The way businesses operate has evolved along with the advanced technology in this digital age. The digitization has opened more ways for businesses to reach out to consumers and learn about them by conducting research from the Internet. For consumers, the way they look for information and consume the media has also changed. Hence it is important for companies to widen the exposure of its product/service and maintain its brand.

Online media such as Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, as well as mobile phone applications have provided new ways for businesses to communicate and promote their products and services to consumers (Armstrong & Kotler, 2013, p. 27); besides, online or digital marketing is pretty much the norm today for any kind of business. It has been considered as the primary way to attract the public and get them to buy or use the product or service offered. Furthermore, as stated in Kaplan & Haenlein (2010, p. 67), social media provides businesses opportunity for direct consumer contact at lower cost and higher efficient level compared to traditional one due to its interactivity factor, where interactions between the business and consumers are made easier. Thus, by utilizing it, companies can build better relationship with consumers and enhance consumers’ experience.

Establishing and maintaining brand image can also be done online, such as posting brand campaign in various online media. Nevertheless, carefully picking which media to use for a business is important to ensure the right message is communicated to the right audience. Furthermore, integrating the way to communicate in traditional and online media is necessary since despite the difference, it both relates to their corporate image (Kaplan & Haenlein  2010, p. 65). If the campaign fails to synchronize the message in different media, there is a chance that the result will not be as effective or could lead to confusion. Thus, the message sent to public needs to be consistent in various platforms chosen by the company.

Coca-Cola has successfully earned from integrating their media campaign effort from their Share A Coke campaign. They started creating personalized Coke bottles and cans with 150 most popular names in the Australia, aspiring to strengthen the bond with young adults and create special moment of happiness (Moye, 2014). The company also hoped that people can ‘share a Coke’ with someone else. The campaign was later adapted in more countries like UK and USA.

The campaign attracted a lot of people and soon there were increase in the product consumption as well as media coverage. People were also encouraged to post the photo of the personalized Coke in their social media account, which in turn increase the brand awareness and good coverage of the brand, with it being able to spread joy among the people. Billboard, YouTube, kiosks and websites in which people could customize their own coke and were allowed to vote names to be included in the next batch of personalized Coke were also used as the supporting media for the project (Moye, 2014).

Starting last year, the brand has expanded its personalized service to include licensed apparels and other collectibles on their online merchandise store (Moye, 2016). The goal was to provide customers with more options of getting personalized items or even gifts, especially during holidays season. The combination of campaign activities done by Coca-Cola is an example of how well integrated marketing campaign work, both in online as well as offline media. The strategy is also aligned with how they market their brand to the public. The brand is known to associate itself with happiness of the people and the campaign did well incorporating that vision into action.

Other than providing consumers with easily accessible information, online media can also give business wider coverage and exposure of their brand hence higher chance to gain awareness. Many businesses now combine online and offline strategy for branding and promotion. However, it is important for the business to pick the media wisely to spread the campaign as well as integrating the message they want to convey in the different media chosen in order to gain maximum result.

Sources:

Armstrong, G. & Kotler, P., 2013, Marketing: An Introduction, 11th ed., Pearson, New Jersey.

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M., 2010, ‘Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media’, Business Horizons, vol. 53, pp. 59-68.

Moye, J., 2014, Share a Coke: How the Groundbreaking Campaign Got Its Start ‘Down Under’, viewed 3 March 2017, available at: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/share-a-coke-how-the-groundbreaking-campaign-got-its-start-down-under

Moye, J., 2016, Bottles and Beyond: Share a Coke Online Store Now Includes Licensed Apparel, Merchandise and More, viewed 3 March 2017, available at:

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/coca-cola-unbottled/bottles-and-beyond-share-a-coke-online-store-now-includes-licensed-apparel-merchandise-and-more