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The 2010s were characterized by increased global connectivity through social media platforms.
People, especially the youth, were changing the way they interacted and shared information.
Coca-Cola’s “Taste the Feeling” campaign was created to take advantage of these cultural and technological shifts.
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Coca-Cola launched Taste the Feeling in 2016.
Taste the Feeling represented a strategic shift from the “Open Happiness,” campaign that was created to provide joy during the hardships of the 2009 Great Recession.
The Coca-Cola Company chose Wieden+Kennedy as their ad agency for a new marketing campaign.
Wieden+Kennedy drew inspiration from the iconic 1971 “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” campaign but looked to adapt it to the new social media landscape.
The strategy of the campaign was to focus on capturing authentic, universal human experiences that bridged the growing digital divide.
The ad agency drew up copy that showed unfiltered moments centered around Coca-Cola to create a sense of shared connection.
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The campaign was the largest-ever marketing campaign in Coca-Cola’s history, reaching over 200 countries with an investment of more than $1 billion.
It proved wildly successful.
The ads were able to increase sales while reinforcing Coca-Cola’s brand identity as a unifying global experience, in a time of political upheaval.
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The Coca-Cola Company also shifted all of its products and campaigns into one unified vision.
Moving toward cohesive brand messaging.
Coca-Cola Classic, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Lime, etc, all started to have similar labeling and showcasing the original Coca-Cola logo.
The Taste the Feeling campaign helped to create a more transparent, more unified brand communication.
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The Taste the Feeling campaign focused on celebrating ordinary, everyday moments rather than grand or luxurious scenes.
The ad men brilliantly put together simple experiences like couples sharing drinks or friends gathering.
The ads emphasized inclusivity.
They showed universal human experiences, featuring people of diverse backgrounds coming together to share a Coke.
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The apex of the campaign came when Coca-Cola teamed up with the famous electronic music star Avicii.
Avicii featured a song that was created in multiple versions to appeal to different global audiences and cultures.
It was created with a collaboration with contrasting artists like Avicii (electronic) and Conrad Sewell (vocals), to create emotional connections with different audience segments while maintaining authenticity.
The single was a global hit.
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As described earlier, the Taste the Feeling campaign leveraged social media’s interactive nature by allowing users to create personalized Coke stories through an interactive website—this made consumers from passive viewers to active co-creators of the brand narrative.
This user-generated content and personalization was a stroke of genius.
It allowed Coca-Cola to tap into social media’s core strengths of collective storytelling and community engagement.
They amplified the campaign’s reach through organic sharing on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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This was also the first time that Coca-Cola shifted towards photo-realistic imagery, moving away from its traditional glossy, stylized advertising.
It was a strategic decision.
It allowed the brand to show authentic everyday moments rather than glamorized scenes, making the ads easily shareable throughout the net.
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Coke started using static billboards.
These new billboards were imaging interactive versions as part of Coca-Cola’s Taste the Feeling campaign.
The billboards used sensors and digital interfaces to engage passersby—for example, displaying responsive bubbles that matched people’s walking pace—it allowed commuters to give a virtual toast!
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The Taste the Feeling campaign also revived classic brand elements, particularly the contour bottle design.
It was a way to tap into consumers’ inner nostalgia.
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