BRAND
MER IS A LOVED SWEDISH SOFT DRINK BRAND OWNED BY THE COCA-COLA COMPANY.
CHALLENGE
ENGAGE TEENS AND CHANGE CHILDISH MER’S BRAND PERCEPTION AMONG THEM WHILE DRIVING THEM TO THE POINT-OF-SALE.
SOLUTION
WE CREATED THE SHAKE MOVEMENT, A SOCIAL MOVEMENT SPREAD AROUND SWEDEN TO CHALLENGE TEENS AND GIVE THEM TOOLS AND CONVERSATION PIECES TO ENJOY AND EXPERIENCE MER.
Starting point:
Coca-Cola came to Hyper Island to challenge us with a 2-day Coca-Cola Hackathon with the following brief: “Come up with a disruptive digital idea to reach Swedish teens and drive them to POS, positioning the brand as a cool brand among the target to be solved in 48hours and presented in a 1-minute video and a 5-minute pitch”
My role:
Responsible for leading the strategic aspect and pitch, and participating in the process of ideation and creation.
The Strategy
Insight:
We found that even though MER is a much-loved brand among Swedes, teenagers stop drinking it because even they like the product, they perceive MER to be a children's brand.
How could we change MER’s brand perception?
We believed that in order to drive teens to the POS, first we needed to change the brand perception and connect again with the target. We wanted to position MER as a brand that is cool, fun, spontaneous, and bold – connecting with teenagers' values and attitudes.
How could we engage teens?
Teenagers are energetic, experimental, competitive and love having fun. Friendship is also important and they love to share their experiences in both the real and the digital world.
Therefore, why not create a simple, fun and engaging competition that they could experience and share with their friends?
We thought about what makes MER unique, in comparison with other sodas. We came up with the fact that MER is not a carbonated soda, so unlike others, it still delicious and refreshing after it´s been shaken.
Therefore, we translated the product truth into the following benefit:
Creative idea:
We wanted teens to experience the benefit and spread it in an exaggerated and fun way.
The Campaign
Interactive vending machines:
To kick off the integrated campaign, we aimed to place MER ‘SHAKE ME’ interactive vending machines in high-traffic areas around Sweden by going on tour. These vending machines will have a ‘SHAKE ME’ copy placed prominently at the front, which beckons the consumers. (A #shakemer will also be created for media shares on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.) When shaken, the vending machine will light up from red, amber to green (similar to MER’s logo) to show the progress. When completed, a bottle of MER dispenses, surprising the consumer.
People will be able to follow the vending machines on MER’s Facebook page and the app. The action will be recorded in order to produce short clips which greatly promotes MER. The clips will be posted in Facebook and YouTube
Call-to-action app:
We created the SHAKATHON app, a game infused with friendly competition and playfulness to drive them to the point of sales through a call to action.
A simple game where users are competing with their friends in a battle to see who can be the first to fill up a bottle of MER by shaking their phones. The player who wins gets a digital coupon of a free bottle of MER, while the other players win a digital discount coupon.
A big event:
To close the campaign, 200 of the users with the highest ‘SHAKE SCORE’ will be invited to the MER ‘SHAKE FESTIVAL’ party. It will be a party with trending artists and games, and also where the final competition is who can SHAKE the most! The winner will receive a prestigious title, ‘NATIONAL MER-STER SHAKER’, and receives a truck worth of MER to shake and share with friends.
Results
We were finalists and selected and invited to Coca-Cola Enterprises Sweden to pitch to the local and international teams.