Last Friday, Coke released a video for its 'Open Happiness' campaign that it hopes will become a global viral sensation. The video has so far had over 900,000 Youtube viewings. The effort is part of a global effort on the 'Open Happiness' theme that includes other social media efforts, including teams sent all over the world to identify 'stories of happiness'.
Here is how Mediapost described the effort on Tuesday.
The video, shot on the Queens, N.Y., campus of St. John's University, concludes with a title asking: "Where will happiness strike next?" and a message encouraging viewers to "Share the happiness, share the video."
A.J. Brustein, global senior brand manager, Coca-Cola, says the video was conceived as a way to connect with teens and young adults outside of TV ads and online games. "We wanted to give them something that would spread a bit of happiness and something they could pass on to their friends to keep the happiness flowing," he sums up.
Coke acknowledges that the effort is an experiment and future videos will depend on the success of this one. Do you think this is a good approach for a powerful brand like Coke to use to connect with younger drinkers? Why or why not?
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13 comments:
The "Open Happiness" campaign is an interesting idea and is very much in line with similar concepts that Coke has done in the past like "Have a Coke and a Smile" or "I'd like to teach the world to sing."
One of the problems with trying to make a video "viral" is that no one can predict which videos will be compelling enough to be passed or recommended from person to person. However, Coke has a recognized brand throughout the world and is well-respected for its marketing campaigns, so I think that this concept will receive positive attention.
This video was an absolute delight to watch. I could not help smiling throughout the whole thing! Without getting far too philosophical, I think our society has somewhat forgotten that a small deed of good and happiness has powerful ramifications for people and how they feel. This campaign plays on that emotion very nicely, and in a way that connects that feeling with the product. Free Coke in a fun way = Happiness. It’s a great message for a great product, and the video campaign is a fresh way to reach an audience that is already very familiar with YouTube. I think it’s a great approach, and the comments following on YouTube verify this. One user even said that “I will keep two of Coke cans with me in my grave!” If that’s not a successful brand, I don’t know what is.
I think this campaign from coke is a great strategy for connecting with consumers. From an imaginative stand point I think it would be hard for someone to watch this video without wondering what else they were passing out, how they rigged that machine, or if they were going to do it again (hopefully at Notre Dame). From a logically perspective the cost of producing the video couldn't have been that much. Obviously you're paying for equipment, free cokes, balloons, and so on, but since there is no price for airtime it's a great value for Coca Cola.
There is the risk that this video won't go viral but there's also a risk associated with putting a commercial on traditional channels and having it be innefective. Granted the risk of the latter is very low, but with the difference in price you pay for what you get. Companies will always be looking for that sure fire formula to help a video go viral just like a gambler will always try to get some insider information about race horses. In reality all you can do is put your best effort forward and hope it pays off.
I enjoyed this commercial. It’s heartwarming to see how the unexpected presence of simple, pleasant things—extra cokes, pizza, flowers, balloon animals—can bring people together. It’s fun to watch a shared laugh become a celebration. It would be interesting to see how this Coca-cola “Happiness Machine” makes an impact in other settings like offices, public parks, waiting rooms, etcetera. Demonstrating its impact in each of these settings would exquisitely demonstrate the superb simplicity of the human experience of happiness. I don’t know how viral this video will be, but I think it will resonate with anyone who views it. The commercial gets you thinking about what happiness is and connects Coke with that happiness. Happiness. What a great feeling to associate with your brand.
Coke = Good! (or happy) That's all I could think of after watching this commercial. I think this does a lot for their brand...and builds on what is already the 'best brand in the world' according to a lot of experts. I think it does a great job of spreading the happiness vibe that Coke is trying to convey, particularly when you see the huge smiles of all of the college student's faces.
I think the video will go 'viral'. It has that 'wow' factor that a lot of people (I know a lot of my friends will) share on social websites like facebook or twitter. Pure entertainment always sells. Go Coke! Keep entertaining me! I like it!
The commercial was humorous, but I didn't cause me to consider buying more coke. I think this campaign will have difficulties reaching the "viral" levels. People will watch this for entertainment but converting users into buyers will be difficult.
Without repeating too much of what was previously said, I definitely agree with Kathryn and Matt. I felt like I had to respond because I thoroughly enjoyed this video. They have done a great job of emotionally connecting coke with a positive experience.
Who wouldn't want to share the video after watching it? And I want to open and diet coke now...
I think pursuit of happiness is a very important, or even the most important life goal to most people. How to make people happy is an attractive and everlasting topic. So I think the campaign point can not be better.
I think whether it will become viral depending partly on how humrous are the series of video are. Frankly, this commercial is not that innovative to me. But since Coke is sending people to collect funny stories, I do hold positive to this campaign.
Loved it! The premise reminded me of a funnier version of the Liberty Mutual ads from a couple years ago - the ones showing people helping out strangers and other people seeing the "good Samaritanism" and in turn helping out someone themselves. I think that "feel good" aspect can really go far in our society...and the added humor really targets Coke's intended audience: kids and teens.
I read some of the comments left by viewers on the YouTube page, and the ones I saw were all positive. Not only that, but the video made viewers actually want to go get a Coke - so I'd say mission accomplished on this. The viral aspect is yet to be seen, but with over a million hits so far that's a strong possibility.
Super fun video! I think Coke did a great job creating an enjoyable, happy sentiment amongst viewers – a sentiment that can easily be associated with their brand after watching the clips and reactions of students. The series of videos, once achieving sensation virally, will encourage people to pass on the marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence on the web. However, I do agree with the sentiments of others that it is uncertain whether or not this initiative will translate directly into increased sales or profits for the company.
Totally agree with everyone posting positive things about this ad, I'll never forget when I worked at Blockbuster in high school (yeah, irony) how they would have these little canisters of 1 cent Brach's candy (further irony) which people would buy by the handful. Often they would miscount by say 3 while the transaction was being processed and want to pay the addition 3 cents, and I would tell them to forget about it (given there was often a line)--and the huge smiles, the absolute genuine gratitude that kids and even adults would show because of being given anything for free was shocking. These were pennies and people would just light up like the people in this ad. The gratitude of the random act of kindness is innate in most of us, and this ad taps into that about as well as a large company could ever hope to. I am not cynical about this being unable to convince people to buy, no doubt in my mind this will have a significant impact on the buying habits of shoppers unconsciously.
Brand marketing is suitable only for huge and popular companies. Local businesses like mine can’t benefit much from it. Instead, mobile marketing through text messages has been very effective for me. I have come to know that most of my clients use Slack, so I’m managing some options to send sms to slack so that I can contact them conveniently.
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