HALF FULL

TitleHALF FULL
BrandCOCA-COLA
Product/ServiceCOCA-COLA
Category A01. Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Entrant McCANN BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
Idea Creation McCANN BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
Media Placement UM BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
PR McCANN PR Bucharest, ROMANIA
Production MRM//McCANN BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
Credits
Name Company Position
ADRIAN BOTAN MCCANN EUROPE Creative President
CATALIN DOBRE MCCANN BUCHAREST Chief Creative Officer
SIMONA SUMAN MRM//MCCANN ROMANIA Digital Creative Director
IOANA ENACHE MRM//MCCANN ROMANIA Group Creative Director
ION COJOCARU MRM//MCCANN ROMANIA Content Director
CORINA IONITA MRM//MCCANN ROMANIA Head of Art
DENISA ARMASU MRM//MCCANN ROMANIA Senior Copywriter
CIPRIAN CIULEI MRM//MCCANN ROMANIA Video Editor
ANDREEA SOFRONE MRM//MCCANN ROMANIA Group Account Ddirector
ROCSANA MARIN MRM//MCCANN ROMANIA Senior Account Manager
AMALIA JAKAB MCCANN BUCHAEST Group Account Director
MADALINA PATACHIA MCCANN BUCHAREST Account Manager
ANDREI FLORIAN MCCANN BUCHAREST Senior Strategic Planner
CLAUDIU DOBRITA MCCANN PR Creative Director
SIMONA SIMON MCCANN PR Group Creative Director
DAN MEREANU MCCANN PR Senior Copywriter
SORIN BARBULESCU MCCANN PR Graphic Designer
LAVINIA CHICAN MCCANN PR Senior Partner
MIHAELA DUMITRESCU MCCANN PR Account Director
MARIA IORDACHE MCCANN PR Account Manager
ALEXANDRA TANASESCU MCCANN PR PR Manager
ANDREEA BARA MCCANN PR Account Executive
ALEX IONESCU MCCANN BUChAREST AV Producer
ALEX POPA MCCANN BUCHAREST AV Producer
TIBERIIU MUNTEANU MCCANN BUCHAREST AV Manager
VICTOR CROITORU UM ROMANIA CEE Strategy Director
DANA CHITRUSCA UM ROMANIA Account Director
OANA GRIGORE UM ROMANIA Senior Media Planner
ANDREEA GAVRILESCU UM ROMANIA Digital Planner
MARINA CIOBANU UM ROMANIA Media Planner
ANCA POPESCU UM ROMANIA OOH Buyer
RAMONA RADU UM ROMANIA Content Manager

Why is this work relevant for Media?

In a country where negativity is being fueled 24/7, on all channels, Coca-Cola wanted to bring people together through positivity. If no media channel was reporting on positive news, we invented a new one. The Half Full bottle is the iconic Coca-Cola bottle, filled literally from the half up. Each bottle displayed positive news on the back, selected by a team of journalists and PR, hijacking the negative conversation with a positive point of view. The bottles were displayed and distributed through a multi-channel campaign, samplings and a Facebook chatbot that let people personalize them with their own positive news.

Background

In 2018, Coca-Cola refreshed its global brand purpose, with the mission to bring people together through positivity. Romania ranks amongst the top 10 unhappiest countries in the European Union. The negative conversation is affecting people so badly, that 50% of young people are considering leaving the country in the next year. Romania is the second country after Syria in terms of emigrants. This was the perfect opportunity to launch a conversation about optimism. We needed to create a powerful awareness campaign that exposed the target audience with Coca-Cola’s new values. A meaningful way of speaking about the brand purpose, with the product at its core.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

Before we could spread optimism, we wanted to see what was making Romanians pessimistic. What we found were the media and the press, where the negative news are largely outweighing the positive. No wonder people were becoming anxious and isolated. So, if no media channels were reporting on good news, we invented our own. This is how the Half Full bottle was born: the iconic Coca-Cola bottle, filled literally from the half up. The bottle became a media outlet, with positive facts carefully selected by a team of journalists and PR printed on the back labels. Coca-Cola managed to hijack a negative conversation with a strong point of view. One that people naturally engaged with since it was based on curated positive facts. We launched the Half Full bottles with a multi-channel campaign, activating the positive side of life in each of the communication channels.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

In preparing the campaign, we looked at studies proving that Romania is one of the most pessimistic nations in Europe. Next, we linked this finding with outside factors that could be contributing to this general state of mind, and landed on the dire broadcasts of news from national media outlets. A team of journalists and PR collected positive news about Romania from the most prominent media outlets and institutes in the country, which were then printed on the labels and attached to the bottles. The news featured hopeful statistics about Romania and positive stories about Romanian citizens such as Olympians, athletes and artists. The campaign targeted all Coca-Cola drinkers, with special focus on the young generation (18 – 30). The people who, because of the negative reporting in the media and the press, have a pessimistic outlook on life and don’t believe that positive things can happen in Romania.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We created 1000 limited edition Half Full bottles featuring positive news about Romania. We sent them to the top 200 Romanian influencers, out of which 67 of them joined the campaign absolutely for free, sharing the news and their own optimistic messages on their social channels. The campaign was meant to activate positivity in Romanians through all channels, including nationwide outdoors displaying positive news, an online video and banners mirroring negative news on online news outlets. People could chat with a Facebook chatbot, personalize their own Half Full bottles and have them delivered at home, as a reminder of positivity. The messages sent by the people were also aired on a large scale digital outdoor, in the middle of Bucharest, Romania’s capital.

List the results (30% of vote)

63% of the target was reached (18-49) 450k online video views 30% of users reached interacted with the campaign (comments, shares, reactions) 48% of young people who saw the campaign, interacted with the chatbot 67 top influencers answered the call and joined the campaign for free