Diet Coke’s Oscars Work Led By Live Twitter Bingo & TV Spots

Diet Coke leveraged the Academy Awards by running three commercials during the Oscars telecast – including two new spots.

The two new 15-second ads focused on the liquid itself: one was called ‘Tall, Dark and Handsome’,

while the other was ‘Afternoon Delight’.

The third commercial was a 30-second ad, called ‘Economy Class’, that first ran last year.

All the spots continued the brand’s ongoing, current taste-focused “Get a Taste” approach developed by agency Droga5 and first launched last autumn with a campaign fronted by Taylor Swift (who didn’t appear in The Oscars’ ads, but continues to act as a brand ambassador).

Diet Coke actually began activated around The Oscars well before the telecast itself by posting Oscar-related content on its online magazine Coca-Cola Journey – including one article that acted as a guide on how to throw a ‘blockbuster party night’ for the show.

RT @rachparcell Party prepping on Pink Peonies for Hollywood's biggest night! #GetATaste http://t.co/4bVkX66Pt7 pic.twitter.com/wvn04Mdqk5

— Diet Coke (@DietCoke) February 23, 2015

But perhaps it was the real-time work that was most interesting.

The Oscars 2015 push also saw Diet Coke use social media to give away special ‘crystalized’ (blinged-up) Diet Coke bottles.

Fans were invited to enter the competition to have a chance to win one of the bottles by tweeting their predictions of the key Oscar winners and using the hashtag #GetATasteSweeps.

12 years of work. 1 glorious award. Congrats #BestSupportingActress. Find out soon if you won too! #GetATasteSweeps pic.twitter.com/rNJUh0oD2n

— Diet Coke (@DietCoke) February 23, 2015

Diet Coke’s Oscars campaign also included a Tweetable Bingo Board as a pillar around which it could leverage Oscars’ social media buzz with an interactive, participatory tactic.

@DietCoke @kassteroil now THIS is an Oscars bingo drinking game I can get on board with! 😉 #Oscars2015 pic.twitter.com/yyDhXJQJsl"

— jen (@jendriesbach) February 23, 2015

This tweetable, red carpet bingo board for to use during the ceremony provided an interactive strand to the brand’s Oscars activity.

In a mixed old media / new media approach, initially it prompted users to print out the bingo board and then urged people to play it with their family and friends – with the brand telling users in real-time over Twitter whenever a moment happened that corresponded with a square on the bingo board.

The drinks’ brand tweeted phrases such as ‘Square 4E: Why have one outfit when you can have two? We feel the same way about Diet Coke. #GetATaste #Bingo.’

The squares on the board itself were individually labelled – such as ‘Award recipient trips’, ‘Flashy bling’, ‘Kicked off stage by musical cue’ and ‘Nervous acceptance speech’.

While the free space in the centre was the Diet Coke logo – ensuring the game was a (well) branded experience.

The brand even suggested bingo players reward themselves after the ceremony with an ice-cold Diet Coke.

Comment

While many other brands – from Coors to Subway and Dove – used Twitter to drive parallel Oscars second-screen brand engagement, Diet Coke’s tactic of combining that with print and a [physical object was fairly u usual.

The wider campaign was part of a wider attempt to reinvigorate the brand which, despite its long heritage of advertising during the Oscars, allowed rival Pepsi to become the exclusive soft drinks advertiser in the 2014 Oscars.

Parent brand Coke also advertising during the telecast.

‘This is one element of our bigger strategy to connect to loyal users that love Diet Coke,’ outlined Dirt Coke’s North America group director Rafael Acevedo.

‘We are prioritizing people who already have a standing relationship with the brand.’

‘This broadcast is the pinnacle of award show season and one where we know our fans are tuning in,’ said Andrew McMillin, VP of Coca-Cola brands for Coca-Cola North America.

‘Diet Coke will join the conversation about Hollywood’s biggest night, encouraging fans to get a taste of Hollywood through unique social content and airing spots during the broadcast.’

While last year Coke got lucky when it got its brand into the telecast via pizza boxes after host Ellen DeGeneres ordered pizza midway through the show, this year’s ad buy marks a return to The Oscars for Coca-Cola after sitting out last year and allowing rival Pepsi to take over as the exclusive soft-drink advertiser.

And it marks a major investment too, with ABC charging up to $2m for 30-econds spots during its awards show.

Especially as Diet Coke remains stuck in something of a sales slump – as does most of the rest of the diet soft drinks category – and it seems like it is trying to buy its way out of the lull.

Links

Diet Coke YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/dietcoke

Diet Coke Twitter

https://twitter.com/DietCoke

Diet Coke Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/DietCoke

Diet Coke Google+

https://plus.google.com/+DietCoke/videos

Diet Coke Website

http://www.dietcoke.com/

The Oscars Website: