ALI COLA. THE COLA IN SKIN COLORS.
Title | ALI COLA. THE COLA IN SKIN COLORS. |
Brand | ALI COLA |
Product/Service | COLA |
Category |
B06. Use of Ambient Media: Small Scale |
Entrant
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LOVED Hamburg, GERMANY
|
Idea Creation
|
LOVED Hamburg, GERMANY
|
Credits
Armin Jochum |
thjnk AG |
CCO |
Mieke Haase |
loved gmbh |
Managing Director |
Karl Wolfgang Epple, Matthäus Frost |
thjnk AG |
Creative Director |
Matthäus Frost |
thjnk AG |
Art Direction |
Karl Wolfgang Epple |
thjnk AG |
Copywriter |
Ilker Yilmazalp, Philipp Stamer |
loved gmbh |
Account Manager |
Teresa Köster |
thjnk AG |
Editorial Department |
Dirk Weyer |
- |
Photographer |
David Kowalski |
- |
Post Production |
Louisa Bartholdi, Manuel Caliebe, Hilko Wiegmann |
thjnk AG |
Final Artwork |
The Campaign
Our idea was no advertising campaign, but PR via a product innovation: the world’s first cola that comes in different
skin colors. They look different, but they all taste the same. Just like people: We look different outside – but we’re
all the same inside. An entertaining pro-tolerance statement. No special edition, but a serious relaunch, challenging
the cola industry and the people’s prejudices towards things (and people) that look different.
Creative Execution
The relaunch of the cola started with changing the product to six different skin colors. Since the design idea of skin
colors is the focus, the packaging is reduced to the minimum. No conventional large labels, but only a white neck
label without any frills. We decided to use the product itself as a small-scale media, so we made the skin-color as
visible as possible and used the label to communicate that the drinks have social thinking at its core – by using
different pro-tolerance messages on the labels. The relaunch was accompanied by a print and out-of-home
campaign portraying people with different skin color, different sex, old, young, tattooed, etc. raising their ALI COLA
bottles to eachother. The campaign parallelly conquered Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, engaging people to
post their own photos and ideas using the hashtags #toleranzschmeckt and #cheerstotolerance. Press and blogs
discussed the topic and product worldwide.
Press, blogs, influencers, 2.5m contacts in the first week, and thousands of comments proof that we struck a
chord. ALI COLA polarizes – showing the relevance for a pro-tolerance statement. ALI COLA was covered in
hundreds of reports, including Germany’s popular science entertainment programme “Galileo“. It was
covered worldwide, even in Thailand. ALI COLA is measurably successful: Online sales increased by +890%,
leading to more donations to the NGO Kiron. The relaunch doubled the brand awareness in only 3 months.
Instagram Followers increased by 2,000%, Facebook Likes by 350 % (rated 4.7 stars). We asked those
who know ALI COLA, how important tolerance is to them. After the relaunch 85,3 % find it very important
(extremely important +5.1%). ALI COLA hits a nerves, moving tolerance back into the people’s consciousness.
An issue that is now more important than ever, particularly regarding Europe’s refugee crisis, German
right-winged party AfD and Trump.
ALI COLA–The cola in skin colors – is not only an advertising campaign, but an idea that shows how creativity
and channel strategy can collaborate to bring a brand to life. ALI COLA is a pro-tolerance statement in rough
political times, creating an innovative product and a cultural moment when it’s most needed. It engages people to
discuss the topic and change their beliefs on people with different skin color. The product itself is the core: We use
traditional bottles as a channel to communicate our pro-tolerance statement in an innovative way: Skin-colored
liquid and small labels showing pro-tolerance messages.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea
ALI COLA mainly targets the German society. It’s primary aim is to change the way Germans think about foreigners
and people with different skin colors. Since Germany is the second most popular migration destination in the world,
one out of five Germans has at least partial roots outside of Germany. Over the past two years Germany has
welcomed more than 1 million asylum-seekers – an immigration wave that has changed Europe’s largest economy.
Of course, it also raised racism and prejudice. Since Germany has a very dark past considering racism, our society
has a special responsibility to be a role model for Europe.