The success of Coca-Cola's Share a Coke campaign
in which the brand name was replaced by 150 of Britain's most popular
names has led to a lot of scratching of heads as to what it was about
this campaign that meant it worked so well.
Chris Deere, head of brand activation at Coca-Cola Great Britain explains that, beyond the obvious attempt at personalization, the campaign is about sharing: "We wanted people not just to find bottles with their own names on, but to surprise a friend or someone they love by seeking out a bottle with their name on it," he explains, pointing out, too, that social media is one way that global brands can make local connections.
Of course, Coke is fortunate in that, even with the removal of its traditional logo, its script is still iconic, the red and white immediately recognisable, the world over. Deere admits that the strategy wouldn't have worked with a brand which didn't already have so much equity behind it. So would others be foolish to try to emulate the success of this campaign?
The answer seems to be no, as long as any debranding is undertaken with some considerable thought as to the underlying strategy or purpose behind it, and whether it will work for the brand in question. Because, for something seemingly so simple, an awful lot of thought would have gone into the Coke summer campaign, as Sally O'Rourke, managing director of brand insight consultancy Promise Communispace points out. "What Coke does extremely well is to appear not to take itself too seriously," she says. "The campaign is about a quirky moment, something for me, a one-off, and a moment in time."
O'Rourke sees the trend for more 'silent' or 'quiet' branding as an antidote to the busy and frequently 'branded' world in which we live in. "The sheer amount of competing information out there means that it is no longer sufficient for brands to shout louder than others in the marketplace about their virtues. Consumers are growing weary of the noise," she says.
Starbucks has also tried to reduce some of this noise-weariness by removing its moniker and debranding some of its stores so that they seem more local, more approachable and less corporate. But what Coke and Starbucks have in common, of course, is that they are two of the most easily recognisable brands in the world.
Tony Cortizas, vice president of global brand strategy at Melia Hotels International, points out that Starbucks faces similar issues to Nike, which he believes was one of the first brands to use such a strategy. Nike has moved away from using its name, preferring just the swoosh logo. According to Cortizas, brand maturity or saturation comes into play: "Starbucks' problem, which is the same that Nike has faced, is that it is everywhere," he says. "You reach a point where your logo is no longer cool."
And debranding can also work well when a company needs to overcome prejudice. Brian Millar, strategy director at Sense Worldwide points out that it can encourage people to listen to what's being said, rather than who's saying it. He recalls writing a tube advertising campaign for the British Museum which featured long copy but no logo. "Research showed that people who wouldn't consider going to the British Museum also wouldn't read an ad about it. So we got rid of the logo, and just wrote interesting things. If anybody got to the last paragraph, they'd realise it was an ad for the British Museum," he explains. He points out that Apple has just done something very similar with a recent print campaign: "You have to read the copy to realise it's an Apple ad. You find yourself nodding along with the copy, and – badda bing – there's the brand."
Of course the term debranding is in itself just a label which can mean different things to different people. And it's important to bear in mind that a logo doesn't equal a brand. These days, brand experience is key and the holy grail for many is to create such a great experience, that there is less of a need for overt branding or labeling: the experience can speak for itself.
And while dropping your logo may make you seem more forward-thinking, bold, or less corporate, there have also been attempts to debrand which have gone very wrong. Sony Pictures released a debranded DVD of its film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in an attempt to tie the product in with its 'hacker' theme. But the disk, which looked 'homemade', did not match the 'slick marketing and photographic design' that the rest of the merchandise featured, as an analysis by Marketing Week points out. In fact a number of consumers believed it was fake and tried to return it.
So, whatever you do, don't try to be too clever – or worse, end up looking duplicitous or hypocritical. Tim Hill of The Brand Union points out that consumers were "shocked and horrified" to learn that Harris + Hoole - a chain of coffee shops many believed was independent and artisan - actually had the backing of the UK's largest retailer, Tesco. "A business can no longer survive with an opaque facade," he warns.
That said, digital or brand 'noise' isn't going to decrease any time soon, and Uri Baruchin, strategy director at WPP agency The Partners, believes that brands that can effectively create "gaps in the noise" would do well to do so. Coke found such a gap, and it resulted in growth in Facebook traffic on its branded page of a reported 870%.
Chris Deere, head of brand activation at Coca-Cola Great Britain explains that, beyond the obvious attempt at personalization, the campaign is about sharing: "We wanted people not just to find bottles with their own names on, but to surprise a friend or someone they love by seeking out a bottle with their name on it," he explains, pointing out, too, that social media is one way that global brands can make local connections.
Of course, Coke is fortunate in that, even with the removal of its traditional logo, its script is still iconic, the red and white immediately recognisable, the world over. Deere admits that the strategy wouldn't have worked with a brand which didn't already have so much equity behind it. So would others be foolish to try to emulate the success of this campaign?
The answer seems to be no, as long as any debranding is undertaken with some considerable thought as to the underlying strategy or purpose behind it, and whether it will work for the brand in question. Because, for something seemingly so simple, an awful lot of thought would have gone into the Coke summer campaign, as Sally O'Rourke, managing director of brand insight consultancy Promise Communispace points out. "What Coke does extremely well is to appear not to take itself too seriously," she says. "The campaign is about a quirky moment, something for me, a one-off, and a moment in time."
O'Rourke sees the trend for more 'silent' or 'quiet' branding as an antidote to the busy and frequently 'branded' world in which we live in. "The sheer amount of competing information out there means that it is no longer sufficient for brands to shout louder than others in the marketplace about their virtues. Consumers are growing weary of the noise," she says.
Starbucks has also tried to reduce some of this noise-weariness by removing its moniker and debranding some of its stores so that they seem more local, more approachable and less corporate. But what Coke and Starbucks have in common, of course, is that they are two of the most easily recognisable brands in the world.
Tony Cortizas, vice president of global brand strategy at Melia Hotels International, points out that Starbucks faces similar issues to Nike, which he believes was one of the first brands to use such a strategy. Nike has moved away from using its name, preferring just the swoosh logo. According to Cortizas, brand maturity or saturation comes into play: "Starbucks' problem, which is the same that Nike has faced, is that it is everywhere," he says. "You reach a point where your logo is no longer cool."
And debranding can also work well when a company needs to overcome prejudice. Brian Millar, strategy director at Sense Worldwide points out that it can encourage people to listen to what's being said, rather than who's saying it. He recalls writing a tube advertising campaign for the British Museum which featured long copy but no logo. "Research showed that people who wouldn't consider going to the British Museum also wouldn't read an ad about it. So we got rid of the logo, and just wrote interesting things. If anybody got to the last paragraph, they'd realise it was an ad for the British Museum," he explains. He points out that Apple has just done something very similar with a recent print campaign: "You have to read the copy to realise it's an Apple ad. You find yourself nodding along with the copy, and – badda bing – there's the brand."
Of course the term debranding is in itself just a label which can mean different things to different people. And it's important to bear in mind that a logo doesn't equal a brand. These days, brand experience is key and the holy grail for many is to create such a great experience, that there is less of a need for overt branding or labeling: the experience can speak for itself.
And while dropping your logo may make you seem more forward-thinking, bold, or less corporate, there have also been attempts to debrand which have gone very wrong. Sony Pictures released a debranded DVD of its film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in an attempt to tie the product in with its 'hacker' theme. But the disk, which looked 'homemade', did not match the 'slick marketing and photographic design' that the rest of the merchandise featured, as an analysis by Marketing Week points out. In fact a number of consumers believed it was fake and tried to return it.
So, whatever you do, don't try to be too clever – or worse, end up looking duplicitous or hypocritical. Tim Hill of The Brand Union points out that consumers were "shocked and horrified" to learn that Harris + Hoole - a chain of coffee shops many believed was independent and artisan - actually had the backing of the UK's largest retailer, Tesco. "A business can no longer survive with an opaque facade," he warns.
That said, digital or brand 'noise' isn't going to decrease any time soon, and Uri Baruchin, strategy director at WPP agency The Partners, believes that brands that can effectively create "gaps in the noise" would do well to do so. Coke found such a gap, and it resulted in growth in Facebook traffic on its branded page of a reported 870%.
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