Coca Cola Survey: White Can Campaign Good Idea, Poorly Executed

Coca Cola drinkers have been in an uproar recently because of the company’s decision to launch a campaign using white cans for regular Coca Cola. The purpose of the campaign was to raise awareness for the plight of the polar bear, but Coke has had to axe the idea earlier than expected because of some customers who thought the cans looked too much like Diet Coke, others who thought regular Coke tasted different in a white can, and even more who just though Coke in a non-red can was wrong.

Public Awareness

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, only 36.8% of respondents said they knew about the white cans before hearing of the public outcry. 21.8% said they learned of the campaign only because of the controversy it caused, and 41.5% hadn’t heard of the campaign at all.

Good Idea, Poor Execution

28% of respondents said they thought the white can campaign was a good idea, and that Coca Cola should bring it back. 42.3% said they liked the general idea, but it could have been executed better. Only 12.3% thought it was a bad idea in general, and 17.5% had no opinion.On the decision to stop the white can campaign early, only 23.5% thought it was the right call. 35.3% thought Coca Cola should have kept the white can campaign going, and 41.3% were undecided.

Future Campaigns

38% of respondents said they would like to see other brands use a similar idea to raise awareness for an issue. 44% said they would like to see similar campaigns, but only when the product itself is not changed. And 18% said they wouldn’t be interested in similar campaigns by other brands.Coca Cola’s white can campaign for polar bears may have been lined with great intentions, but poor planning and executions. Can Coke or other brands make a similar idea work in order to raise awareness for important issues?Photo Credit: Coca Cola Polar Bears from FlickrWhat do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.