Title | FRIENDSHIP EXPERIMENT |
Brand | COCA-COLA CHINA |
Product / Service | COCA-COLA |
Category | A01. Event & Field Marketing |
Entrant | OGILVY SHANGHAI, CHINA |
Entrant Company | OGILVY SHANGHAI, CHINA |
Advertising Agency | OGILVY SHANGHAI, CHINA |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Richard Cotton | Coca-Cola Company | Advertiser's Supervisor |
Steven Ng | Carrot Films | Producer |
William Dhawan | Carrot Films | Director |
William Huen | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Producer |
Emma Wu | Ogilvy Pr | Senior Associate |
Lisa Deng | Ogilvy Pr | Consultant |
Jess Huang | Ogilvy Pr | Senior Consultant |
Candy Li | Ogilvy Pr | Associate Director |
Frangelica Liang | Ogilvy Pr | Vice President |
Anita Beveridge | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Account Manager |
Oli Goulden | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Account Manager |
Martin Murphy | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Account Supervisor |
Kurt Tang | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Photographer |
Jasphine Chew | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Art Director |
Golf Nuntawat | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Creative Director |
Sean Sim | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Executive Creative Director |
Francis Wee | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Executive Creative Director |
Graham Fink | Ogilvy/Mather Advertising | Chief Creative Officer |
To create happiness on the streets of China between total strangers and drive awareness of Coca-Cola's role as a 'happiness creator'.
The idea was to turn total strangers into friends. We called it 'The Friendship Experiment'. We engaged a photographer to approach different passers-by on the streets of Guangzhou and got them to pose with each other. After sharing a few bottles of Coke to break the ice. The photos of these happy encounters were then placed on a website and at a gallery exhibition. Press/TV/Online Media Companies were invited to view the Experiment and promote the campaign. The target was to reach 5 million consumers.
Thanks to the positive promotion by the Media Companies, over 13.5 million people have seen the Experiment to date. The campaign exceeded the target of 5 million viewers by 170%. The Friendship Experiment generated nearly US$1.4 million of free media value. This was a massive ROI of 1,166% on a modest budget of just US$120,000. Coca-Cola certainly profited from this campaign. This allowed the reinvestment of traditional media budgets to campaigns like this that drive more value. The plan now is to implement more Friendship Experiment campaigns beyond Guangzhou and into the other cities of China.
It was relevant because Coca-Cola's brand value is all about happiness. This Friendship Experiment brought people together, creating friends out of complete strangers, and got them to share a happy moment over a few bottles of Coke.