a welcome addition to the fridge, a sugar free bonus after a

couple of servings of the real thing. Where Coca-Cola Light was mainly

consumed by men in the proverbial closet, Coca-Cola Zero could be

enjoyed out in the open.

“Everything is possible, in terms of where, when and what. Just get it done!”

Regina Wurz-Janssens’ story is one that suits the Coca-Cola

payoff ‘Life As It Should Be’. The Marketing Director is as refreshing

as a tall helping of her own brand: “Coca-Cola is

a brand of optimism and possibilities. Everything is possible,

in terms of where, when and what.

Every employee is encouraged to come up with ideas

without constraints. Just get it done!”

Yes ma’am!

222

Coca-Cola had always placed a premium on engagement in football. With the European football championship approaching fast, Coca-Cola and MediaCom decided to take the usual football activation to a whole new level. As part of the continuing campaign to convert young males to Coke Zero, gaming was chosen as the strategic central element for the Euro 2008 Coke Zero communication. The focal point of the campaign was an elaborate proprietary online game. Here the gamers could win tickets to the already sold-out Euro 2008. The media campaign had two main goals: maximise the number of gamers and registrations on the Coke Zero gaming site, and maximise the brand engagement through the longest possible site length of stay on the site. The results were impressive, generating almost 2 million visits to the cokezerogame.de with an average length of stay - pure brand engagement time - of almost 8 minutes. During and after the European Cup, Coke Zero sales continue to soar.