Finally, A Branded Facebook App That Does Not Make Me Hate Facebook
Okay, so the title of this post is a little bit harsh but let’s face it, brands have been doing a terrible job of leveraging Facebook (one might say this is true of the social media space at large, but that is a story for another day).
My good buddy C.C Chapman sent over a social media press release about the new CokeTags initiative and my first reaction was, “just what we need, another branded app that will interrupt and annoy, and claim to be joining the conversation”.
I was quite wrong (had I been right, I probably would not have taken the time the write this post. Who wants to read another whiny blogger talk about how everyone is getting everything wrong).
I am not going to go into all of the ins and out about how the CokeTags program works (you can do that yourself). I would rather point out some of the reasons why this new program is really on the right track:
- CokeTags is taking advantage of the notion of the World Wide Social Web. Here is a quote from Michael Donnelly, Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company;
- “While Facebook may be the starting point for CokeTag, it is only the beginning. We are excited to be working towards the potential of expanding the use of the CokeTag application throughout the web and we are now working on the best way to leverage the OpenSocial platform. We are looking forward to the day when anyone could potentially create a CokeTag and have it on all of their social network profiles and their blog and only have to worry about updating it in one place. That excites me.”
- This excited me too! What especially excites me is a forward thinking marketer talking about social media in a way that makes sense
- CokeTag Adds Value
- The application does not merely offer some goofy novelty (i.e. throwing a sheep). The applications accentuates the social nature of the web and potentially provides for deeper connections between friends
- The application takes an existing technology (tagging) and aims to streamline it in a way that is useful and accessible to the masses
- The application does not merely offer some goofy novelty (i.e. throwing a sheep). The applications accentuates the social nature of the web and potentially provides for deeper connections between friends
- Coke Does Not Insist On Inserting Itself In Every Aspect Of The Application
- Sure, Coke has a presence within the application and they even have a branded widget skin, but this is not the default.
- Coke is there if you want them to be part of the conversation. It is also apparent that coke respects the fact that you may not want them around all the time
- Coke Has Created A Platform That Will Help Them (and other marketers) Better Understand The Community
- This point may not be a benefit to the consumer, but from a marketing perspective I think Coke has laid the groundwork to garner some decent user data in a non-obtrusive manner. The employees of Coke will certainly have their work cut out for them when it comes to making this data actionable, but this is a good start.
I am very excited to see whether or not the CokeTags program is something that is adopted by consumers, and does not turn into something that only marketers point to as a good idea. For the sake of advancement in social marketing, I am really rooting for Coke on this one!
Tags: Applications, CokeTags, Facebook Apps, Open Social, OpenSocial, Social Bookmarks, Social Marketing, Social Media Facebook, social networking, Tagging
Jun 15, 2008
I’d pretty much given up on brands figuring out how to leverage Facebook. Not entirely surprised Coca-Cola is leading the way, best reason for me to give this a look.
Jun 16, 2008
Csven
Out of curiosity, why do you say you are not surprised it is Coke?
Jun 16, 2008
While I’m not surprised Coke is doing this, I am however curious as to why… there’s a lot of information that’s passed from Facebook to the application developers. Add that with the amount of tagging information that you hand Coke and for companies its a great way to get demographic information. For privacy concerns however, that’s a different story.
Jun 16, 2008
Really, these are just cascading links. It’s not something that you need Coke for, and it won’t be long before someone else provides a similar app that gives you the same features but doesn’t make you feel like a corporate tool by looking at the Coke logo every time you use it. There is nothing about Coke that has anything to do with this application, so the relationship feels forced.
Jun 16, 2008
Michael
I do agree that Coke (and Linkstorm) are not breaking new technological ground. I also agree that someone else can easily come along and duplicate this effort; but that is true of just about any app.
What I am really impressed with here is Coke’s thinking. I like the fact that they saw consumer value as the most important component in the creation of this app, and understood that brand association would come as a result of this value.
As for the relationship between this effort and Coke’s brand identity; I am not sure that there need be hyper relevance. After all, Coke is sugar water. What type of App could they create that would make sense for Coke? Coke is in certain ways a lifestyle brand and in this execution they are seeking to be part of the social fabric that ties people together.
I love your comments Michael, but I still think Coke did a great job with this
Time will tell whether consumers adopt this app, and that is something that I am not certain of.
Jun 16, 2008
Indeed, Coke is just sugar water, but as you say, it’s a lifestyle brand. In other words, they’ve spent billions of dollars to make sure that, in the mind of the consumer, they are associated with some things other than sugar water. Do cascading links really have anything to do with all that branding they’ve done before? I guess you can come up with some connection, but let’s just agree that you’d be reaching. They obviously haven’t thought it through in that sense, and I think this would be a lot more interesting if they had.
Jun 17, 2008
Not surprised as a result of their previous R&D efforts, and my own experience regarding “Coke’s thinking” in how they approached and responded to Second Life trademark issues (ref: http://blog.rebang.com/?p=1335 ).
Jun 17, 2008
Michael
Again, I don’t think it has anything to do with cascading links. That is merely the technology that is powering the effort.
The cascading links are powering social connections between people, and this I feel is how the brand is making itself relevant to consumers.
Jun 17, 2008
[...] useful, and not something that feels like advertising.” Yes, that was the entire point!! And from A Media Circus—“I like the fact that they saw consumer value as the most important component in the creation [...]
Jun 24, 2008
CokeTag – For real? That sounds like something interactive marketing execs might get themselves involved in at 3am at Mars Bar.
Jun 24, 2008
I suppose that would be a different type of CokeTag