Oreo and Coca-Cola: Best Friends Forever
Beginning in August of 2024, Oreo and Coca-Cola announced their unexpected collaboration gaining the attention of thousands. Their campaign featured commercials and ads promoting their product collaborations. Besides these elements, the campaign was not pushed on other traditional advertising platforms by the brands. Coca-Cola posted one post to their social media accounts, announcing their collaboration with Oreo, but that is all we see. Regardless, this campaign was mainly pushed through word of mouth. The two big-name brands collaborating was enough to encourage people to talk about it on social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and blog websites to share their own reviews of the products.
People shared their raving reviews of how the cookies actually tasted like Coca-Cola. Others used Pop Rocks to compare the fizz of the soda. There were also many positive comments about how Coca-Cola made its limited flavor sugar-free. This was a strong move because Coke Zero has become more popular over the past few months as an alternative to Diet Coke which contains aspartame.
Oana Vlad, Global VP of Brand Strategy at The Coca‑Cola Company, mentioned how they were ecstatic to partner with Oreo because of their recent popularity in their advertising with Generation Z. This is evident in their emphasis on their slogan for this campaign “Besties.” Using verbiage that resonates or is humorous to the target audience will equip the audience to be more prone to talking about your campaign. They also took this verbiage to life by encouraging their fan bases to unite with a playful feel to the ads in the campaign. Instead of targeting their own specific audience, they are speaking to both which could be seen as over-ambitious, but works since they both are so iconicly known.
According to Coca-Cola’s website, there were many experimental advertisement events including Ferris Wheel takeovers and a chance to design matching temporary tattoos. On the packaging as well, the audience was prompted to scan a QR code taking them directly toSpotify and asking them song-realted questions about their best friend. They also released a limited edition Coke-Oreo flavored slushie at 7-Eleven.
According to Retail Brew, The word “bestie” (and “besties”) was used in 39,800 at least one version of the term in a hashtag or description, and 3,907, or just under 10%, were from brands themselves. Although there are no case studies published and difinitive numbers, I asked Aritifical Intelligence to gather data from online and estimate impressions. AI predicted that each brand likely generated at least 50 million to 100 million impressions across platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. It also predicted that the influencer aspect could easily add another 50 million to 100 million impressions.
This campaign was successful due to the shock factor. No one expected Coca-Cola and Oreo to collaborate and everyone was curious about how their new products would taste, generating earned media. The package design also had a factor because of the sleek, black, classic look it had that stands out among other colorful candy and snack packaging. The design of the cookie also stands out because one cookie of the sandwich is red and has the design of a Coke bottle. Attention to detail in this campaign has set it apart. It has one big idea with several small factors that speak volumes to the audience. A big thorough idea with small promotion compared to a small idea with saturated advertising will always speak for itself as shown with the Coca-Cola and Oreo collaboration campaign.