Coca Cola To Use Virtual Goods On Facebook For Super Bowl Promotion

Coca Cola is planning to run a social media campaign on Facebook during the Super Bowl, that would coincide with its advertisements in Cable TV, according to a web cast news conference by Coca Cola executives on Wednesday. This follows Pepsi who previously announced their intention to remove all SuperBowl ads and opt entirely for social media channels.Coca Cola’s campaign on Facebook will combine the usage of virtual goods with philanthropy. Fans of Coca Cola’s fan page “Live Positively” would be able to send out virtual gifts to their friends or family in return for a 20 second sneak peak at one of the two scheduled Coca Cola Super Bowl Commercials on CBS. As for the gift recipients, they would see an image of Coke bottle on their Facebook pages and news feed. Coca Cola will be using the proceeds from the campaign to donate a dollar to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, for every gift sent out during the campaign.
Coca Cola’s social media marketing campaign will run in parallel with their more traditional Cable TV commercials. Coca Cola has bought spots to run two commercials on CBS during Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7.
Speaking during the webcast Katie Bayne, chief marketing officer for the Coca-Cola brand in North America, said that the philanthropic element in the Facebook campaign reflects upon Coca-Cola’s longtime corporate philosophy of “doing a little good while refreshing people”. She further added that the effort also further highlights the Coca-Cola campaign on Facebook, whereby they have named their fan page “Live Positively”.
Pepsi Cola decided to stay away from Cable advertising during this year’s Super Bowl, and would instead be focusing on their “Pepsi Refresh Project”, which is primarily a digital media advertising campaign. The central theme of the Pepsi Refresh Project is to make donations to organizations as selected by consumers.
The marketing and brand building campaign by Coca Cola highlights the ever growing importance of Social Media. It further shows that large organizations like Coca Cola are now increasingly shifting their ad dollars towards Digital Media.
Another beneficiary of this campaign would be the virtual goods market segment. Campaigns like these further demonstrate the increasing dominance of virtual goods over other methods of reward during campaigns on Social Media sites.