PROMOTION: All That Caffeine and Sugar Must Be Drivin’ Coke Craaazy.

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Monday | Uncategorized

Twenty-four ounces hyper-laced with caffeine and sugar. Sober minds would say that’s the only way to explain The Coca-Cola Company’s new, audacious promotion for its floundering Vault citrus drink — a promotion that rewards consumers a free bottle of Vault, as reward for purchasing arch-nemesis Mountain (recently rebranded Mtn) Dew.

You read correctly. A free bottle of our stuff, if you buy the other guy’s stuff.

They say that genius and insanity walk the same fine line, and this promotion seems to teeter on both. Clearly, economic conditions are showing marketers that coupon-based promotions like Vault’s “Don’t Dew It” Taste Challenge will generate strong, one-time consumer redemption. But the bottom line, of course, is what slice of Dew’s 80%-plus market share will abandon their brand to become long-term, hard-core swillers of Vault.

Here at NOISE, we applaud the boldness and size (read: genius) of the Coca-Cola strategy, while acknowledging that some (including NOISE) might also perceive a glass half-empty side of the move (read: insanity) — that the promo is, in fact, an act of desperation.

But after scuffing around for three years and achieving only four market share points, maybe desperate times call for desperate measures. Time will tell, as will Mtn Dew drinkers.

SOURCE: Advertising Age, NOISE

Tags: ADVERTISING, agency, coke, florida, fort myers, milwaukee, mtn dew, noise, pepsi, promotion, sanibel, vault, wisconsin

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