HALF FULL

TitleHALF FULL
BrandCOCA-COLA
Product/ServiceCOCA-COLA
Category D03. Limited Run Promotional Items & Printed Media
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 Brand Experience & Activation?

In a country where negativity is being fueled 24/7, on all channels, Coca-Cola wanted to bring people together through positivity. So we innovated the iconic glass bottle and launched a symbolic Coca-Cola that’s literally full from the half up, hijacking the negative conversation with a strong, positive point of view. Each touch point of the consumer journey was adapted to create an experience that would spark positivity, reminding Romanians that there is always a half full side to look for.

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 (20% 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 were 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)

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. A team of journalists and PR selected the most impressive news of 2018 and 2019, featuring hopeful statistics about Romania and positive stories about Romanian citizens such as Olympians, athletes and artists.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We created thousands of limited edition Half Full bottles featuring positive news about Romania. We sent them to top 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 core target audience was reached 48% of young people who saw the campaign, interacted with the chatbot 67 top influencers answered the call and joined the campaign for free

Write a short summary of what happens in the digital or ambient execution or campaign.

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. This was the perfect opportunity to launch a conversation about optimism. A meaningful way of speaking about the brand purpose, with the product at its core. 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 channels.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Romania is one of the most pessimistic countries in the European Union. A recent study showed that almost three quarters of Romanians believe that their country has generally taken the wrong path, and that the following year will be even worse than the current one. The negative conversation is affecting Romanians so badly, that 50% of young people are considering leaving the country. This general pessimism is making Romanians anxious and isolated. To see what was triggering this attitude, we looked at the media. And found that the negative news about Romania reported by media outlets were largely outweighing the positive ones. No wonder people were persisting in this negative state of mind. The literally Half Full bottle came as an answer, to remind people about the positive stories that the media doesn’t always put in the spotlight.