Coca Cola Launches Global Campaign in Nigeria

Few weeks after a new global campaign was launched for Coca Cola brand in Europe and the Middle East, handlers of the brand in Nigeria has unveiled the campaign in the country. With a new tagline, ‘Taste the Feeling’; the company is inviting consumers to relive pleasant feeling experience as often.

Like the one before it, ‘Taste the Feeling’ is another ingenious marketing adventure that captures the Coke experience and awakens the different emotions and feeling that is often associated with an ice cold bottle of Coke. With this new campaign, the soft drink giant is highlighting the core values of the Coca Cola brand beyond the liquid content; using simple relatable and emotional storytelling long associated with the brand.

Taste a feeling is clearly another attempt to reposition the brand as a premium product that is on top of current trends and understands the market dynamics. The message is also a bit tweaked in favour of the youth market which often set trends that are adopted by other demographic groups and are most demanding as far as creativity is concerned.

The campaign was designed to refresh consumers’ memories of their love affair with Coke and how the brand embodies great taste, refreshment, happiness and is also loved globally. “The campaign is meant to remind consumers about the product and the brand they love, and to reiterate our belief in Nigeria,” Patricia Jemibewon Marketing Director of Coca Cola Nigeria said.

Underlying the taste a feeling campaign is Coke’s new ‘one brand strategy’ which was adopted upon the appointment of its new global Chief Marketing Officer Marcos De Quinton. The new strategy is a significant shift in Coke’s global marketing strategy. This means all Coke trademark brands will be united in one global creative campaign: ‘Taste the Feeling.’

The global ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign was unveiled at a media event in Paris by De Quinton who said that the strategy was adopted in other to extend the equity and iconic appeal of the Coca Cola brand to all its sub brands. “We are reinforcing that Coca-Cola is for everybody.

Coca-Cola is one brand with different variants, all of which share the same values and visual iconography. People want their Coca-Cola in different ways, but whichever one they want, they want a Coca-Cola brand with great taste and refreshment,” he said.

The launch of the ‘Taste a Feeling’ campaign in Nigeria is coming almost four months after the global launch in Paris. Jemibewon said it is strategic, because every country has got its launch date. And the Nigerian launch date was fixed for April 15.

As part from the media launch, various television commercials and an anthem were launched. The commercial shows a series of different emotionally charged moments in which Coke is enjoyed and finishes with all the Coca-Cola products uniting under the red Coca-Cola disc. The adverts are based around a core message that the simple pleasure of drinking any Coca-Cola makes the moment more special.

Jemibewon explains that the anthem highlights those emotions and functional moments that come with taste of Coca-Cola.
On the anthem for the campaign, the marketing director said it highlights those emotional and functional moments that come with the taste of Coca-Cola. “Music has always played a key role in Coca-Cola communications and “Taste the Feeling” is not an exception. The Taste the feeling anthem includes a new audio signature inspired by the sounds of enjoying a Coca-Cola – the pop of the cap, the fizz and, ultimately, refreshment.”

Speaking on the campaign, the Public Affairs and Communications Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Clem Ugorji explained that the ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign is an offshoot of Coca-Cola’s new ‘One Brand Strategy’ which marks a significant shift in its marketing approach and for the first time unites all Coke Trademark brands in one global creative campaign. “This approach brings the spotlight on all variants of the Coke trademark such as Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coke, etc. and underscores our Company’s commitment to choice, offering consumers options in taste and with or without calories, so there is a Coke for anyone”, he said.

He further stated that the campaign will be live from April to August on traditional and digital media channels and will include opportunities for consumers to sing their own version of the anthem and win prizes.

The launch of this new campaign comes at a time of heightened competition in the carbonated market in Nigeria following the influx of countless other carbonated brands into the Nigerian market. However, the campaign is expected to further deepen Coke’s brand equity in Nigeria and sustain its leadership.