Coca-Cola’s ICC CWC marketing journey: 4 bn+ impressions, 70 mn+ reach

A look at how Coca-Cola maintained its consistent approach towards engaging with its consumers both online and off-line during the just concluded ICC World Cup 2019. 

Coca-Cola has been celebrating the spirit and the happiness cricket brings into the lives of people and binds them under various circumstances.

This year, Coca-Cola entered into a five-year global strategic partnership with ICC to celebrate cricket. Initiated from India, the aim of the partnership is to create memorable experiences for cricket fans across the world. This partnership includes all ICC events around the world, including the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales, the ICC men’s and women’s T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020, the ICC Women’s World Cup 2021 in New Zealand and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India in 2023 amongst other global tournaments. The partnership has strategically aligned both ICC and Coca-Cola for the long-term by combining the strength of The Coca-Cola Company’s diversified portfolio of over 500 brands and worldwide retail reach with ICC’s unwavering focus to expand the sport’s footprint globally. 

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More than 100 days of innovative marketing initiatives 

Stirring up the excitement for the cricket lovers, Coca-Cola rolled out two new campaigns to celebrate cricket with the fans. The campaigns were aimed at making the World Cup moments special for the consumers with the simple pleasure of drinking a Coca-Cola. 

In the early stages of the game, when consumers were preparing for the tournament, Coca-Cola focused on building a Stock Up Ritual. The film focused on building consumption depth around cricket viewing by encouraging fans to ‘Stock Up’ to be ‘Match Ready’. It featured Ranbir Kapoor and Paresh Rawal, who encouraged cricket lovers to be prepared in advance and stock-up Coca-Cola to relish every second of the World Cup and not miss any game-changing cricket moments. 

Once the passion and emotions were running high, Coca-Cola started conveying its core idea: Be the 12^th Man. The film symbolised the hopes, aspirations, anxieties of Indian fans and what their spirit could be. The campaign addressed what is there in their hearts and minds during the World Cup: The intense desire to see India win. Keeping this in mind, ‘12th Man’ campaign was built around the simple idea that, ‘To be part of the team, you don’t need to be in the team’. The film featured ace cricketers Rishabh Pant (India’s 12^th man just before as he was selected in the playing 11 for IND vs ENG) and Yuvraj Singh with a voice-over by Ranbir Kapoor. 

The campaigns till date has received more than 180 million views on television and 200 million views on Hotstar and were appreciated by consumers and industry experts. Furthermore, Ravinder Jadeja also posted when he joined the World Cup playing squad. Many people from different walks of like including celebrities such as SouravGanguly, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal joined the chorus and congratulated the players. 

Going Digital - ‘Phone the new moving TV’ 

Embracing marketing innovations in the digital world to build seamless experiences for the consumers, select moments of the match amplified before, during and after the match across social media. A first-ever customised 12th man filter has been created and more than 100 million consumers have interacted with innovations such as the ‘Heart’ cheer button on Hotstar alone, which was shared Live during the game. Coca-Cola’s portfolio has garnered 770 million video views. 360 million impressions were garnered on ‘Branded Cards’ that were placed contextually during live games on Hotstar. Overall, the World Cup campaign garnered 4 billion impressions across social platforms with a reach of 70 million till now. 

The company created a line of innovations and which linked activations On-Ground and In-Ground for the consumers digitally. Special promotions were kicked-off to provide consumers an opportunity to win an all-expense paid trip to London and watch World Cup match live, along with other attractive prizes. PET bottles with a unique code under the labels were launched. The company also ran contests on its own e-commerce website (Coke2Home), retail stores, cash and carry outlets, e-commerce, movie halls and kirana stores. 250 customers got a chance to experience the Cricket World Cup in London. The on-pack promotion was also initiated to watch the finals in London, which generated 3.9 million entries. 

Coca-Cola also made the World Cup Cricket moments special for consumers through its timely, contextual messaging. A special team was set up to create real-time contextual content, one-on-one communication with consumers and creating content for brand advocates across 21 cities in India  and 6 languages. 

Taking the celebrations across borders 

The palpable excitement got extended to other South West Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives to win consumer hearts and become an essential part of the shopping basket. 

In Bangladesh, consumer campaign‘Go to England and Cheer for your team’ received 5.4 million responses and enabled 60 winners to visit England and cheer for the Bangladesh Cricket team. A new TVC, ‘Englander Maati; Banglar Ghati’ (Land of England; Pride of Bangladesh), focused on cultural point of view and encouraged consumers to become loyal supporters. On-ground tie-up with Bangladesh Cricket Supporters Association allowed Coke ambassadors to post content Live from the stadium. War room set up also enabled in amplifying the communications real time during the matches, leveraging influencers and social media posts. 

In Sri Lanka, the consumer campaign – ‘From Cap to Cup’ – ran across 50,000 retail outlets and enabled 30 winners to England to cheer for the Sri Lankan cricket team. The company also partnered with select food chains to run consumer promotions. The World Cup TVC, ‘Drink of Togetherness’, showcased how Coca-Cola is the beverage that brings fans together and encouraged them to become loyal supporters of the campaign. Coca-Cola was also the official sponsor of ICC World Cup 2019 match feed on the television. On-ground tie-up with Rupawahini channel captured Coke brand ambassadors cheering for the Sri Lankan team live from the stadium. A war room was set-up to amplify real time moments during the matches, leveraging influencers and posts on Facebook and Instagram. 

8 other countries activated this property, including the United Kingdom, for a strong on-ground and digital activation in the hosting nation itself.