Share a Coke campaign launches with personalised bottles

Update (from Rich): As pointed out by a number of people in the comments below and on Twitter, Coke actually ran a similar campaign in Australia in 2011, so if they’re copying anybody, it’s themselves. That said, this post still serves as a chronicle of the company’s most recent campaign (a brilliant way to improve sharing).

Original post:

One of the best pieces of PR advice I’ve been given is, ‘when it comes to campaign ideas – don’t reinvent the wheel.’ Why? Because there’s lots of great ideas out there, and sometimes it pays to go the extra mile to make them better.

That’s fair enough, but sooner or later brands are going to clash by launching similar stunts – and consumers are going to be left thinking that their favourite campaigns are copycats.

For example, Coca-Cola‘s new Share A Coke campaign has lost some credibility for me because Cadbury has already done the same thing: personalised products.

During the Olympics the Dairy Milk manufacturers capitalised on its sponsorship by distributing 1kg bars to our British athletes with their name on. This was before the brand opened up the offer to everyone by giving people the chance to bag the goods through Twitter competitions and its online shop, launched in time for Valentine’s Day.

So, needless to say, I wasn’t that impressed when I saw that Coca-Cola is going to replace its iconic logo with the top 150 names – from Ashley to Zoe – to encourage people to share. Yes – it’s a first ever for the brand, but I felt a sense of ‘it’s been done.’

Maybe I’m just jealous because I know my hyphenated first name wouldn’t have a chance on the cola bottle and I’d have to settle for the booby prize – a virtual option.

Food & Drink