Coca-Cola Wakaw dancers ride on Lambretta scooters, perform in 10 cities

NEW DELHI: Coca-Cola India seems to be working on various options to get consumers familiar with the classic retro look of Vivek Oberoi portrayed in the new Vanilla Coke campaign.

Strengthening the impact of recently launched TVC, e-marketing company Virtual Marketing India has worked on an integrated 360° marketing campaign, comprising both online and offline initiatives, for the newly launched brand by Coca-Cola India.

 

The initiatives include creation of a microsite on Coca-Cola India’s website www.myenjoyzone.com, online ads and two-phased event - `The World Goes Wakaw' followed by `Aao Twist Karen'.

The homepage of the microsite (http://www.myenjoyzone.com/vanillacoke), which features company’s brand endorser Vivek Oberoi in the retro look, has several linkages to the TVC in the form of Parde ke peeche (for never seen edited footage and exclusive pics), Unseen scenes, mobile parampara (ringtones, picture messages, wallpapers) and other downloads. The site also has an option of viewing the latest Vanilla Coke television commercial.

The ongoing 70-day two-phased event,- starting with `The World Goes Wakaw’ and `Aao Twist Karen’, are about Wakaw dancers going to 10 cities in the country and involving consumers with impromptu dance sequences competition.

Says Virtual Marketing creative director Carlton D'Silva, “When the coolest launch of the season comes from Coca-Cola, its got to be something really big. Team Hungama was given the responsibility of creating an experiential marketing program for the latest Coke variant to hit the Indian soft drink market.”

D’Silva and his team had revamped the same website last year in order to provide richer interactivity and an enhanced brand experience to its consumers.

He spoke in detail about the mandate, strategy for both online and offline events. Excerpts:

The mandate

The classic soft drink i.e. Coca Cola had come back with a dash of the new. The online and offline promotions for the brand had to be in sync with the TV campaign, which starred Vivek Oberoi as the cool, crazy dude from the 70’s era. His attire, his attitude, his mannerisms…all straight from the classic 70s, and yet quite in style even in the new century; an attitude which perfectly represented the soft drink.

We decided to create a microsite for Vanilla Coke, which would reside on myenjoyzone.com, Coke’s Virtual City. This microsite was designed in a manner so as to give a look and feel similar to the classic retro era…very much in keeping with the feel of the TVC so that the consumers could instantly make a connection between the TVC and the online campaign. It was here that we created elements, which would allow the consumer to interact and experience the brand properties. Downloadable applications, screen savers, wallpapers, mobile interactive et al…just about anything which the consumer would voluntarily download.

The outcome of the campaign

Just within 10 days of launching the site, it registered 7,06,354 page views.

Red Alert Alarm- 15,592 downloads

The Vanilla Coke TVC - 38026 downloads

Wallpapers - 10,867 downloads

Screensaver - 9,652 downloads

Strategy – offline

What could be a better promotional strategy that to create a song and dance about Vanilla Coke? Quite literally, we decided to create an event, which would enthrall and involve our TG as well as leave the imprints of the brand firmly on their psyche.

Phase one: The World Goes Wakaw

A bunch of Wakaw dancers, the Ice creamy thanda track to match at some really cool spots in and around the city…the best combo to create some Ice Creamy Thanda Hungama. Our bunch of Wakaw dancers went around town on their beautifully branded Lambretta scooters with Vanilla Coke carts in tow. At the pre-determined spots (i.e. where our TG would hang out the most) the Wakaw dancers in their colourful costumes would do an impromptu Wakaw jig (the Wakaw dance as seen in the Vanilla Coke Commercial). Branding and sampling activity would happen then and there and the Wakaw dancers would disperse to various parts of the same venue to do individual Wakaw dances. In the meanwhile, there would be constant announcements about the coolest launch of the season…Vanilla Coke. After a considerable amount of buzz was generated the Wakaw dancers would move on to the other location.

Phase two: Aao Twist Karen

The Aao Twist Karen was a fun way to gel the old with the new. After the Wakaw dances had created enough excitement around the brand, the idea was now to get the consumers involved in the brand too.

Our Vanilla Coke floats would travel to some of the pre-selected catchment areas all around Indian cities. Here our promoters would invite the gathered audience to participate in Aao Twist Karen. The participants would put on cool, Ice Creamy Thanda accessories and would dance to classic and remixed numbers of the 70's era. The gathered audience would be the final judges of this impromptu dance competition. Needless to say, the contest was a huge success with the TG and the Vanilla Coke floats drew huge crowds wherever they went.

The Vanilla Coke TG had as much fun during the Ice Creamy Thanda promotion as what we did when we conceptualized and executed the entire online as well as the offline campaign.