And Ye Shall Marvel
Show me an effective digital campaign, and I will show you one that has high levels of user engagement. It’s one thing to pull all the levers and be everywhere, but it is quite another when you invite people into the campaign to reach for a little more.
And that is exactly what Coca-Cola is doing with their new Marvel joint promotion. It brings two powerhouse brands together to coincide with the late-July release of yet another Marvel movie. The promo includes special cans and bottles bearing Marvel super hero images, along with scannable QR codes. Once scanned, users are whisked away to AR content to supplement and support the messaging provided on the packaging.
There’s somewhat conflicting information online about exactly how many characters will appear, and where they will appear. It looks like Coca-Cola Classic and Coke Zero will share center stage, although I did read one story implying there could be more. Also, the number of characters ranges from “more than 30” to as high as 38.
That’s a lot of opportunities for engagement!
It’s also a page from an old playbook in the beverage industry, minus the QR and AR aspects. Starting back in the 80s, beverage makers started releasing sets of cans to coincide with a cross-promotion of another brand, or to promote something for which the beverage company had an exclusive affiliation, like the Olympics. As a long-time collector of beverage industry memorabilia, I can attest to how intense things can get trying to find every one of the items in a set. Because an incomplete set is just that: Incomplete. No bueno.
The current promotion will be in more than 50 countries, and already eBay is filled with cans from across the globe. Collectors alone will probably ensure the success of the campaign, but once you factor in the casual consumer just scanning the can they happened to get at the local c-store, this has the potential to be massive in impact. Maybe.
The movie doesn’t come out for another 3 1/2 months, and already supermarket shelves are filled with the initial shipments of Classic and Zero. The cardboard 12-pack packaging reinforces the campaign, and stands out nicely on shelves. Visual appeal is high.
The campaign comes at an important time for Coca-Cola, as well as all soft drink manufacturers, because consumption is down. Per capita consumption peaked around 2000, with about 50 gallons apiece. It has dropped steadily ever since, and now sits at just under 43 gallons per person. Stir in the Ozempic craze, and it is possible that food and beverage makers selling less-than-healthy products may continue to see sales declines.
But that decline started long before silver bullet products like Ozempic were ever available, meaning that changes in consumer behavior have been ongoing. I honestly could not tell you the last time I actually sipped a soft drink, although I still buy—and drain—cans I need for my collection. Can the current promotion reverse this downward spiral? That’s a tough call, because the trend line is clear. Coca-Cola needs it. Oh, and Disney, who owns Marvel, could also use a big boost at the box office. Misery loves company perhaps?
There’s another interesting aspect at play here as well. Quick! Show me a product that used a QR code before COVID. I’ll wait. I might be waiting a while, though, because I bet you can’t think of one. But show me a product available today whose packaging doesn’t contain a QR code, and I bet you would be equally hard-pressed. They became ubiquitous during the pandemic, and marketers and consumers alike finally realized their value.
I use the word “finally” because QR codes have actually been in existence since 1994, although they did not get a bump until about 2010. It’s just that there were still too few people with smartphones then to be able to scan them, and they landed with a thud. Worse yet, you had to download a QR-reader app. At least phone manufacturers finally figured out they could build that into their native camera app, and they could be used in myriad applications.
I saw them in China in 2019 as a payment gateway in restaurants. How many of you have paid your tab with a QR code here in the States? It is starting to gain traction, and I love it, if only because I do not have to surrender my card to a total stranger, who disappears with it for five to ten minutes.
As for marketing engagement, they are the best we’ve got these days. Not too many years ago the best we could do was invite people to visit a website. That took too many steps, though. A scannable code makes it easy, and I suspect that both parties to this promo are going to be exclaiming “Marvelous” before it is all over. One can hope.
Dr “Who’s Your Super Hero?” Gerlich
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