Case Study 02: Innovating on Tap: Beta Testing Coca-Cola Freestyle for World Domination
Client: Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, the world’s most recognizable brand.
Company: Clear Channel Media + Entertainment
Client: The Coca-Cola Company
Industry: Beverage
Project: Coca-Cola Freestyle
Local and National Digital Project Director: Steven Garza
Coca-Cola, a globally recognized brand, embarked on a revolutionary journey in 2011 with the introduction of Coca-Cola Freestyle, transforming the beverage fountain experience with its extensive array of soft drink choices in an interactive format. Clear Channel Media + Entertainment, based in Atlanta, GA, partnered with Coca-Cola to spearhead an integrated marketing campaign aimed at introducing, testing, and driving consumer awareness of Coca-Cola Freestyle that is now available all over the world.
The touchscreen-operated dispenser uses “micro-dosing” technology to deliver nearly hundreds of drink options – including 117 low/no-calorie beverages and more than 200 flavors and varieties that can’t be found anywhere else but in the Freestyle dispensers.
More than 50,000 Coca-Cola Freestyle units pour 14 million drinks per day in restaurants, cinemas, convenience stores, amusement parks, and other locations across the United States and a handful of other countries.
Before this innovative product was what it is today, Coca-Cola contracted Clear Channel Media + Entertainment in Atlanta, GA, and formed an integrated marketing partnership, to conduct consumer product tests, create custom customer-facing programs, and execute a product soft launch in strategic geographical locations in Atlanta, GA to vast demographics, and lookalike audiences that represented the rest of the United States, and after to major consumer markets across North America.
These are some of the campaigns that helped launch Coca-Cola Freestyle.
The History of Coca-Cola’s Fountain Machines
Campaign Objectives
The primary objective was to introduce Coca-Cola Freestyle, test its market viability, and drive consumer awareness through a comprehensive marketing strategy leveraging various channels including radio, digital, social media, and onsite activations before its launch on a national and then global scale.
Campaign Solutions
Freestyle is a disruptive product, it changed how consumers interact with soft drink dispensers for over a century. Such a revolutionary product required surgical-like precision in creating a successful integrated marketing strategy to introduce change, disrupt consumer buying behaviors, test new products, develop engaging product awareness programs, and convert audiences.
First Solution – The Customer Awareness Journey
Provided awareness of the Freestyle products to audiences from the comfort of their homes with unique interactive experiences, and engaging customer-focused content.
A custom Coca-Cola Freestyle microsite was created utilizing Macromedia Flash technology that emulated the appearance and interactions of the Freestyles menu interface including branding, animations, and the interactive process of using a real dispenser.
“Insider Knowledge Movement Program”. Instead of soft drink selection options, audiences were presented with features to learn about the product by interacting with the program which provided features, benefits, instructional videos, fun facts about Coca-Cola, and some of the new flavors that would become available.
Second Solution – The Customer Engagement Journey
“Retail Partner Program”. The program was created to provide product locations in key demographic locations to allow consumers to interact with the dispensers, and try dozens of flavors for free that are only available using Freestyle.
“When we introduced Freestyle, it was truly a disruptive innovation, today it’s a billion-dollar business.”
Chris Hellmann, Vice President General Manager, of Coca-Cola Freestyle
About Coca-Cola:
The Coca-Cola Company is a multinational beverage corporation incorporated under Delaware’s General Corporation Law and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The Coca-Cola Company has interests in the manufacturing, retailing, and marketing of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages.
The company produces Coca-Cola, the sugary drink it is best known for, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton. At the time, the product was made with coca leaves, which added an amount of cocaine to the drink, and with kola nuts, which added caffeine, so that the coca and the kola together provided a stimulative effect.
This stimulative effect is the reason the drink was sold to the public as a healthy “tonic”, and the coca and the kola are also the sources of the name of the product and of the company. In 1889, the formula and brand were sold for $2,300 (roughly $71,000 in 2022) to Asa Griggs Candler, who incorporated the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta in 1892. The company has operated a franchised distribution system since 1889.
The company largely produces syrup concentrate, which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold exclusive territories. The company owns its anchor bottler in North America, Coca-Cola Refreshments.[5] The company’s stock is listed on the NYSE and is part of DJIA and the S&P 500 and S&P 100 indexes.
“On-Air Talent Endorsed Program”. The program was created to tap radio station talent to endorse and utilize influencer marketing to promote the product and created interactive instructional videos on how to operate Freestyle.
Freestyle On-air Talent Videos
Third Solution – The Customer Conversion Journey
The “Retail Partner Program” enlisted advertising partners to beta test the Freestyle dispensers in their locations and offered consumers free meal options to entice audiences to visit their locations and try the product.
Once the consumer tried Freestyle they were enrolled in a rewards program to incentivize continued conversions, and unlock future Coca-Cola and Clear Channel Media + Entertainment promotions.
Campaign Strategies
Execution
- Experiential Audience Strategy
- Experiential Digital Strategy
- Experiential Content Strategy
- Promotions Development
- Promotions Strategy
- Influencer Strategy
- Advertiser Partner Programs
- On-air Campaign
- Digital Campaign
- Social Media Campaign
- Conversion Rewards Program
- Mass Awareness
- On-Air ads, promos, and talent Endorsements.
- Online ads, contests, content marketing, and talent endorsements.
- On-Site contesting, newsletter, and text database lead generation.
- Social media marketing, partner sponsorships, and influencer marketing.
- Digital marketing, partner content, newsletters, text blasts, geo-targeting.
- Positive Messaging
- The campaign encourages consumers to be free…
- Free to choose your favorite drink.
- Free to experiment with flavors.
- Free to have fun.
- Free to express your open happiness.
- Free to travel where you want, with who you want, and choose your dream vacation.
- Mass Engagement
- Strategic placement of dispensers utilizing an “Advertiser Partner Program” and delivering the product to key demographics in specific zip codes.
- Expanded the “Advertiser Partner Program” to co-promote campaigns to benefit mutual advertisers and ultimately maximize value to consumers.
- Developed daily promotions to drive foot traffic to locations utilizing radio, digital and social media.
- Conducted live broadcasts on-air, online and on social media to drive focus and educate consumers on how to interact with the product and learn further about the benefits.
- Utilized databases to capture, and engage customers with reward programs.
Interactive Freestyle Vacation Program – Contest
The contests required listeners to register to win via four participating radio stations’ Project 96.1 (Rock), The Groove Atlanta (Top 40), 94.9 The Bull (Country), and El Patron 105.3 (Regional Mexican) providing a multitude of demographics to engage with.
Following the second week window, first-round finalists were selected to represent each of the four radio stations involved and won a Coca-Cola Freestyle branded flip video camera and were required to film themselves trying out the Coca-Cola Freestyle dispenser and share it with their friends and family on social media on how to use the dispenser and what it is that they loved most about the experience.
Based on website votes and branded hashtags on social media, the video that garnered the most votes on each radio station’s website determined the grand prize winner for each radio station involved.
Total Contestant Entries: 70,853 participants, which is 16.9% of the total city proper population of Atlanta, GA in 2011.
Campaign Outline Recap
The “Interactive Freestyle Vacation Program” campaign ran from 9/20/2011 to 10/17/2011.
The concept was based on a multilevel microsite designed and developed by Clear Channel Atlanta for the Coca-Cola Freestyle dispenser market push.
The four Clear Channel radio stations involved were Project 9-6-1 (WKLS – FM), 94.9 The Bull (WUBL – FM), 96.7 The Groove (WWVA – FM), & 105.3 El Patron (WBZY – FM).
Each radio station supported the campaign via :60, :30 and :15 commercials.
The :60 commercials were designed to increase product awareness as well as include the Coca-Cola Freestyle Partners.
The :30 commercials were designed to incentivize listeners to register for the Coca-Cola Freestyle vacation of a lifetime with various options, ranging from a trip to Los Angeles to see the Grammy Awards, to a trip to the next BCS National Championship Game!
The :15 commercials served as an additional push to promote the contest.
The initial contest registration period was during the first two weeks.
During this time, the cluster executed twelve live remotes at selected Coca-Cola Freestyle retail partners.
The dual purpose of this stage in the campaign was to promote product awareness as well as to offer listeners a chance to register for the contest.
During the third week, the four finalists were announced and given prize packs which included an HD Flip Video Camera as well as instructions on how to proceed with the contest and film their Coca-Cola Freestyle educational video.
The fourth and final week was dedicated to voting. Each video was posted on the contest splash page and on each radio station’s social media accounts to maximize visibility.
Campaign Outcome
Freestyle is one of the most transformational digital innovations ever created by a consumer products company. By combining micro-dosing technology from dialysis machines, a new flavor component system akin to inkjet cartridges, a delightful user interface, and a feed of real-time consumption data back to headquarters, it solves consumers’ thirst for variety and personalization, eases operations for foodservice companies, and gives the company insights about shifts in consumer tastes long before their competition can taste them.
Campaign Achievements
The results of these campaigns and Marketing Mix Modeling provided Coca-Cola with the information required to help determine how successful the product launch was and whether Freestyle was ready to launch on a national level.
“When we introduced Freestyle, it was truly a disruptive innovation, today it’s a billion-dollar business.”
Chris Hellmann, Vice President General Manager, of Coca-Cola Freestyle
About Coca-Cola:
The Coca-Cola Company is a multinational beverage corporation incorporated under Delaware’s General Corporation Law and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The Coca-Cola Company has interests in the manufacturing, retailing, and marketing of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages.
The company produces Coca-Cola, the sugary drink it is best known for, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton. At the time, the product was made with coca leaves, which added an amount of cocaine to the drink, and with kola nuts, which added caffeine, so that the coca and the kola together provided a stimulative effect.
This stimulative effect is the reason the drink was sold to the public as a healthy “tonic”, and the coca and the kola are also the sources of the name of the product and of the company. In 1889, the formula and brand were sold for $2,300 (roughly $71,000 in 2022) to Asa Griggs Candler, who incorporated the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta in 1892. The company has operated a franchised distribution system since 1889.
The company largely produces syrup concentrate, which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold exclusive territories. The company owns its anchor bottler in North America, Coca-Cola Refreshments.[5] The company’s stock is listed on the NYSE and is part of DJIA and the S&P 500 and S&P 100 indexes.