This article appears in the March/April 2017 issue of strategy.

Bronze | Seasonal
Agency | The Hive

For teens, summer soundtracks are as essential as road trips and first kisses. Music can influence behaviour, especially among the younger generation, but the festival and concert giveaway space was already crowded. Coca-Cola needed a new way to show the relationship between youth, the brand and music.

The “Play a Coke” campaign gave every 500mL Coca-Cola bottle a playlist, accessible by downloading an app. The brand worked with Spotify to make the lists and tap into how teens were consuming music.

The campaign ran nationally between May and July 2016, supported by a $2-million budget. Custom playlists were created for McDonald’s, Mac’s/Couche Tard and Landmark cinemas, and social media influencers were given their own bottles to share.

Coca-Cola’s baseline sales for the campaign period increased 3% versus 2015, leading to a share gain of 0.9 points. “Favourite brand” score with teens increased by four points. The “Play a Coke” app garnered 122,500 downloads – five times the objective.

“Play a Coke” was the sole promotional effort during the 2016 summer and it had a similar spend to “Share a Coke” (the previous summer’s campaign). Availability and pricing did not change.