INDEPENDENT NEWS

Local Agency helps Coca Cola

Published: Tue 21 Jun 2005 04:15 PM
21 June 2005
Local Agency helps Coca Cola Thailand and Malaysia become
“Talk of the Town”
When Coca Cola in Malaysia and Thailand were looking for an innovative instant win campaign, they turned to Marketing and Promotional Services (MAPS) in Grey Lynn, a local behind the scenes premium and incentive agency, who work with a number of high profile brands in New Zealand, to bring innovation to their sector.
"Today modern technology and new inventions are playing a greater role in marketing. Creative new ideas are a way to imprint a brand name in consumer's minds. Coca-Cola has traditionally been the leader in introducing new innovations in marketing. We use new technology as a marketing tool to create excitement among consumers and retailers. Many consumers did not believe that a Coke can can make music and tell you you've won a prize, but we have made this possible. The response has been very good," said Suthathip Saenchaichana, Senior Manager for Coca-Cola Products at Coca-Cola Thailand Company Limited.
The solution offered by MAPS was in the form of talking can technology that literally talked and played tunes when the unsuspecting consumer opened the can.
Working with their office in Kuala Lumpur, the Grey Lynn agency co-coordinated the promotion and worked with companies in USA, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia to bring the promotion to market.
“The promotions market has long looked for new and novel ways of bringing added value promotions to life through instant win mechanics. The beauty of this campaign, (which offered the consumers chance to win music related prizes including downloads, mp3 players and cars with great sound systems), was that it had instant win appeal – no slogans, no entry forms, just a chance to win” said Garry Griggs, Managing Director of MAPS.
The process required specially designed modules to be fitted into standard Coca Cola cans and packed in a way that the consumer could not differentiate between a winning and non-winning can.
The whole weight, feel and sound of the can were identical to a regular can. However, when the consumer opened a winning can, a voice came from inside the can to tell the consumer the prize they had won – they simply called the hotline to claim their prize.
Griggs, who runs the local operation and is also actively involved with sister companies in Europe and Asia, spends a great deal of time traveling to, and working with Asian companies on their promotional plans.
Another of the companies ideas, the use of ultra violet reactive plastics, is currently bringing to life “Star Wars Ice Creams” by producing ice cream sticks that change colour when they are exposed to sunlight – this has been a huge hit and runs on the back of campaigns using other technology in plastics including heat reactive colour change and glow in the dark ice cream sticks.
Of course not all of the work of the agency is overseas – “we have worked with Philips New Zealand for many years in bringing their trade promotion incentive programme to life. Every incentive programme we run for Philips brings a new twist of product offering which ensures that the retail staff who receive the incentive rewards for selling Philips product find something new to excite them into sales mode.
Jane Waddel of Philips said “Each year as part of our marketing programme we focus on the retail staff in consumer electronics stores nationwide. Part of the strategy is to reward the retail staff members for selling Philips product. We work with MAPS in order to deliver the programme to approximately 300 store fronts. The programme is highly recognised in the trade as the most rewarding programme and as such we have great success with sales during this period, increasing our market share substantially during the period of the rewards programme. MAPS is instrumental in ensuring the success of this programme. Their creative ideas, professional approach and efficient ways of working ensure outstanding results for Philips. I would highly recommend the use of MAPS for such activities.”
We always welcome the brief from clients and their agencies and revel in coming up with ideas that fit the brand, fit the brief and fit the budget. Be that a solution that requires millions of inserts into snack packets, or a fast turnaround idea for gorilla marketing.
Unlike many of the catalogue wielding premium suppliers in the marketplace, the ethos behind MAPS is to find a perfect match for the brand and for the brief in hand. With a wide focus on the potential solution, companies can find an item of interest to their consumer target that works hard in driving sales. The development of an exclusive premium from an idea on paper to the finished product, MAPS adds a new dimension to the client.
So, if you need an idea – MAPS may well have a solution for you.
Finally, if you are walking through duty free outlets when you are traveling around the globe, look out for the Winnie the Pooh and Princess character toppers sitting proudly on top of Smartie tubes – you guessed it – MAPS were involved.
ENDS

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