For a while now, whenever anyone has asked me what my favourite marketing campaign of all time is, there’s been only one answer: the Coca-Cola Share a Coke campaign.

What is it? Just the simplest, most genius campaign ever created.

Don’t mind if I do, @harrystyles

The campaign made sales rise for the first time in a decade and put Coke above their competitors by allowing customers to pick out their names on bottles.

What made this campaign so great for me though, was the user generated content that was created when it was released. On Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, you couldn’t escape people posting pictures of their coke bottles with funny captions or sentimental notes. Giving someone a Coke bottle with their name on it became seen as an awesome gift.

All that advertising was free to Coca-Cola.

Like we discussed in class, consumers are more interested in hearing the views of their peers, and that can even lead them to buy more. User generated content is great because it builds trust and awareness without just having a brand constantly post boring sales pitches.

It’s hard to get right, but when you do it can produce great results.

– N