5 Branding Lessons from the Coke Happiness Machine

Advice / Branding / Corporate Branding / Social Media / Viral Marketing - 6 months ago - Kyle Leung

Apart from being a deft viral video, the idea of Coca Cola’s latest surprise – the Coke Happiness Machine – reveals a well thought out strategy that ultimately leads to effective brand building. Here are five lessons on branding that I grasped from the video!

Lesson #1:  Rethink Clutter in building brand presence.

See how the vending machine takes pride of place in its own physical setting? It’s not because of the size of the machine or attractiveness of the color or insignia. The Coke Happiness Machine found a prime, empty space in the middle of a room full of its target audience, flanked with white walls in a high traffic area. The machine is accessible, prominent and free from clutter. This is what brand builders must look out for first and foremost – location, location, location.

Today, such places are becoming harder and harder to find, especially in the conventional branding locales such as billboards and facades of city buildings. That’s why it is important to find a location that is relatively unchartered for brands yet be able to connect directly with your target audience. Most importantly, you don’t need to worry about physical exposure or the actual human traffic in that area; with social media, the deserted street corner you picked might become the next attraction for locals simply because your idea rocks and connects people to one another in a way that is relevant and beneficial to your brand. In short, find a unique space, plant your flag, then own that space with a compelling brand presence.

Few considerations regarding Lesson #1:
What kind of people enters that space?
Would the response of non-target groups be negative? (e.g. adults vs. teens)
What mood is your target audience most likely to be in when they enter that space?
What is the best time of the day to reach your target audience in that space?
How long do you want to be in that space? Always plan a few steps ahead.

Lesson #2: Be Human, even with machines.

Being human is not just about sticking hands out of vending machines. Being human means genuinely understanding emotional cues and responses in your branding. This is where overly sanitized and polished executions don’t work well. Humans make mistakes so allow for it and take it in its stride. We get cheesy and corny sometimes so even if your brand is slick and refined, don’t be afraid to rough it out in your campaign if you want to make some real friends for your brand, not just fans.

When coming up with a brilliant idea like Coke’s, always take time to step back and look at how to imbue the execution with qualities that would make it humanly genuine. Consider loosening your neckties, climbing onto the meeting table, or just having a good banter! There is no better way to come up with a human branding experience by being human in planning and strategizing. Less business, more human!

Lesson #3:  Co-operate. Make friends with other brands.

Since humans have friends, and brands should be more human, then why shouldn’t brands have friends? In Coke’s Happiness Machine, we see the man in the machine doling out what appears to be a pizza from Pizza Hut and a few-footlong sub from Subway. Coke realises the brand experience could be multiplied with the right partners – this is the same with any brand. It’s often rewarding and fulfilling to find another brand that can help you along on your way to achieving brand objectives.

True enough, few successful brands often walk the road alone: auto manufacturers need to be backed up with good engine, stereo and tire manufacturers, and America is essentially a collection of some of the most well-known and best loved brands in the world. For any branding campaign, there’s always a brand or two who can help yours along and add value to your brand’s next move.

Lesson #4: Don’t settle. Keep building upon your brand narrative.

Coke didn’t settle for a vending machine that dispenses bottles of Coke non-stop. Rather, they kept pulling out the stops. All of them. Finally, the video climaxes with the multi-foot sub being eased out of the machine. Perhaps we can also expect a ‘making of’ video that will be released shortly afterwards!

Just like a great viral story, branding is never an end in itself. For brand builders, there is always a higher and greater mountain to scale. Once the momentum is created with a single well-executed move, it is time to look at planning the next one.

A compelling and consistent brand narrative can be powerful for your brand’s ascendancy when crafted and paced well. Like a satisfying novel, the brand narrative can lead to surprising and uncharted territories for both you and your stakeholders. Don’t settle for a single tactic. Develop a whole strategy to milk the narrative idea for all its creative worth and also explore how the idea can branch out into equally rewarding offshoots. The result of not settling can be an insanely memorable and enduring brand, thanks to an awe-inspiring narrative that turned a short story into a epic trilogy – all because of great brand storytelling.

Lesson #5: Publicize (The less fun stuff is very very important).

Be it a viral video, campaign or narrative on different media platforms, a great idea needs to draw attention to itself to achieve its greatest potential. Alongside the actual video, the people at Coca Cola had probably put their brains together to figure out how to gain maximum exposure on the traditional and social media space where the video is broadcast – less fun, but necessary nonetheless.

Akin to careful media planning, always link any independent branding ideas to overall brand strategy and make sure there are intrinsic similarities between the two. This is why the Coke Happiness Machine could never have gotten the mileage it has had if it were a standalone, spur-of-the-moment idea. Closely related in ideology to the Open Happiness campaign, the foundation and drive of the mother campaign pushes the message of the viral video forward and amplifies its impact. As a result, people can relate to and interact with the individual experience in a way that affirms their relationship with the brand as a whole.

Running the gamut of media platforms from social spaces like Facebook fan pages to mainstream television talk shows and news bulletins, ensure the success of your next branding move by taking the above five lessons (thanks to Coke) into account and in turn, crystallize an indelible brand experience for everyone involved in it. Now it’s time to set about doing the one thing for your brand that people would wish they were the ones who done it instead!

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