Annoyance is key?

Gio Comparo

So I did start my blog in talking about Coca Cola’s ‘Open Happiness’ campaign but I think I’m going to derive from that for the moment and discuss something current.

So those in the UK would have seen the incredibly annoying ‘Go Compare’ adverts? And have you seen their new ‘Go Compare- Saving the Nation’ campaign? I personally despise the brand for irritating me on every advert break but do not resent it as much as Coca Cola in terms of globalisation, so I will happily link to the videos of said ads.

Here you see the original Go Compare advert: http://youtu.be/F_-9QFvhQWo

The brand has created not only a huge recognisable character (referred to as Gio Compario) but a hideous song that annoys you into remembering the bloomin’ comparison site. It’s quite genius really. But then clearly the marketers realised they needed to do something with their campaign, they knew people were getting absolutely sick of it and decided to turn it around with this campaign:

http://youtu.be/NT3paR9NNvA

But who knows, they could have some real corkers in the marketing team and this could have been their plan all along? Infuriate the nation to such an extent that they become the heroes in destroying their own mischievous. Who knows…

All I can say is, I hated the old adverts, I hate the new adverts but enjoy the concept, and I remember the song and the brand name. So a job well done. The only problem is, out of the sheer fact that the adverts force me to reach for the remote and either change channels or hit the mute button, I refuse to use the comparison site and go to the cute and less irritating competitors- Comparethemarket. So, Go Compare marketers- you’ve created brand awareness but haven’t gained a customer, a bit of a win / lose situation.

Open Happiness campaign- Pop does Pop

Next on my agenda is the ‘open happiness’ campaign song Coca-Cola created in 2009. Now don’t get me wrong, this campaign and the Coca-Cola brand is not the direct focus of my blog, marketing in general is, I just happen to have noticed these marketing strategies and felt the need to comment.

So… Coca-Cola have made a song. They’ve gathered together prestigious artists, had them write lyrics and make music. I will not reward this effort with a ‘Kudos’ as I have done previously but merely acknowledge the jingle as a good addition to the campaigns marketing strategies. As you know, I resent the brand, so I will not give out compliments willy-nilly unless factually obvious.

Let’s take a look at what this song has done for the brand; well the open happiness music video has had over 1.8 million hits, so it is viral. In fact there are quite a few videos relating to this song on YouTube including a live performance at the 'My Coke Fest'- seriously, is there any form of promotion this obscenely globalised company hasn't covered?! Nope, didn't think so. Anyways, based on the song's viral presence, it has promoted the brand "spread happiness" and targeted a young audience. But this has been viral for 3 years, there are YouTube videos that generate 1 million hits in the first day, I'm not sure if I can deem this as success for such a big brand.

So, have YOU seen it? As ever, I will not post a link to this video but you should probably see how horrendous it is for yourself. There is a 'character' if you like, that I can only describe as the human centipede (from about 2.25 minutes in). I think Coke tried just a little bit too much to be all creative, flamboyant and original to the extent that it just looks like a teletubby vomited into an animation program and invited a few celebs to the party.

But... saying that, the song is good. It has the Coca-Cola jingle implemented and is catchy. Apart from a few iffy ones, the lyrics are ok and do give an up-beat feel. The beat and music itself isn't bad, worth listening to if you were an adolescent, but not enough guitars for my personal liking. All in all I say fair play for the music, this is commemorating the music artists, not Coca-Cola. Coke- you have failed me with the video but I admire the efforts to make sure you don't have too much money in the CCC bank account and cover all areas of marketing.

The Coca-Cola 'open happiness' campaign

An opinion on the Coca-Cola CCTV ad

So I'm going to talk about the recently released ad that went viral for Coca-Cola this year.

I'm going to have to start off by admitting I hate admitting I like Coke's marketing. I respect the company and their marketing techniques but based simply on the mass globalisation of the brand, I slightly resent it. I mean it's the most powerful brand in the world- it changed the colour of Santa, nothing should be powerful enough to change Santa. In fact, I'm writing about Coca-Cola through gritted finger tips as this blog is perpetuating the brand, the campaign and probably driving traffic to more hits, but... I wanted to share.

Now I have disclosed my opinion on the brand, I'll let you know my thoughts on the CCTV ad used for the 'open happiness' campaign.

Firstly, if you haven't seen the video, watch it, I don't want to be responsible for any spoilers. (although due to the amount I am already promoting Coca-Cola I just can't include a YouTube link)

In my opinion, viable or not, it is one of the best adverts I've seen for a long time. The campaign suggests the sugary liquid is an emotion; the video then actually makes you feel that emotion, which is further promoted by the end of the ad that cracking open a bottle of coke will give you that same feeling. You see "CCTV captures" (I type with inverted commas) of all that is good about the human race; from offering a crisp to a homeless man, a stolen kiss to an act of heroism, and that pieced together with the acoustic musical talents of Roger Hodgson, just makes you feel good.

The genius behind the ad is how you don't realise you are watching a Coca-Cola video until the very end, and your attention has been caught by the first caption reading "security cameras all around the world... also capture...", which has you immediately intrigued and not completely aware you're being advertised to. What prone fools we are.

The feel-good ad naturally went viral and had millions of hits, thousands of shares and hundreds *cough* of blogs written about it. It's a positive promotion, an attempt to change and shift the dominant social paradigm that is the negative views, thoughts and opinions in society. Despite the wars, the shocking economic climate, the constant natural disasters the world is burdened with, we should "look at the world a little differently". Kudos Young & Rubicam, you earned the mountain of change the Coca-Cola Corporation would have paid you.