Coke has historically been a popular choice during meal occasions in Thailand, particularly with Millennials and GenZ. However in the past year saw a decline in core equity measures such as ‘goes well with food’. This was due to a combination of a more cluttered markets with brands going after meal pairing, and a diversifying of consumer tastes.

The objective was to boost the consumption of Coke during meals by reinforcing mealtime rituals among Thai GenZ, and to enhance brand engagement with this demographic.

Objectives:

- Strengthen the association of Coke with social dining occasions

- Increase brand engagement during meals

- Encourage the purchase of combo meals that include Coke

Social media has transformed a generation’s relationship with food. Food related content is the third largest category across social channels in Thailand.

The inspiration they see on social from friends and influencers has created a desire to try new kinds of food in new occasions and fuelled the desire to be the first to try something new.

The speed of adoption of food delivery services (+8.3% user growth 2024-2023) has closed the gap between appetite and fulfilment with a population wanting immediate satiation.

This gave us an insight we could leverage: What if our consumers could truly experience the recipes they saw on social media? What if they were able to taste the food their favourite influencers prepared? What if we could make social media meals accessible to all?

The opportunity lay in dissolving the boundaries between consuming food content in a virtual setting and physically eating and savouring it.

Coke Kitchen enabled Young Adults and GenZ to experience the favourite recipes of social opinion leaders through a unique collaboration between Coke, Thailand’s hottest young stars, dark kitchens and food service aggregators (FSAs).

Recognising that Thai GenZ are becoming ‘social foodies’ who value conversations over meals, we collaborated with one of Thailand’s hottest up & coming stars to create their own special menus based on social conversation topics.

We did more than just publicise celebrity recipes though, we made their ‘Recipes for Magic’ available for immediate order via the world’s first cloud kitchen – aptly named Coke Kitchen.

Consumers were invited to order the recipes from Coke Kitchen via Thailand’s biggest FSAs, bringing our influencers’ creations directly to the home table.

Coke delivered a disruptive online-to-offline experience that sparked conversation and engaged GenZ through collaborations with seven influencers who embody various conversation topics. They created unique menus:

- Socialising over the meal: "Gossiping Spaghetti" enhanced the dining experience, pairing GenZ's favourite dish with joyful conversations among friends.

- Relationship talks: "Crazy in Love Ribs", a flavourful meat dish, brought relationship discussions to the table.

- Inclusivity: "Dare to be Noodle" by a renowned LGBT singer, encouraged diners to express their true selves.

- Trending topics: "Zombie Chicken Fried Rice" added zest to discussions about trending movies.

These were available to order from 19 Coke Social Kitchens, enabling quick delivery through Thailand’s 4 biggest delivery apps, taking the food from social media straight to the table.

This was amplified across influencer, paid social, digital outdoor and FSA promotion. It culminated in a live meet and greet with lead influencer PP Krit.

We made meals truly magical across Thailand with Coke Kitchen, turning social hunger into an unmissable eating occasion – delivered in just minutes.

In addition to the 114 million impressions delivered across Thai social networks, our 'Gossiping Spaghetti' became a social phenomenon as people tried and shared their own home-cooked versions inspired by the original recipe.

The dishes were so popular they sold out, with 28,000 orders placed for the combo set with Coke via food delivery, more than doubling the FSA incidence rate.

We more than achieved our sales objective with a +2.8% increase in GenZ consumption, and brand equity and association with meals increased by +30%, an unprecedented increase in the market. “Coke Complements my food” consumer metrics grew to 29.8% Oct’23 3MMT (+7.4pts vs Oct’ 22).

And importantly, we truly delivered on our core insight - #ARecipeforMagic trended at No. 2 on X.