Coca-Cola’s logo is one of the most valuable pieces of design on earth. Share a Coke started by taking it off the bottle.
The problem: a brand that felt like wallpaper
By the late 2000s, Coke had a problem that had nothing to do with awareness. Everyone knew it. Fewer young people were choosing it, and in its biggest market consumption had been sliding for more than a decade. Soda was being squeezed by health worries, energy drinks and flavored water, and a brand that everyone recognized had stopped feeling personal to anyone.
The Australian team wanted a way to get young adults talking about Coke again, ideally with each other rather than through a TV screen.
The idea: your name instead of ours
In 2011 Coca-Cola in Australia replaced the logo on the front of its bottles with 150 of the country’s most popular first names, followed by the line “Share a Coke with.” A custom typeface, designed by Ian Brignell, made the names look like part of the classic label.
The mechanic did the rest. People searched store fridges for their own name, bought bottles for friends and family, and posted photos of what they found. A drink that had been a commodity became a small, personal gift, and every shared photo was free advertising.
Did it work?
In Australia, Ogilvy, the agency behind the campaign, estimated that it lifted Coke’s share of the category by 4% and increased consumption among young adults by 7%. The Guardian reported that the Australian launch earned more than 18 million media impressions and a big jump in traffic to Coke’s Facebook page.
Coca-Cola rolled the idea out country by country. The United Kingdom followed on April 29, 2013. The United States followed in June 2014, swapping the logo on 20-ounce bottles for 250 of the most popular names among teens and millennials. There the campaign is credited with increasing sales by more than 2%, reversing more than 10 years of decline in Coke consumption. Eventually it ran in more than 80 countries.
Keeping it fresh
A personalization idea wears out once everyone has found their name, so Coca-Cola kept changing the list:
- 2015: the number of names grew to 1,000.
- 2016: names were replaced by lyrics from 70 popular songs, such as “Lean on Me” and “We Are the Champions.”
- 2017: the U.S. version added holiday destinations.
Critics pointed out the obvious limit: if your name wasn’t on the list, the campaign could feel like it was for somebody else. Group names and nicknames such as “Family,” “Friends” and “BFF” on larger bottles and cans softened that.
Why it worked
- It made the product the media. The bottle itself carried the message, so every fridge in every store became a billboard.
- It gave people a reason to post. Finding your name, or a friend’s, was a small moment worth photographing and sharing.
- It was generous with the brand. Coca-Cola’s red and its script lettering were recognizable enough that the name could be removed without losing the brand.
- It scaled easily. Any country could run it with its own list of names.
Legacy
Share a Coke is now one of the most-cited examples of personalized packaging, and it proved that even the world’s most familiar brand could feel personal at the level of a single bottle. Coca-Cola has returned to the concept several times since, and the idea of printing customers’ names on products has been copied across food and drink.