Marketing Communications: Coca-Cola's Olympic Campaigns Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Coca-Cola's marketing communication strategies during the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympic Games. It examines the elements of the integrated marketing communication (IMC) mix used in both campaigns, including advertising, outdoor communication, online and interactive communication, packaging, merchandise, sales promotions, and public relations. The report highlights the differences in marketing and campaign objectives, with the Beijing campaign focusing on expanding market share in China and the London campaign emphasizing a positive social impact in the UK. Furthermore, the report identifies unique elements in the London campaign, such as the use of Facebook and mobile applications, and contrasts them with the traditional communication methods employed in Beijing. The analysis draws on various sources to provide a detailed comparative study of Coca-Cola's approach to Olympic marketing, offering insights into the evolution of its strategies and the impact of digital media.

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Marketing communications and digital marketing
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Table of Contents
Question 1: Elements of 2008 Beijing Olympics IMC Campaign’s Communication Mix.............2
Question 2: Coca Cola’s Communication for Long Standing Association with London Olympic
Games 2012.....................................................................................................................................3
Question 3: Difference behind Marketing and Campaign Objectives of Coca Cola Beijing
Olympics 2008 and London Olympics 2012 IMC Campaigns.......................................................4
Question 4: Unique Element in the Coca Cola London Olympic 2012 Campaign and Its
difference from Beijing Olympics 2008 Campaign.........................................................................5
Reference.........................................................................................................................................6

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Question 1: Elements of 2008 Beijing Olympics IMC Campaign’s Communication Mix
The communication mix of 2008 Beijing Olympics IMC Campaign covered all the aspect
of advertising, outdoor communication, On-Pack Communication, Online and Interactive
Communication, Packaging and Merchandise, sales promotions and Public Relation. In case of
television ads, there global television commercial has launched, where the advertising campaign
celebrated the 80 years of partnership between Olympic Games and Coca Cola. The campaign
was actually uplifted on positive moment of life. According to International Olympic Committee,
(2008), Coca Cola launched large outdoor campaign through the advertisement on bus shelters
on the both sides of major streets. This advertising was actually designed to celebrate the
beginning of one-year countdown to August 2008. Furthermore, Wang, (2015) opined that Coca
Cola launched innovative composite bottle and logo for on-pack communication. The design of
the logo was actually based on flying red kite having the background of cloud and effective
themes for showing China to the World. The organization also launched innovative bottles
targeting at the young customers.
Dolles and Söderman, (2013) pointed out that Olympic Communication incorporated
interactive online experience at MyCoke.com. It bought Coca Cola and Olympic Games to life in
global basis. The programs also allowed people towards designing digital coke bottle and share
those designs with others. Furthermore, “WE8” fostered global collaboration between eight
progressive musicians and eight visual artists for connecting with more people. Apart from that,
Söderman and Dolles, (2015) stated that Coca Cola has also fostered online communication
through Olympic Photo Montage, where almost 17 million photos were distributed among the
consumer of China for making largest Olympic Photo in the history. The Olympic interactive
media of the organization was also fronted by Bluetooth Interactive media. As per Fortune.com,
(2014), Coca Cola launched various special merchandise activities towards communicating the
association with Beijing Olympics. The organization launched special pins, cans and trading
cards, which were actually purchased and sold by Olympic enthusiasts mostly through e-Bay.
Coca Cola also launched unique contests, whereby Chinese customers were able to enter unique
codes for having lucky coupons and spending with the Olympic Star Team.

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Question 2: Coca Cola’s Communication for Long Standing Association with London
Olympic Games 2012
Coca Cola used unique communication mix for making long standing association with
London Olympic 2012. The organization launched unique television advertisement through
popular TV channels. Campaignlive.co.uk, (2017) pointed out that Coca Cola launched TV
advertisements, which were actually featured on Katy B and Mark Ronson. The intension behind
such TV advertisement was the movement to the Beat Campaign towards supporting London
Olympic 2012. The organization also launched series of press advertisements through
encouraging healthy drinks options and recycling efforts towards promoting sustainable Olympic
Games. In this year, the organization once again designed special Olympic Bottles and cans for
promoting its partnership with Olympic Games. According to Coburn and McCafferty, (2016),
Coca Cola tapped the music passion of the youths in UK for encouraging the music lovers
towards taking interest in Olympic Games. Moreover, the organization teamed up with some
popular award winning music talents like Mark Ronson and Katy B for creating innovative beats
of Olympic Games. The mobile campaign of the organization encouraged the youths towards
interacting with the athletes and artists via SMS.
Sportspromedia.com, (2017) opined that Facebook was the most important interactive
communication tool, which allows the global youths towards interacting with the campaign in
anytime and from anywhere. The youth were also allowed the track different beats and share
them with others. Furthermore, the mobile application “My Beat Maker” encouraged the music
lovers towards remixing the Olympic Beats and sharing them with others. In this way, the
organization promoted Olympic Beats all around the world. Coca Cola also produced varieties of
merchandise and packaging component for enhancing association with London Olympic 2012.
The organization launched four attractive pins for opening and closing ceremonies of Olympic
Games. Furthermore, the profits from the merchandising sales were given to the deprived
communities for bring the Games to them. The organization also launched contest for sales
promotion, where people were allowed to win the VIP tickets for the Olympic Games. As per
Santomier et al., (2016), Coca Cola also maintained its public relationship through CSR activities
and Beat Wall.

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Question 3: Difference behind Marketing and Campaign Objectives of Coca Cola Beijing
Olympics 2008 and London Olympics 2012 IMC Campaigns
Coca Cola has been consistently and continuously associated with Olympic Games since
the year 1928. The organization always shares various Olympic values like participation,
excellence, friendship and respect through its continuous sponsorship of Olympic Games. The
partnership of Coca Cola with last two Olympic Games was focused on two unique aspects.
Moreover, Marketing and Campaign Objectives of Coca Cola Beijing Olympics 2008 and
London Olympics 2012 IMC Campaigns are quite different from each other. In Marketing and
Campaign Objectives of Coca Cola Beijing Olympics 2008, the organization was focused on
using digital environment on enhancing the effectiveness of integrated marketing
communication. According to Maguire et al., (2015), the prime marketing and campaign
objective of Beijing Olympics was to make China as the largest market. The objective was also
to enhance the shares of soda beverage market in China. On the other hand, Ruddick, (2012)
opined that the prime marketing and campaign objective of Coca Cola London Olympic 2012
was to make a positive difference in United Kingdom. The focus was not on business sides of
things, but on minimizing social issues through fostering sustainable Olympic Games. In Coca
Cola London Olympic 2012 IMC campaign, the organization was intended to create unique
competitive advantage through motivating the teens across UK towards getting excited about
sports and inspiring them to lead healthy life.
Nadeau et al., (2015) pointed out that most of television advertisement of Coca Cola
Beijing Olympics 2008 was surrounded around Chinese market and highlighting the products in
China. On the other hand, Hickman, (2012) opined that the most of television ads and videos
were about to motivate and participate the teens in the Olympic Games. While looking at the on-
pack communication of Coca Cola Beijing Campaign, it has been found that the themes of the
composite logo was to show China to the World and the innovative bottle launched by the
organization was to target the youth customers. On the other hand, the on-pack communication
of Coca Cola London Olympics 2012 was focused on promoting the partnership with the
Olympic Games for encouraging the young people’s participation. Furthermore, unlike Beijing

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Olympics, the profits of merchandising sales of Coca Cola London Olympics 2012 were
distributed among deprived UK communities for encouraging their Olympic participation.

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Question 4: Unique Element in the Coca Cola London Olympic 2012 Campaign and Its
difference from Beijing Olympics 2008 Campaign
While comparing the elements of Coca Cola Beijing Olympic 2008 Campaign and Coca
Cola London Olympic 2012, it can be said that the organization used traditional communication
element in the first one and used contemporary element in second one. From the comparison of
two Olympic Campaigns, it can be seen that Facebook is a unique communication element used
in Coca Cola London Olympic 2012. It had not been used in the communication campaign of
Coca Cola Beijing Olympic 2008. Therefore, Facebook communication element used in London
Olympic is quite different from that of Beijing Olympic. In this element, the Facebook
Application of the organization allowed the young people around the world towards connecting
and interacting with the Campaign anytime and anywhere. The interested people in Olympic
were able to collect different beats Coca Cola Olympic song 2012 and share them with others
(International Olympic Committee, 2012). However, no such campaign element can be found in
Coca Cola Beijing Olympic 2012.
In Beijing Campaign, the organization only used Bluetooth media for collecting with the
people around the areas nearby the Olympic field. Such media wired thousands of hotspot
around the Olympic Stadiums, hotels, Clubs, restaurants and other leisure venues. Such media
was only capable of connecting with the people within Beijing and Shanghai. On the other hand,
the Facebook Application of Coca Cola London Olympic 2012 was capable of connecting with
people around the globe (Finne et al., 2017). Therefore, such communication element was more
capable of promoting London Olympic 2012 to global people than promoting Beijing Olympic
2008 through Bluetooth media. Coca Cola London Olympic 2012 also used unique sales
promotion for enhancing long association with the Olympic Games and enhancing the
participation level of the people in the Olympic Games (Luxton et al., 2015). Moreover, the
organization promoted the VIP ticket promotion for encouraging the people towards
participating in the Olympic Games. The organization launched unique contest for winning VIP
tickets for Olympic Games and even meeting the greatest athletes. In contrast, the sales
promotion of Coca Cola Beijing Olympic 2008 was only about winning the tickets for meeting
the famous athlete figures.

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