Refreshing
I was talking with my dad the other day, and he was reflecting back on his long career at Coca Cola. He’s been working there for several years, and can remember almost every advertising campaign the company has launched.
He pointed out that, lately, the company seems to have lost direction. Think about every food and beverage commercial you’ve seen. Beer has “great taste.” Beef is “juicy.” Kix is “kid tasted.” All of these have the actual product performance in common. The food that’s supposed to taste good tastes good. That is the premise of their advertisements, and it makes sense.
Coca Cola, on the other hand, advertises its trendiness. Coke is cool. Coke Zero is hip. The entire premise of these advertisement series is that Coca Cola is the trendy beverage, not the tasty beverage. So why does a commoditized product peg itself to being the “in” choice for refreshment rather than sell itself on merit along?
To reiterate this point, take another look at the Coke Zero commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. Yes, it’s fun to watch … but it doesn’t tell us anything about the product that would encourage anyone to buy one.