This A- list singer with three letters in her first and last name is ticked off at this conglomerate for making her doing a bunch of fan things for their tour, but not giving her a higher spot on the bill.

Ava Max

Coca-Cola

Breaking down Coca-Cola’s marketing spell book as Real Magic turns one

Coca-Cola trademark president Selman Careaga and head of global creative strategy and content Pratik Thakar share a behind-the-scenes look at how they activated this massive global platform.

Picture this. You’re one of the world’s most iconic brands coming off of a large-scale reorganization, sluggish sales and a spate of underwhelming ad campaigns. With all the world watching, you unleash your first new global platform since 2016. You promise to be more Gen Z-focused, more agile, more creative. No pressure. Right?

This was the scenario for Coca-Cola’s ‘Real Magic,’ which launched last September. Flash forward a year later and the beverage giant has shown clear indications that this platform may have the bones to be the sturdy brand foundation it has been looking for.

Whether or not ‘Real Magic’ proves prophetic for long-term growth, it is an interesting exercise in global brand building. For our Globalization Deep Dive, The Drum caught up with Selman Careaga, Coca-Cola’s trademark president, and Pratik Thakar, its head of global creative strategy and content, about the blueprint for how the cola giant is working to win across the world. Let’s simplify:

1. ’Real Magic’ is viewed as a philosophy versus a tagline. This gives local markets freedom to play with the idea versus just having a catchy piece of copywriting.

2. Coca-Cola identified meals and breaks as opportunities to leverage. If there’s anything brand marketers have learned, it is that you can’t be all things to all people all of the time, so it selected these two occasions.

3. Music, gaming and sports are the brand’s consumer passion plays. Knowing it needed to get Gen Z’s attention, these are the three core pillars.

Bringing the spell book to life

Now that Coca-Cola had its global pillars, how did it plan to execute? Again, the biggest principle is that ‘Real Magic’ be viewed as a global umbrella with local flexibility. Underneath this umbrella there are three major initiatives:

1. Coke Creations. This global innovations platform was created to lend the Coke trademark to “new expressions, driven by collaboration, creativity and cultural connections,” per the company. The end result was four limited-time-only products that featured tech and talent tie-ins. First was Coca-Cola Starlight, which tasted like outer space and featured a partnership with Ava Max. Then there was Coca-Cola Byte, a collaborative product with the EDM artist Marshmello, and most recently Coca-Cola Dreamworld, which tastes like dreams. The new products and activations received twice the engagement of any other program, per Careaga.

2. Coke Studios. Born in Pakistan in 2008, the Coke Studios endeavor mashes up different cultures by bringing emerging artists together to create something unique. Created in partnership with Universal Music Group, artists include Grammy-nominated American artist Ari Lennox, British singer-songwriter Griff and K-pop girl band Tri.be.

3. Made for Weekends. Tapping into the insight that more people were eating at home, Coca-Cola partnered 20 different delivery partners in 30 countries (including DoorDash, Rappi and Uber Eats) to offer specials. This resulted in 3.5-times the amount of combo orders sold globally, per the company. – Source

Read more on these Tags: ,