Coke’s first name campaign hits difficulties in China
The globally successful Coca Cola campaign putting popular first names on the bottle to promote sharing has hit a snag in its China market.
Coca Cola uses 60 nicknames, rather than actual names
The volume of first name options has forced the company to adopt generic pet names for its China campaign, and will run with local variants of ‘Buddy’ and ‘Sweetie Pie’ instead.
The execution has been managed by Leo Burnett, and launched last week.
“In China, however, first names don’t work due to sheer volumes,” LBB online said.
“Instead, Leo Burnett’s consumer research revealed that certain nicknames and compliments are very popular on key social media channels.”
The ‘nickname’ proposal is intended to “bridge that gap”.
“So why not make a bold move and put those very nicknames on the Coke labels?” said Stefan Petzinger, Leo Burnett’s Managing Director.
“It helps to enrich face-to-face and physical connections between teens by encouraging them to share suitable label nicknames with the ones they wanted to connect with.
“Since Chinese love freshness and novelty, this strategic move arrests their attention, giving them a new way to look at a classic. But more importantly, this was the perfect way to enhance their experience of summer with Coca-Cola.”