Situation:

Christmas is the world’s most ubiquitous holiday and Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most ubiquitous brands–making a successful Christmas campaign critical to both maintain brand iconicity and maximize sales.

Christmas and Coca-Cola have been synonymous for almost 100 years, but data showed after years of focusing on Christmas as an event – and in particular Coca-Cola as a complement to the meal occasion – our #1 spot was being challenged as more and more brands push to get their share of mind (and heart) at Christmas.

Brief:

Reignite Coca-Cola’s global Christmas iconicity by resonating more deeply with the spirit of Christmas across the whole holiday season.

Objectives /KPIs:

● Increase Weekly+ intent (those who buy once or more in a week)

● Drive engagement and relevance

● Create positive social conversations around the campaign

● Increase sales value & consumption incidence during the holiday season

Creative Idea: The World Needs More Santas

When people embrace their inner Santa, the Real Magic of Christmas Multiplies

At Christmas in 2023, Coca-Cola became the spark that inspired individual acts of Christmas kindness and then turned these small acts of Christmas kindness into a global movement. We inspired and celebrated the Real Magic that happens when the world has more Santas.

Coca-Cola's The World Needs More Santas (TWNMS) campaign stretched the imagination of who could be Santa, showcasing unexpected people and places where the spirit of Santa can be found.

The idea was launched with a charming TVC introducing the audience to a world full of Santas demonstrating the many ways we can act with kindness. The campaign then reached over 80 markets with OOH, AI, experiential, social, commerce, and long form entertainment.

After years of focusing on a functional role, the meals occasion, we had allowed others to claim the emotional equities that surround Christmas; letting our iconicity fade and our cultural relevance stagnate. It was imperative to move from a functional role at the center of the table, to a role that puts Coca-Cola back at the center of the true spirit and human values of Christmas.

Core to our Real Magic philosophy Coca-Cola knows that the most magical moments come through real moments of human connection–and that was the emotional power we needed.

We set out to reclaim and embrace our role as Christmas icon. By putting ourselves at the center of the holiday, not the meal, we knew we could unlock greater potential for the brand and the bottom line. It was time to tap into the real emotions and human spirit of this special time of year.

We kicked things off with a rallying cry to reignite the inner Santa in everyone with our TVC and social content. Meanwhile our Christmas-edition Coca-Cola cans invited people to access a quiz and discover their inner Santa, with a charity donation made for every quiz completed.

We then launched a series of activations across the globe to help even more people channel their inner Santas:

A truck-tour made local visits to spread kindness on behalf of Coca-Cola through a partnership with the Red Cross.

A partnership with Open AI allowed Santa hopefuls to spread acts of kindness by creating and sending their own Christmas cards.

And finally, we positioned Coca-Cola in the world of Amazon Prime’s festive entertainment. ‘The Note’ and ‘Ho Ho Heist’ films reasserted that anyone can be Santa by putting kindness at the heart of the story, and Coca-Cola itself at the heart of the narratives.

It turns out that reigniting the real meaning of Christmas, reignited real results.

The campaign had a huge impact, delivering 12 billion in total impressions in 85 markets across digital, PR and influencers, with touchpoints aplenty.

PR amplified with 2.2B impressions and 3.7K pieces of earned media coverage, partnership with key influencers like Winnie Harlow driving Gen Z engagement. With Coca-Cola’s AI digital experience reaching 2.5 million start clicks.

This engagement activated the inner Santa in everyone, inspiring kindness, generosity, and goodwill across a whole host of platforms. In turn making sure that those freshly uncovered acts of kindness lasted long after the holiday season ended.

Importantly, the campaign increased Coca-Cola’s Christmas consumption by 2% and drove +7% revenue growth - a massive impact at Coca-Cola’s scale - which earned a spot as the only campaign featured in the ‘23 year-end Results report.