Coca-Cola Active at Retail

Coca-Cola Co. stayed at the top of shoppers’ minds in recent months by activating account-specific holiday and football programs at an array of retailers across various channels.As part of its holiday plan, the manufacturer made a rare promotional appearance at Best Buy by offering a collectible holiday plush of its polar bear mascot and a 20-ounce bottle of its flagship drink with a $29.99 purchase of any gaming product, toy or collectible. A shelf tray positioned on an endcap in the video game department stocked both freebies below a sign announcing the incentive and promising deals on select Wii U and 3DS games from Nintendo. A Nov. 11, 2016, circular feature supported the promotion.At warehouse club chains Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club, Coca-Cola deployed exclusive 24-count holiday cases of 7.5-ounce mini-cans that contained a free collectible polar bear ornament. The packaging mimicked a delivery truck driven by two polar bears. At Sam’s Club, account-specific pallet displays stocked the “holiday trucks” with a declaration of “Cheer Worth Sharing.”The truck-shaped cases were a nod to Coca-Cola’s 19-year-old “Holiday Caravan,” which sends six brightly lit trucks stocked with Coke beverages across U.S. cities each December.All the aforementioned efforts additionally reflected Coca-Cola’s national holiday campaign, which brought back the polar bear mascot after a three-year hiatus.Coca-Cola took a different approach at Walmart, activating a cause marketing program supporting One Warm Coat, a nonprofit that provides free coats to people in need. The “Layer On Love” effort ran from Oct. 24, 2016, to Jan. 22, during which time the manufacturer supplied a half-million people with coats.In Action Alley, pallet displays merchandising two-liter Coca-Cola beverages were outfitted with base signs promoting the cause and a “five for $5” price point. In the beverage aisle, shelf strips directed shoppers to a promotional Coca-Cola web page.Coca-Cola also encouraged shoppers to share how they were helping the needy during the holiday season by using the campaign’s #LayerOnLove hashtag. Twitter and Instagram posts using the hashtag were aggregated on the promotional web page. Pleasant Ridge, Michigan-based HelloWorld handled the activity. Social media posts from One Warm Coat and blog posts seeded by Collective Bias supported the effort.Also at Walmart, the manufacturer separately deployed Santa standees and fireplace spectaculars.Among other holiday P-O-P activity, Coca-Cola also deployed:“Share the Magic” pole toppers at Dollar General.“Santa’s Favorite” floorstands at Albertsons Cos.Christmas Tree spectaculars at Target.To tie in to the college football season, Speedway leveraged Coca-Cola Co.’s sponsorship of ESPN College GameDay to host a social media sweepstakes awarding a trip to Baltimore to meet co-host Kirk Herbstreit and watch the Army vs. Navy football game on Dec. 10, 2016.Consumers entered from Sept. 12 to Oct. 31, 2016, by sharing a selfie with a custom Speedway cup or the “Herbstreit Mobile,” a branded Chevrolet Suburban that concurrently traveled to Speedway locations in college towns. HelloWorld handled the activity.Speedy Rewards cardholders earned 500 Speedy Rewards points with purchase of select Coca-Cola products and fountain drinks. Clings touted the incentive. TV spots (starring Herbstreit), Facebook, Twitter and Instagram updates, and a carousel ad on Speedway.com supported the effort.The manufacturer also activated its ESPN sponsorship at Walmart for a co-marketing program deploying spectaculars, endcap signage kits and pallets using a “Not So Fast Mom” message. An account-specific promotional web page run by Collective Bias supported the effort.In another partnership, Coca-Cola teamed with Dollar General to co-sponsor the first-ever Dollar General Bowl, a college football game played on Dec. 23, 2016, in Mobile, Alabama. In stores, pole toppers plugged the event along with discounts on six-packs from Coca-Cola Co.Earlier in the season, Dollar General also offered a $1 digital coupon for the joint purchase of Coca-Cola Co.’s flagship brand and Kellogg Co.’s Pringles, which it billed as a “blitz pack,” that was valid from Aug. 22 to Sept. 25, 2016. Coke products continued to enjoy an in-store presence after the promotion ended with case stackers accompanied by football-themed wraps and pole toppers.At Kroger chains, pallet trains merchandising product from CPGs including Coca-Cola were outfitted with account-specific case toppers from the manufacturer.Additionally, at least one Target store in Wisconsin hosted a Green Bay Packers tribute created from Coca-Cola cases.

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