Half-Full

Background

Romania ranked amongst the top 10 unhappiest countries in Europe, according to the UN’s 2018 World Happiness Report.

Adding to Romanians’ natural pessimism were negative news stories leaving people feeling anxious and isolated.

Coca-Cola believed in bringing people together through positivity and wanted Romanians to see there was a lot of overlooked good news in the country.

Idea

The first half-full bottle of Coca-Cola was launched in contextual outdoor displays, online videos and in online banners in the most popular news-sites.

Bottles were sent to key influencers in social media.

The innovative packaging displayed positive news stories selected by a team of journalists, such as: The Romanian high school Olympians, who won 255 international medals in 2018; the number of tourists visiting Romania that grew by more than 6% in the year; the fact that 1 in 4 people working in Romanian IT field are women, and many more. Consumers could go online to create and order their own collectable half-full bottles using a chatbot on the Coca-Cola Facebook page.

Results

Coca-Cola is now working with Romania’s biggest media outlets to implement a permanent ‘Half-Full’ section in their news programs.

Our Thoughts

Paul Simonet of Alternative Genius has spent the last couple of years trying to get marketers to wise up to the fact that their packaging might just be the most potent marketing channel they have. It is owned media so they can do what they want with it. Living as we now do with the internet of things, the bottle is a gateway through to brand stories, to product information, to recipes and new ways to use the product and, of course, to communities. There is some evidence a few brand managers are beginning to listen to him. I don’t know if he’s been banging his drum in Romania but this is a great example of packaging as brand communication.