Customer case: Coca-Cola talks about outdoor advertising

This year, Coca-Cola has given Santa Claus the day off, instead you can see their "Real magic" campaign in town and we are probably many who recognize their Christmas campaigns. We took the opportunity to ask Victoria Adolfsson, Coca-Cola's brand manager, a few questions about why they work with outdoor advertising and about their latest campaign.

What is the main reason for choosing Outdoor as your marketing channel?

Outdoor can be said to be one of the last remaining strong reach media. A unique advantage is that the outdoors is a natural part of the urban environment, it is hard to opt out while not being intrusive. The channel easily reaches a wide audience with high frequency. We also often find that the otherwise relatively hard to reach target group, the young, often both observe and take action as a result of our outdoor campaigns. The outdoor medium is also unique in the sense that we can combine both mobile and analogue, which gives us a high degree of flexibility.

What is the main reason for choosing JCDecaux as your supplier?

Our media choices are based on a strong partnership with our media agency Carat and we rely entirely on their expertise and recommendation. We often choose a combination of several suppliers because they complement each other well. JCDecaux's spaces give us a strong presence in the city centres of the largest cities, with valuable premium placements where traffic flows are high. Another strength of JCDecaux is that they are quick on their feet in their dialogues and they have good series where we effectively reach consumers close to the point of purchase, which is an important target group for us.

What are your expectations of the Outdoor Channel and JCDecaux?

The expectation is that our booked campaigns deliver as planned. If they don't, we expect swift action and proactive solutions.

You do both branding and sales-driving outdoor campaigns. Please elaborate on how you feel the outdoor channel works for the different strategies.

Using the outdoors in the media mix creates signals of marketing leadership. The strength of outdoor is that there are formats for all types of messages. If you want to build a brand, you can choose larger formats that create impact, while the smaller formats are well suited to tactical supply communications that drive on-the-go consumption.

What is the most important thing to consider when you work with the advertising agency to develop the outdoor campaign?

In many ways, we work with globally produced materials. However, where we have the opportunity to create our own communications, we work together to determine, for example, the size and placement of the logo and the number of motifs, based on the budget and geographical scope of the campaign. We also look at different placements to tailor the message based on where we meet our intended audience.

What links can you draw between the outdoor campaigns and the results?

We see that when we have too complicated messages, the observation rate is lower, which in turn results in negative consequences in the form of lower likeability and missed actions (sales).

This year you are rolling out the new Real Magic communication concept. Want to tell us more about it?

Real Magic is our new global brand philosophy, the first since 2016, based on the fact that Coca-Cola unites and uplifts people every day. Real Magic is about celebrating the everyday magic that exists and emerges with other people. At the same time, it captures the very essence of Coca-Cola's unique and magical taste. With the new platform, we are introducing an evolved logo, symbolising a warm hug. We believe the world needs magic now more than ever.

What advice would you give to a client planning their first outdoor campaign?

Keep it simple! This is a fast channel where we want to get the recipients to understand the message and know who the sender is in just a few seconds. As a rule of thumb, always test your creative. A simple tip is to hold a matchbox at arm's length and you'll get a good idea of how the viewer will perceive your message!

What do you think is the best thing about outdoor advertising?

There's something very special about seeing one of our campaigns go live in outdoor advertising, it's a cool feeling that I never get tired of. For us, it's often the start of a broad campaign that we've been working on for a long time, so it makes you happy, proud and very curious to see how our consumers take to our advertising.

How will you celebrate Christmas?

I'm going home to the best city in the world, Gothenburg, to celebrate Christmas with family and friends, a classic Christmas celebration with Christmas food and Donald Duck!

If you are interested in knowing more about outdoor advertising, please contact our sales department for more information.