Coca-Cola: A social media case study

by Robin Grant in News on 9 July 2009 at 16:58 Google+

Following on from our Best Buy social media case study back in May, I thought it worth looking at what the FMCG giant Coca-Cola are up to in social media.

Last month in Cannes, Jonathan Mildenhall, Coca-Cola’s VP of global advertising strategy, admitted the multi-national corporation had been slow to embrace social media and historically, they did make some mistakes. However, if you scratch the surface a little, they’re doing some interesting things.

In April they created a new office of digital communications and social media within its public affairs and communications department, giving Adam Brown, digital communications director, and Anne Carelli, digital communications manager, oversight of corporate digital and social media communications efforts.

It’s worth watching Adam speak about Coca-Cola’s social media strategy at the recent BlogWell New York conference (start 50 secs in):

You can also see Adam’s slides here.

Coca-Cola Conversations is the blog Adam mentions, check out the Coca-Cola Facebook page, and for a UK perspective it’s worth looking at this article about ‘Let’s get together’ and the Coke Zone blog.

Of course, there’s also the famous story of the Coca-Cola Facebook page:

Update: Adam has kindly tweeted me to point out that Coke are on Twitter too. I especially like the fact that they’re being very conversational, even with their arch-rivals Pepsi:

Coke's tweet to Pepsi

Update 2: Coke’s new social media policy

Update 3: Coca-Cola and social media: Fans first

Update 4: Coca-Cola builds new social media model

Update 5: Coca-Cola’s marketing shifts from impressions to expressions

If you liked this post, why not subscribe to We Are Social by or ?


tagged: , , , , , , , ,

  • http://twitter.com/CharlieAtCisco Charlie Treadwell

    Social Media certification, that's a great idea!

  • http://brendanhughes.ie/2009/07/12/sunday-tit-bits/ Sunday Tit-bits « Brendan Hughes

    [...] do social media; blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook the lot. Sure who doesn’t at this stage? (rhetorical [...]

  • http://renaissancechambara.jp/2009/07/25/links-of-the-day-260/ renaissance chambara alias Ged Carroll – Links of the day

    [...] Coca-Cola: A social media case study / we are social [...]

  • stewartatkins

    Useful aid to support pitching social media especially to the skeptical or tose just not too aware…

  • http://www.entrepriseglobale.biz/2688/2009/interdire-facebook-au-travail-cest-comme-interdire-le-telephone-2/ « Interdire Facebook au travail, c’est comme interdire le téléphone » : Entreprise Globale

    [...] fonction et leur appartenance à la société s’ils évoquent cette dernière. Coca Cola a aussi accéléré le mouvement, récemment, en ce qui concerne la présence de sa marque sur les médias [...]

  • http://www.leblogdetom.info/interdire-facebook-au-travail-c%e2%80%99est-comme-interdire-le-telephone/ « Interdire Facebook au travail, c’est comme interdire le téléphone » – Le blog de Tom

    [...] fonction et leur appartenance à la société s’ils évoquent cette dernière. Coca Cola a aussi accéléré le mouvement, récemment, en ce qui concerne la présence de sa marque sur les médias [...]

  • glindfordsmith

    I am not sure Coca Cola really needs social media, though (although it definitely could and would not hurt). After all, I cannot imagine that I know any Americans that have never bought or drank soda from a 2-liter bottle, but I would be hard pressed to find someone that could actually quantify a liter of gasoline.

  • http://twitter.com/meanius Samina

    10 by 6 by 10 tactic- I want to know more! There must be a really fine line with having representatives, I wonder if they're ever seen as being bias towards Coca Cola. I think coke is a great social object- there's so much you can do around it. I was watching the Coke Library advert and found myself brainstorming ways they could build on it. At the moment the Facebook fan page has 3,657,067 fans, how do they choose and create social content that appeals to everyone? Do they have an idea of demographics? I guess I'm just curious to know how it changes by market.

  • http://twitter.com/meanius Samina

    10 by 6 by 10 tactic- I want to know more! There must be a really fine line with having representatives, I wonder if they're ever seen as being bias towards Coca Cola. I think coke is a great social object- there's so much you can do around it. I was watching the Coke Library advert and found myself brainstorming ways they could build on it. At the moment the Facebook fan page has 3,657,067 fans, how do they choose and create social content that appeals to everyone? Do they have an idea of demographics? I guess I'm just curious to know how it changes by market.

  • http://blog.zoomlabs.es/2009/11/%c2%bfpor-que-deben-involucrarse-las-empresas-en-la-web-2-0-2%c2%aa-parte/ ¿Por qué deben involucrarse las empresas en la Web 2.0? 2ª parte | Zoomoteca

    [...] de los ejemplos contrarios a esta práctica obsoleta es la que está haciendo Coca-Cola, la marca mejor valorada según el último estudio de Interbrand, que ha creado páginas [...]

  • http://wearesocial.net/blog/2010/03/cocacola-social-media-fans/ Coca-Cola and social media: Fans first / we are social

    [...] see Coca-Cola: A social media case study (disclosure – Coca-Cola is a We Are Social client). View commentsComments Share Tweet [...]

  • http://wearesocial.fr/blog/2010/05/social-media-rle-du-directeur-marketing/ Social media : rôle du directeur marketing | we are social

    [...] d’ailleurs le cas aujourd’hui au sein d’entreprises comme Ford ou Coca-Cola avec leur Head of Social Media respectifs que sont Scott Monty ou Adam Brown, ou plus récemment [...]

  • http://redcubemarketing-blog.com/2010/06/23/case-study-crunch-fmcg-social-media-case-studies/ Case Study Crunch: FMCG Social Media Case Studies « The Cube

    [...] Coca-Cola: A social media case study [...]

  • http://DCincome.com Jerick Thomas

    test

  • http://thesocialbrandz.com/2010/09/13/social-media-and-consumer-packaged-goods-cpg-brands-a-love-hate-relationship/ Social Media and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Brands – A Love Hate Relationship. « The Social Brandz

    [...] It comes from the aspiring desire for the consumers to take ownership of the brand.  Starbucks and Coca Cola are prime examples of instances where consumers have created their own messages on behalf of a [...]

  • albert30

    great idea to deal with…..Thanks for the nice information

  • http://twitter.com/JonnetSolomon Jonnet Solomon

    Social Media is really a boom in promoting stuff …thanks for the nice information

  • garath12dec

    coca cola is a well known brand in the world i guess they do not require social media

  • http://www.netpartner.com.br/blog/as-marcas-mais-populares-em-midias-sociais/ As marcas mais populares em mídias sociais | NETPARTNER

    [...] We Are Social [...]

  • http://anyessays.com/writing/essays essays online

    I love coca-cola! Social Media is the most useful way of promoting now!! Sooo… they are great!

  • Anonymous

    hats off 2 smm techniques …now a days SEO,SMM are backbone for the site

  • Anonymous

    thanks for the nice information share ……Social Media is really a tech driven strategy…. 

  • http://championskick.com alamance county martial arts

    Facebook and Twitter then there is no need of other apps

  • http://www.252cats.com/hospital.htm deluxe cat resort

    Hello.Excellent post, really educational,How much of an fascinating article, always keep producing special someone

  • http://www.americanairandheating.com/ air conditioner repair LA

    SMM for better results always use white hat techniques 

  • http://www.electroserv.com.au Power Factor Correction

    Great write-up, I am regular visitor of one’s site, maintain up the excellent operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time.

  • http://creative-web-designer.com/ Magento Ecommerce web designer

    I am really forever saying that its difficult to get good honest help, but here is …

  • http://www.electroserv.com.au Electricity Cost reductions

    Very well written post`, as well as yours truly :) . Keep doing what you are doing – i will definitely read more posts.