A few days ago, I had posted on how Target and YouTube have created a new integrated partnership between traditional businesses and the new online and social media business in their public relations campaign for the holidays. Now, it appears that another mega giant brand is making waves in the social media realm by taking their social media and public relations efforts to a new level. Coca-Cola, which has had success on social media – particularly Facebook, just announced their new campaign that they are launching in 2010. This campaign is titled Expedition 206, where three individuals will be traveling to 206 countries (yes, that is right – 206 countries) where Coca-Cola is sold. During these trips, these three will be recording their experiences of what they are doing and posting them on various social media platforms – such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr to name a few. The campaign also has a web site that provides more information about the campaign as well.
There are several things that are going for Coca-Cola for this campaign. First, they are really being strategic and coming up with this completely integrated social media campaign to capitalize on all the possible uses of these social media sites. We are seeing more corporations not just using one or two sites as part of their strategy and tactic in a campaign – but corporations are actually using more. Second, they are presenting “real people” to share their experiences. Gone are the days of celebrity endorsers or high profile movie stars trying to sell a product. The public trusts people that are like them, or those that they can relate to. The Edelman Trust Barometer has mentioned this point in their previous reports on who people trust the most, and it appears that Coca-Cola is listening to this and acting upon it. Lastly, Coca-Cola is using this campaign to tell a story – meaning, these three individuals are going to be traveling and sharing their experiences to the social media and real world – and we are able to see what they are doing, what are their thoughts, and hear their insights from a different perspective. This is a campaign in many ways taking the approach of sharing common experiences and creating meaning among key stakeholders (hmmm – I think that my friends that are qualitative researchers would like this fact about the Coca-Cola campaign.) 🙂
Coca-Cola team for Expedition Campaign (courtesey of Mashable.com, November 17, 2009)
I think that Coca-Cola is really banking on the impact that social media has had on businesses and how it affects their overall reputation among their key audiences. Will this campaign pay off for them? Well, time will have to tell. It is a huge campaign that they are doing, and unless key stakeholders feel a connection between the three individuals they have chosen for this campaign, it will all depend on how they are perceived.
I hope that you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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