Developed by Coke’s in-house creative unit Red Lounge, the ‘Ao Yun Xing Zhen Rong’ (‘Olympic star team’) blast includes other Coke veterans, including hurdler Liu Xiang, table tennis champion Wan Liqin, diver Guo JingJing, volleyball team captain Zhao Ruirui and rising basketballer Yi Jian Lian, who was just selected by Milwaukee in the NBA Draft.
The campaign broke with national and local TV spots, with further executions to come. It also includes print, outdoor and online, POS, collectable packaging and prizes.
“Pairing celebrities with the brand, like Yao Ming, will help in terms of driving positive association with the brand. This and next year, the key passion is the Olympics, so we aim to leverage that,” said Howard Lam, group sparkling director, Coca-Cola China.
The campaign will include several national teams, from gymnastics to track and field. It also coincides with a national Coke torchbearer campaign, ‘Who inspires me’, which encourages consumers to nominate people in their local community as torchbearers and escort runners during the official torch relay.
The relay component offers 1,188 consumers the chance to take part. The campaign collateral drives consumers to the iCoke website where they can take part in the process.