Coca-Cola Great Britain Declares Holidays Are Coming Once More
Spreading the magic of Christmas with an iconic seasonal campaign set to break during X Factor
Coca-Cola Great Britain is hailing the start of the holiday season and spreading festive cheer with its new integrated Christmas campaign. The two phased activity - ‘anticipation' and ‘celebration' - reaches out to consumers through outdoor, TV, radio, on-pack and POS.
Airing for the first time during Saturday night's X Factor (14th November), the iconic ‘Holidays are Coming' ad underpins the first ‘anticipation' phase. The renowned Coca-Cola truck will return to screens in this high-profile slot, signalling to all that Christmas is just around the corner. With insight revealing that consumers love the first time they hear the familiar jingle, and many citing it as the unofficial countdown to Christmas, the prime-time scheduling of the ad is set to propel the campaign to the nation.
The second phase - ‘celebration' - will run in the two week countdown to Christmas. The 30 second ‘Gift of Giving' ad reinforces the message of generosity at Christmas time and champions heart-warming traditional values to a modern-day audience.
Both the ‘anticipation' and ‘celebration' phases of the campaign will be supported by high-impact 96 and 46 sheet outdoor ads, adapted by Mother from the works of contemporary Swedish artist Mikael Erikkson. The visuals take inspiration from Sundblom's famous illustrations of Santa Claus, echoing the warmth of his 1930s style in everyday contemporary settings.
This year, Coca-Cola Great Britain is using a number of avenues to translate the ‘Gift of Giving' directly to consumers. Running throughout the period on 500ml and 2L bottles of Coca-Cola, diet Coke and Coke Zero and 330ml can multipacks, the ‘Greatest Gift' on-pack promotion ensures cut-through amongst consumers, tapping into their passion points with daily prize draws on the brand's loyalty site Coke Zone. The message is also taking to the airwaves in December with an exclusive radio partnership on Capital FM, rewarding those working over the festive period.
In an exciting new addition to the Christmas campaign, Coca-Cola Great Britain is for the first time, sponsoring the London Underground licensed busking scheme. From the 30th November 2009 to 4th January 2010, Coca-Cola will be supporting buskers as they entertain commuters and shoppers alike. (To read more about the scheme visit: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/13545.aspx.)
Cathryn Sleight, Marketing Director for Coca-Cola Great Britain, explains: "Coca-Cola has a rich history in festive advertising and for many, our iconic ‘Holidays are Coming' campaign has become synonymous to the festive season. We're really looking forward to again building anticipation and celebration with our through-the-line campaign during this wonderful time of year, whilst rewarding our consumers for their continued loyalty."
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For further information please contact the Coca-Cola Great Britain press office:
Jessica Silver jsilver@lexispr.com / 020 7908 6545
Melanie Bryant mbryant@lexispr.com / 020 7908 6542
Notes to Editors:
- The ‘Holidays are Coming' ad is set to run 14th November to 13th December in 30 second spots. The ‘Gift of Giving' ad will then follow from 14th to 25th December in 30 second spots
About Coca-Cola:
‘Coca-Cola' remains one of the most successful and innovative brands in the world today. On-going brand and product innovation continues to reinforce this position of leadership in the soft drinks category. In the latest 52 week period ‘Coca-Cola' trade mark has had a fantastic year with retail value sales growing by 3.4% to £528.5 million. The My Coke portfolio (which includes ‘Coca-Cola', ‘Diet Coke' and ‘Coca-Cola Zero') experienced retail sales of £991.5 million in the same period with growth of 2.1% in value and 3.1% in volume versus the previous year. ‘Diet Coke' sales stand at £404 million with growth of 1.1% versus last year. Meanwhile, ‘Coca-Cola Zero', which has been hailed as the biggest NPD launch in over 20 years, is now worth £58.4m up 2.4% on last year. (Nielsen Total Coverage 52 w.e 29.08.09).
Performance in the ‘year to date' 2009 is even stronger with ‘My Coke' growing at 3.3% in value, ‘Coca-Cola' +4.2%, ‘Diet Coke' +2.5% and ‘Coca-Cola Zero' showing a very strong 6.0% value growth versus last year (Nielsen Total Coverage YTD 29.08.09).
