May 2, 2011

Brand Success Measured As Consumer Expressions- A Coca-Cola Story

Coke's CMO Joe Tripodi wrote a great article on how their firm is moving away from impressions to "consumer expressions"- i.e. how and what consumers express about the brand Coca-Cola. It is about how a brand is perceived, it is about what is talked about, it is about WOM, it is about social marketing, it is about how you as a brand facilitate social media/ marketing and above all it is about how you connect with you fans and how you maintain their trust to keep them loyal.


Some fascinating points he brings up- excluding the fact that Coke's Facebook fanpage wasn't started by an employee but launched by two consumers in Los Angeles.

1) We can't match the volume of our consumers' creative output, but we can spark it with the right type of content.

2) Accept that you don't own your brands; your consumers do.

3) Build a process that shares successes and failures quickly throughout your company.

4) Let go of control and give it to your consumers- In 2009, Coca-Cola launched Expedition 206. Consumers voted for the three people they wanted to see travel the world as Coca-Cola Ambassadors, visiting most of the 206 countries where Coca Cola is sold and driving an online conversation about what makes people happy around the world.

No comments: