Coca-Cola Digitalise Happiness
Drink of a Thousand Smiles
 |
| nymag.com |
Coca-Cola have always been kind of ingenious where their
advertising is concerned, from bottles with your name on them to basically reinventing Christmas. They’ve done their
utmost to make the brand so synonymous with joy and happiness that you almost
forget that the act of drinking a soft drink is unlikely to have any positive
effect on your mood. Other than making you belch, which is obviously hilarious.
In a new venture, the colossal drinks company have
registered URLs for all the emojis relating to happiness, from the classic :) to the versatile but nonsensical
:P all the way to the overpoweringly arousing ;). Typing any of them into a URL
bar with .ws as a domain will lead you to ‘emoticoke.com’, which allows you to
build an emoji URL of your very own, combing 3 different symbols. The link can
lead to any website of your choosing.
The campaign was spearheaded by Coca-Cola Puerto Rico, so
for the time being it’s all exclusively in Spanish (and doesn’t work anywhere
else), but if it takes off in Puerto Rico it could well become a global thing.
Emojis are, after all, kind of a universal language, despite being as open to
interpretation as they are, especially where the younger audience are
concerned, the people Coke ultimately want to reach.
 |
| adweek.com |
The .ws domain name (actually the extension for Samoa) is
used because the symbols aren’t accepted as URLs on most standard domains. Coke
claim that the letters were chosen because they can stand for ‘We Smile’ but I
think it’s a safe bet it’s more to do with the former than the latter.
Coke could use the points, to be honest; their last charm
offensive was centered on the #MakeItHappy hashtag, which involved encouraging
people to tag negative tweets so that they could turn them into cute ASCII
images of animals and whatever else. It backfired when Gawker caught wind of it
and used a Twitter bot to generate a whole series of images made up of
lettering from Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
More shockingly, Coca-Cola company offices were attacked by
protesters in Chilpancingo in Mexico last week. Gas bombs were thrown, causing
substantial damage and injuring several people. Two company employees were also
briefly held hostage by the demonstrators. Coke might well be trying on some
level to improve its image in Central and South America in the wake of this
incident, as well as simply focus-testing a potential worldwide campaign.
Callum Davies
Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF
Contact us on Twitter, on Facebook, or leave your comments below. To find out about social media training or management why not take a look at our website for more info http://socialmediacambridge.co.uk/.
Coca-Cola Digitalise Happiness
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Monday, February 23, 2015
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Monday, February 23, 2015
Rating:
Unknown
Keeping you up to date on social media, digital marketing, apps, news & reviews. Social media, and digital marketing as a whole, are rapidly and constantly changing, adapting to new developments at an ever increasing rate. Just keeping up to date can be a nightmare. Our team of writers know their field, and keep an ear to the ground. We aim to keep you informed of all recent developments in the online world, and teach you a little something along the way. So whether you just want to stay connected, or gain some knowledge for yourself, the Social Songbird will keep on singing! More articles are posted every day so keep checking back! Join the discussion on Twitter - #SocialSongbird Or contact us directly - @SocialSongbird_
Entrepreneur, international speaker on Social Media Marketing. First one in the UK to write and speak in conferences about Twitter as a marketing tool. Consultant to Corporate Companies, Government Organizations, Marketing Managers and Business Owners.
Aspiring novelist with a passion for fantasy and crime thrillers. He hopes to one day drop that 'aspiring' prefix. He started as a writer and soon after he was made Executive Editor and Manager of the team at Social Songbird. A position he held for 5 years.
Adrienne is a passionate writer with experience in editing, content creation, and social media marketing. She’s a lover of animals, helping others improve their writing, and 2000s pop culture.
Musician, audio technician, professional tutor and a Cambridge university English student. Interested in writing, politics and obsessed with reading.
Recently graduated with a BA in English Literature from the University of Exeter, and he is about to study an MA in Journalism at the University of Sheffield. He is an aspiring journalist and novelist; in his free time he enjoys playing chess, listening to music and taking long walks through nature.
Lucy is an undergraduate BSc Politics and International Relations student at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Anna Coopey is a 4th year UG student in Classics at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She is a keen writer and researcher on a number of topics, varying from Modern Greek literature to revolutionary theory.
Ellie is a recent BA English Literature graduate and aspiring publisher with a passion for writing. Her favourite pastimes include reading and shopping.