No Magic in "Real Magic": How Coca-Cola Missed the Mark with Gamers | PART 1

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a big and famous brand known throughout the kingdom for its magical potion. However, as time passed, the brand grew old and uninspired, and its old clothes no longer fit the kingdom's values and inhabitants. New kingdoms arose, and people became more interested in their potions, causing the inhabitants to leave the old brand behind and venture to the new kingdoms to taste their infamous potions - and they loved it so much, they stayed.

It was time for a change for the big red brand with the white swirled letters.

The big king in the castle decided it was time for a journey and reached out to the wizard of magical spells and the holy knight with a purple cape to build the fellowship. They had fought together before against the bad witch of Obvilion and the dark knight of Irrelevance. So they put their heads together and made a plan. But this time, everything went differently from all the times before. There was this mysterious force that they had never encountered before, it was this unique spirit and essence within people who identify themselves as gamers.

Undeterred, the holy knight summoned all the courage he could muster and embarked on a journey to find the magical solution. His journey was treacherous, and he encountered many obstacles along the way. But he persevered, and finally, he discovered the magical solution - the brand needed to reposition itself for a new generation of consumers and promote the values of positivity and inclusivity.

With this newfound knowledge, the holy knight returned to the kingdom and presented his findings to the big king. Together, they introduced a refreshed visual identity and brand platform, alongside a global advertising campaign that included a TV ad, a digital film, and social media activations. And thus, the brand was reborn, with a new purpose, values, messaging, and visual identity - it was like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

The kingdom rejoiced as the new brand resonated with the hearts of the people, bringing about a stronger emotional connection between the brand and its consumers. And the big king, the holy knight, and the inhabitants of the kingdom lived happily ever after, enjoying the magical potion that brought them all together.

This is probably how it was envisioned by 可口可乐公司 , BETC , and Twitch ...

But REAL LIFE is no fairy tale.

Even the biggest companies, who are at the heart of gaming, sometimes fail to advertise to this very special target group - gamers. I'm sorry, Twitch , but you failed big time in the case of the Real Magic campaign from 可口可乐公司 . Don't get me wrong, Coke and Twitch, you have done a lot of great collaborations that work for gamers! And you always try something new! You're in the game, which makes it even more interesting to take a closer look at the Real Magic.

Coca-Cola's Real Magic campaign aimed to reposition the brand for a new generation of consumers and create a stronger emotional connection between consumers and the Coca-Cola brand by promoting the values of positivity and inclusivity.

The campaign introduced a refreshed visual identity and brand platform, alongside a global advertising campaign that included a TV ad, a digital film, and social media activations. It was a real thing for The Coca-Cola Company - a brand platform is a set of guidelines and strategies that define a brand's purpose, values, messaging, and visual identity. It's essentially the foundation that underpins a brand's overall marketing and communications efforts.

While the campaign was successful in engaging non-gamers, it failed to resonate with the main target group of gamers.

In this part, PART 1, I will explain what the campaign is about, PART 2 will be about the Pros and Cons, and PART 3 will be about the insights and what you as a marketer should take into account if you want to successfully market to gamers or GenZ.

A new brand platform and the one thing what let down everything

The complete campaign was much bigger than a lot of people realized, as it was not just any campaign - it was, as mentioned above, a repositioning of the brand for a new era! And thus, the campaign was globally rolled out, well-planned, and very expensive. I would guess that just Twitch alone (without including TVC, print, and other media or production costs) with all the activations, pre- and mid-rolls, streamer collaborations, hero placements, and interactive mini-games developed by Kokodigital, which could be played by streamers online together with their audience, cost between 250,000 to 500,000 USD (but this is just my best guess, and I could be very wrong about the actual numbers).

Sure, the real magic campaign is not just made for gamers, but as well for a new generation, the so-called Gen Z. The story seems charming and nice viewing from outside: "We are one coke away from each other!" We can change, we have the power, we are united through game and events - we are there for this moment - we are Coca Cola! Well, right, what may work for all others seeing this very emotional add, who wants to believe in this spirit of games, for them all was fine, BUT for the gamers themselves...

THE KEY PIECE and when everything went wrong

One of the key pieces on Twitch was this ad (at least what most users saw), which was created by BETC :

It is a video you see an esport tournament and gameplay, which seems to be a mix out of various games - BUT then when all seemed lost - there was the solution, the coke-break: "Make a break get a Kit..." Sorry other advertisement.

This is the moment which destroyed everything:

You can't just grab a coke in the middle of everything - because in an online game, there's no pause! IMAGINE! For all those who are not gamers, in online games, you play in real-time - the moment is THE MOMENT. If you're not there, you can't just revisit or replay it, it will always be different. It would be like Roger Federer seeing a hard-to-take ball coming and deciding to go and drink some water - point for the competitor!

Now let's talk facts

• The hashtag #RealMagic being used over 6,000 times on Instagram which is good as Coca Cola worldwide may just have approx. 5 Million Followers on Instagram
• The campaign got 1.4 million engagements on social media, which includes likes, comments, and shares across various platforms (as well included all negative feedback as comments)
• The YouTube video for the campaign received over 1 million views Additionally, the video received almost, 8000 Likes and ore than 7,400 comments, indicating a high level of engagement from viewers (but let's take a look into the comment section)

• The Coca-Cola Twitch channel lost 4% of its followers during the campaign period, which is a significant drop for a brand with over 30,000 followers.
• While Coca-Cola did not release any specific sales data for the Real Magic campaign, it is worth noting that the company has been struggling with declining sales in recent years. In the third quarter of 2021, Coca-Cola reported a 2% decline in global volume sales, with declines in both developed and emerging markets. It is therefore possible that the Real Magic campaign was not effective in driving sales for the brand.

Making advertisement for Gamers seems not that easy, even for a big brand! More about 可口可乐公司 Real Magic Story in 2 weeks in JAYs INSIGHTS

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