This is a ‘Coca-Cola’ story about sharing, where sharing means not receiving less but gaining more; being more up-close, personal and connected to one another.

The 2011/12 ‘Share a Coke’ campaign gave teens and young adults an exciting reason to reintroduce ‘Coca-Cola’ into their repertoire when hanging out with their mates. ‘Coca-Cola’, once more, became social currency and a significant part of popular culture.

We re-united Australians with the idea of getting together and sharing a good time over a ‘Coca-Cola’ by printing 150 of Australia’s most popular names on our bottles, reminding Aussies not only of those currently in our lives, but those whom we may have lost touch with.

This is also a story about Coca-Cola South Pacific (marketing) and Coca-Cola Amatil (bottling & distribution) battling against strong headwinds together and reaping rewards for their endeavours.

With a wet summer and poor economic conditions, without the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign we stood to lose 1.5 million unit cases (MUC). This would have had a detrimental impact on the bottom line, profitability, and consequently on the world’s biggest icon: the ‘Coca-Cola’ brand.

Instead, the campaign generated 1.0 million unit cases – 2.5 million unit cases better than sales modelling predicted and a healthy return on investment.

This is a success story that has and will be exported to other markets around the world. Brazil and New Zealand have run the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign this summer and many more countries are planning to follow.