CASE STUDY: Coke positioned as relationship catalyst in India

Aim

Coca-Cola needed to regain consumer affinity in India and increase the popularity of the Coke brand among young prospects. Most importantly, it needed to improve sales volumes in the key markets of Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.

Execution

The brand campaign was based on the brand’s core creative idea that ‘Coke is the refreshing antidote to isolation in the modern day world’ and on the global platform of ‘Open Happiness’. It drew on the insight that Indian teenagers seek agenda-free connections with others to position Coke as the campaign’s central character - a catalyst in bringing young people together in an unpredictable way.

One of the most important factors in the development of the campaign was to keep the stories in the context of everyday life and to differentiate from other brands addressing young or teenage audiences. The work featured film star Imran Khan, a popular figure among the target audience, and the Hindi strapline ‘Coke khule toh baat chale’, which translates to ‘Opening Coke leads to conversations’.

The first TVC of the campaign, ‘Invisible’, was released last summer and took an understated approach, showing a unique connection being made around an invisible Coke bottle. The second, ‘Shadow’, featured shadow puppetry to create a sense of dramatic anticipation, along with a distinctive soundtrack.

Results

The initiative let to brand volume growth of more than 20 per cent in the key state markets and more than 30 per cent in the traditionally low volume markets of Orissa, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Brand preference scores and affinity moved up with regard to the target audience.

Credits:

Client Coca-Cola
Agency McCann Worldgroup
Campaign ‘Open Happiness’
ECD Prasoon Joshi
Creative chief Ashish Chakravarty
Creative director Tirtha Ghosh, Nakul Sharma
EVP Debashish Paul
Project manager McAlister Peter, Puneet Puri
VP/head of planning Sandip Mahapatra
Production house Freshwater Films
Director Dibakar Banerjee