My visit to the Coca Cola Factory in Atlanta
I spent a large portion of my childhood in Atlanta, Georgia - or it feels that way. My cousins live there so we used to visit at least once a year for around a decade, not to mention additional trips for celebrations and holidays.
So, when we had an excuse to go back (for my cousin’s bar mitzvah), I insisted on taking my husband to the Coke factory.
As a designer and marketer, experiences like this are my personal Disneyland. Actually, Disneyland is my personal Disneyland, too. I can’t help but notice some great moves Coke made throughout the exhibits and lessons that all brands can learn from them.
1. DON'T SELL A PRODUCT; SELL AN EMOTION
Coke doesn’t sell carbonated caffeinated drinks to quench your thirst and energize your taste buds.
They sell Happiness - memories, family, joy. It’s not just a product, it’s the emotional need behind the product that causes people to choose their brand over their competitors.
Coke found their niche, their strong differentiating factor, and pushed it hard, consistently. They no longer are just a product - they’re a brand.Points to Ponder
Dig deeper than just the surface level and find out the real reason your customers buy from you, what they LOVE about you - or create something for them to love - and then form your marketing around that point. Become more than just a product - fulfill an emotional need.
2. TELL A STORY
Before you enter the factory and explore the self-guided exhibits, you’re met by a Coke employee. He tells you the history of how Coke was started, interacting with the audience, asking questions, and showcasing historical artifacts.
This introduction gave context and background to the factory experience, created a sense of unity among the visitors, and made you more interested and emotionally connected to the product.
Their story is now a part of your story because you experienced a version of it yourself.
Points to Ponder
How can you bring out your product’s unique story in your marketing? Does your visual branding and messaging reflect your brand story?
3. DELIGHT WITH THE DETAILS
Sure, they could have just used a generic white poster board with the words “out of service” typed out in a stencil font.
Instead, they took the opportunity to create a delightful experience for customers with a spot of creative copy and an on-brand design.
Like the joy in receiving a uniquely-written confirmation email, it’s a part of the brand experience that could technically be brushed over as unimportant. But instead it was converted into a moment of delight for their customers that will build an emotional relationship with their brand and keep them coming back.
Points to Ponder
Are there spots in your customer journey that, with minimal effort, can be turned from generic into a moment of connection - a “moment of magic”? (Thank you Shep Hyken for that term)
4. BE DISTINCT
The Coca-Cola bottle design brief, 1915: “A bottle so distinct that it could be recognized by touch in the dark or when lying broken on the ground.”
As Marty Neumeier titled his famous book - when everyone is zigging, you zag. To stand out in a crowded market (or any market, really) you need to be different. That can come in the form of the production shape of your packaging or it can be your visual identity.
Part of the reason for brand strategy is to create your unique brand positioning. To discover what makes you special, what your target audience loves about you, what sets you apart from your competition, and lean into it.
Being in the gray area in the middle of the road might seem safe, but in business it’s actually the riskier option. Staying neutral means you risk becoming just background noise - no one really hears or relates to you. Forgettable.
Points to Ponder
Does your product or service stand out from others or are you mimicking your competition’s language and visuals? What areas could use improvement - positioning, messaging, or design?
5. ENGAGEMENT IS EVERYTHING
Rather than creating a static exhibit, parts of it were interactive: You could create your own digital coke bottle design, taste different Coke flavors, and share your story.
This interactivity creates a memory around the fun experience with the Coke brand.
Creating engagement like this builds an emotional connection between customers and their company. And the more emotionally invested you are in a company, the more loyal you are to it.
Points to Ponder
Is your customer experience static or engaging? Can you add an element of participation to give customers a feeling of ownership or partnership in your brand?
6. ASK FOR - AND LSITEN TO - FEEDBACK
We all know that customer feedback is important in order to understand from their point of view what you’re doing wrong and what you’re doing right. That way you can fix what’s not working and not repeat mistakes. Plus, hearing what your customers love about you in their own words makes for great copy for your website, sales pages, emails and general marketing materials.
But most companies do it wrong.
People don’t like filling out long feedback forms - especially the ones with obligatory open-ended questions. Instead, make it quick and fun.
These colorful faces along with the promise that it will only take you 30 seconds make it easy for customers to provide genuine feedback without impeding on their precious time and energy.
Points to Ponder
Are you getting enough customer feedback? What could you do to improve the process and make it easier for customers to send genuine reviews?