'Beat' of the tunes

Everybody’s talking about it–and learning the moves and the chant that go with it.

"We’ve had parents calling the Coke office to ask if they can get the lyrics for their children or for their office party. We’ve had store owners who have bought more cases just so the salesman can teach them the moves. People are buying Coke just to play the game," said The Coca-Cola Export Corp. division marketing director Edwin Domingo.

Conceived as a pre-thematic summer promotion, the "Beat" television commercial was launched last Jan. 2 and was expected to air only until the end of this month.

"The market response has been unexpected. It’s viral marketing at is most infectious. We are eagerly awaiting the monthly consumer tracking study before we take the next step," said Domingo.

As of end-2003, Coke had a 65% market share of the 700-million-unit-cases local carbonated beverage business. (Within Coca-Cola’s global organization, the Philippine sales volume of Coke is the largest in Asia). Combined with other brands such as Pop Cola, Coca-Cola Export controls 85% of the market.

Relevance

Even without the CT study in hand, Coca-Cola Export will soon be airing the fourth series of "Beat"–this time, using students of the Philippine Military Academy.

"The message is addressed to teen-agers, who account for 85% of the Coke market. We have taken the three passions of teen-agers–sports, connectivity, and music–and we have come up with a message that they could relate to. With less money during hard times, teen-agers resort to gimmicks or sharing," said Domingo.

"Beat" took about 3,700 man-hours from conceptualization to post-production, well within the industry average. For inspiration, Coca-Cola Export and its agency, McCann Erickson, looked at commercials produced in Latin America, zeroing in on one called "Chihuahua", which had a repetitive song.

McCann then localized that commercial, putting in the moves that all little girls who play "patty-cake" are familiar with and the chant. During the shooting of the commercial, the moves were further modified by the two talents (coeds from De La Salle University) to make these easier to memorize.

Message

"The core idea of ‘Beat’ is a continuation of our 2002 ‘Mismo’ campaign–that only Coke hits the spot where you find the most fulfillment," said Domingo. "Previous to ‘Mismo’, our messages for the longest time were that ‘Life tastes good with Coke’ and ‘Enjoy life with Coke.’ These were good messages at the wrong time. Chat rooms perceived the Coke brand as an arrogant leader but not as a hero. Coke was perceived as the ‘softdrink ng bayan’ and it was with a 62% to 63% market share but it was not considered relevant. Coke was still market leader but consumption suffered."

Coke’s dominant position is a study in the dynamics of the local carbonated beverage industry.Early on, it came in two sizes–the 8-ounce and the family size bottle–to address the affordability issue of the C-D market, which accounts for 65% of total sales. To address the issue of availability, Coke has used the distribution network of Coca-Cola Bottlers Phils., Inc., a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp. The 8-oz. Coke is currently carried in 65% of the country’s 750,000 sari-sari stores and accounts for more than 50% of the profits generated by a sari-sari store (with a profit of between P40 to P45 for each case of 8-oz. bottles sold).

"We’re looking at stronger than usual Coke sales towards summer and the pre-election period, traditionally heavy consumption periods for the carbonated beverage industry," said Domingo. "We’re hoping people will not only talk about Coke but will see it as the preferred brand to buy because it is relevant, gives value and is everywhere."