1. Coke’s “Fans First” Approach in
Social Communities

2. How many Social Media “Experts” are
in the house?

3. Working from the center…

4. History of “painting the town red”…
1.5 BILLION
SERVINGS A DAY

5. our home page isn’t
just coke.com, it
is google.com

6. and today, I’d say…
our home page isn’t just
coke.com, it is
google.com and
hyves.nl and
twitter.com and
youtube.com and
facebook.com and
studiVZ.net

7. Consumers remind us every day that
Coke is THEIR brand…
On Facebook Billion we’ve got:
Facebook “2 alone photo
-uploads photos - nearly 70
4,600+ a month
-million a day…” USA TODAY 8/09
95+ videos
- 500,000+ “likes”*
- 90,000+ “comments”*
(*just in the last 6 months)

8. 5000 Mentions a Day - Here is a taste
of what they are saying…
CONVERSATION CLOUD FOR TOP TERMS MENTIONED ON FB COCA-COLA FAN PAGE
(SEPTEMBER 2009)
N = 1,276 posts*
*non-english language posts removed
Source: Analysis of Facebook for Sept 1st – 30th 2009

9. General comments about the brand and
other Coke products are top topics…
Positive Conversation Tones
“Coca-Cola is the best drink!!!! I love it...”
“ALWAYS COCA-COLA!! funny add from “Biggest General
Fan” Comments
Coca-Cola with Grant Theft Auto!” Other
Coke
Advertising Products
Ideas/
Suggestions
Consumptio
n Habits/ “DIET COKE IS WHERE IT'S AT YA'LL!!!! :)”
Addicted
Low Post High Post
Availability
Volume Volume
“i am the # 1 fan. just ask anyone who knows me.”
“I adore cola! I can drink it every day :D”
“Anyone know if 'Kosher Coke' is
available in Colorado??”
“. . . Bring back the glass bottle it makes a difference”
Negative Conversation Tones

10. And they are producing GREAT
Content - for the LOVE of THEIR Brand

11. Sometimes we ask for it…
•Where have you had a Coke lately?
“It was taken from the peak of the Iztaccihuatl, Mexico's third highest mountain.
[At 5,230m... you can guess why was the bottle half-full! :-)]
“Les Grand Montets near Mont Blanc French Alps 3275m”
“NEVADO DEL TOLIMA KOLOMBIA 5.800 MTS...CHARLYTOONS”
11

12. 120 Photos of Your Next Coke…
12

13. 5,800 Times of day to enjoy a Coke…
13

14. Our Fan Focused approach has yielded
a Highly Engaged fan community…
Coke fans interact with each other, and the brand, more than they do on any other top
brand fan pages. INTERACTIONS PER POST
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Coke Brand A Brand B Brand C Brand D
User generated content Interactions* Photo Video
Coke 73,391 3,142 77
Brand A 34,094 0 0
Brand B 10,873 0 84
Brand C 6,962 0 0
Brand D 5,092 134 4
Source: FB Fan Page Analysis , Sept 2009
*Interactions = likes + comments

15. In the past – We were not building
sustainable relationships
Campaigns Based on
Traditional Campaigns Earning Sustainable Relationships
Fans/Follows/Friends
Fans/Follows/Friends
Time Time
Traditional Campaigns start from zero and abandon the
audience they’ve amassed upon completion.
Campaigns based on earning Sustainable Relationships
leverage the existing audience and grow it for future use.

16. Our “Fans First” Approach: We will be Everywhere
Our Consumers are in an Authentic “Member of
the Community – Non BIG Brand Way”
Majority
of our
efforts
Enabling Fans to Comment, Upload Strategically targeted messaging in
and Consume THEIR own consumer support of our brand objectives
generated brand related content
Our approach is designed to foster equitable engagement to earn
sustainable relationships that are authentic, delightful and reciprocal.
Being a Fan, Friend or Follower does not mean that they opted in to have
advertising blasted at them.
16

17. Our “less about us-more about them”
approach is getting noticed
Missed Opportunity...MSNBC The company makes a
Pepsi. on
disappointing showing on11/30/09
Facebook…has 250,000 fans, a
fraction of rival Coke's. The company mostly uses it
as a channel for pumping out updates of
marketing activities.

18. Coca-Cola “official” Social Communities…
18

19. this is all great, but…
how do we create
compelling content
in these online
venues that
celebrates the
spirit of our brand
and drives intent?

23. The Coca-Cola Happiness Machine…

24. Vitamin Water’s Flavor Creator…
flavor creator lab environment within the vitaminwater facebook fan page
24

25. Determined flavor via conversation
mining & ranking…
cloud tagging- shows the ranking of flavors
and allows you to navigate for more information

26. Flavor voting…
vote on a single flavor, flavor combinations or use the „wild card‟ to
vote for a flavor that didn‟t make the top ten

27. Gaming determined functional benefit…
do you need more energy?

28. Label design contest - a real-time
collaborative workspace…
28

29. The results…
7+ minutes of engagement
per app session
tens of thousands of total votes
40K unique label designers
174% increase in fans
29

30. Say hello to…connect
•black cherry-lime
•caffeine + 8 key
nutrients
•made by fans, for
fans on
•in stores march 1st
30

31. So, We are all about
Fishing Where the Fish are…
31

32. Integrating Campaigns with Common
Social Solutions…
32

33. Optimizing Functionality that Already Exists…
33

34. Creating New Ones if Necessary…
34

35. Clear Principles are a must to insure
everyone is aligned…
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/socialmedia

36. Finally, Some Quick Lessons Learned…
• SMM is a tactic and should always be in support of brand objectives
• These platforms change frequently and can be very disruptive
• Keep it simple and intuitive – fewer objectives is better and shorten
users’ paths at every opportunity
• Silly to start from zero…
• “Viral” shouldn’t BE your strategy – just part of a comprehensive plan
• Clear the Legal hurdles first – this is new for everyone so legitimate
questions arise around every corner
• Always work with pros…There is no “sticking your toe in the water”
• Each new Community is an entirely new market and should be
treated as such
• Moderation is a must!

37. What’s Next…
•“Fans First” will continue to be our compass
•Continue building Common Solutions to Amplify
our Global & Local campaigns
•More Brands on More Platforms
•We will continue to Test, Learn, Share, SCALE &
REPEAT…Again, and Again, and Again

38. Questions?