Stick with Coca Cola... Literally

What do you do when you want to catch potential consumers off guard? Ask the advertising team at Coca Cola. Apparently in France, Coke drinkers were having difficulty holding onto their bottles. In response, Coke created a new packaging design equipped with special grips to make sure this would no longer be an issue. As for advertising this redesigned masterpiece, they decided not only to let their consumers have a better grip on Coke, but let Coke have a better grip on their consumers… with Velcro.

The above picture of the man (let’s call him Nathan) stuck to the ad shows him mid-attack. It’s 6AM and he is waiting at the bus stop like every other 4 days of the work-week. He is tired from a long night and knows it’s going to be a longgg day as he leans against the side of the bus stop enclosure. He sees the bus (which is now 4 minutes late) coming around the corner, and he goes to walk toward the street when…CAUGHT! He is now reeled in by Coke’s clever campaign as he reads the red advertisement, sees their new packaging and is instantly brought to joy, being that he was one of the many whom in the past, could notttt hold onto the bottle.

Or what about Sally, the 5-year old on her way to school? Noticing the advertisement instantly from vibrant red color and her affection for the soft-drink, she runs to it and instantly starts feeling the Velcro. When she realizes her scarf is now attached, she laughs and more than likely will tell her friends all about the sticky situation once she steps into class.

This campaign is effective not only by being visually appealing, but by literally grabbing people out of no where. If the ad itself did not keep their attention, the fact that they stick to it will, and will also stay with them for the rest of the day. Being that it is not everyday that you become stuck to a giant Velcro wall, word-of-mouth advertising has most likely played a HUGE role in their 3.8% volume growth since the campaign had been put into action.

It will be interesting to see how other companies will respond to Coca Cola’s out-of-the-box campaign. Will they try similar ways of gaining people’s attention? We will just have to wait and see.