The heat of the moment

A first for music

Coca-Cola China has launched a new online campaign fronted by Taiwanese boy band Fahrenheit in order to celebrate Chinese New Year.  The promotion – which features the track ‘The First Taste of Happiness’ – invites users to customize their own festive Coke bottles and participate in an online UGC element which will see their video efforts placed into a collective ad alongside the band. The digital side of the ad campaign depicts Coke drinkers passing their bottles along from one video clip to the next to form a visual chain effect. The ad – which seems to have a prominent Apple placement at various points – is reminiscent of a recent online video created by the Japanese band, Sour. The campaign has partnered with online portals such as QQ.com, Tudou.com, and Youku.com and Coke’s own website to promote the initiative which follows on from last year’s ‘First Taste of the Year’ positioning.

Fahrenheit – who release their fourth album in August 2010 – have been a massive draw in southeast Asia over the last few years. They are also no strangers to brand endorsements, having being Ambassadors for Canon’s full range of digital cameras in 2008.  However, it doesn’t stop there. They have also appeared in ads for Volvo, Man Simple face wash, 7-Eleven, TaiShan iced drinks, Watson’s Water, the C.C Lemon drink, Chun eyewear, I Do Golden! Jewelry, 3+2 Crackers and – well I could go – but you get the general idea.

Coke is in the midst of a $2B three-year expansion and growth plan in China, which includes the opening of an $88M bottling plant in the city of Wuhan to aid the increased demand for the product in the region.  The soft drink brand is tapping into the traditional Chinese New Year concept with this promotion of passing on lucky red ‘lai see’ packages via its very own ‘red packaged’ bottle of happiness. The innovative use of social media and UGC serve to strengthen this positive connection. The youth segment this campaign is aiming to reach are far less cynical than their Western counterparts, so the inclusion of a boy band (even simply juggling coke bottles) is not viewed with anything but admiration. Bearing in mind the 320M Youth sector in China (16-30) has around $135B in spending power – both Coca-Cola and Fahrenheit have lots to gain from creating high distribution, well- rounded, family appealing commercial partnerships such as these.