Share a Brand with Personalized Marketing

Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" campaign isn't anything new. It first made its debut in Australia in the summer of 2011 as its take on a world growing more interconnected thanks to the Internet. For the next three years, the campaign would hop from one major market to another, with the latest landing in several Asian countries.

At first sight, it didn't seem to be anything big. It's just putting random names at the back of millions of Coke bottles. Yet, the Australian market registered a 7-percent increase in young adult consumption and 6.8 percent in the global market. What made this seemingly simple marketing campaign work?

According to marketing experts, the campaign focused on personalization. Most people would be thrilled at the sight of their name on thousands of Coke bottles being sold around the world. In 2013, a survey found out that people were willing to share personal information just to get their names on the official list. That's still the case today.

User-focused content is indeed a great way to promote a brand. Customers want products to relate to their situation. Will sharing a bottle of Coke make a person engage in random chitchat with friends and family? That depends on the person, but based on the marketing successes of the soda brand, it seems to be that way.