Coca-Cola Soars to New Heights with Sambandha Utsav Campaign
Coca-Cola has always been able to uphold its brand supremacy by delivering advertisements centered around themes like party, communion, joy and the like. Many a time, the brand has resorted to using celebrities in its adverts who are portrayed as amicable characters expressing themselves unabashedly. While there is nothing wrong with such theatrics, the mark of a successful brand is to exhibit social conscience by understanding the societal plight and doing whatever little it can to uplift the situation.
Sambandha Utsav
The latest Sambandha Utsav campaign of Coca-Cola is the epitome of a well-executed brand promotion strategy that has struck a chord with the Nepalese audience. The promo video is a true manifestation of the recently adopted tagline of Coca-Cola – ‘Real Magic’. Coca-Cola Nepal’s heart-warming initiative has perfectly resonated with the new tagline as it has managed to reunite distanced families for a magical Dashain.
The simmering emotion and the longing to meet the family members is so strong but they are encumbered by financial deprivation. The story of a migrant mother who is united with her son in Nepal and the outpouring of emotion from both sides is a sight to behold. Similarly, the video tells the story of a migrant father who is desperate to meet his infant child but is restricted due to a similar reason.
Making arrangements for their return back home, receiving the returnees from the airport, transporting the returnees using Coca-Cola branded maroon colored vehicles, tracing their journey back home, capturing the raw emotion of those people post-reunion and reinforcing their brand presence in the process has been such a genuine promotion effort from the side of Cola-Cola. By uniting people with their families back home on the auspicious occasion of Dashain, Coca-Cola has, in a true sense, brought back unsung heroes from the Middle East and made the recent Dashain all the more meaningful to those direct beneficiaries. This video is a sweet homage to all the migrant workers who have forsaken their kith and kin to carve out a better future.
Branding & Social Conscience
Brands exhibiting social conscience and taking a stance on socio-political issues is not a new phenomenon. For instance: In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in America, Nike put out an ad campaign prompting people to stand together in a fight against racism. Similarly, Airbnb put out an ad called “We accept” in a Superbowl to promote the spirit of acceptance amongst different racial groups after Trump’s decision to temporarily close borders to refugees in 2018.
In a similar spirit, Coca-Cola Nepal has put out a video highlighting the plight of Nepalese migrant workers and directly helped these individuals to unite with their kith and kin. In doing so, the brand has not only tapped into the raw emotion of Nepalese commoners but has also fortified its brand presence by making a strong moral gesture.
In the Nepalese context, CSR brand initiatives have invariably taken the form of cleanliness campaigns, blood donation campaigns, cultural promotions, education funding, monetary donations and the like. While these initiatives have made an impact, brands have failed to capitalize on these initiatives in a way that enhances their brand relevance. Breaking this long spell of substandard promotion practices, Coca-Cola Nepal has come up with a hard-hitting video that has genuinely touched the heart of the Nepalese audience. By highlighting the bare reality for what it is, Coca Cola has made a strong emotional impact through its video. Moreover, by exhibiting high social conscience and acting in a manner that is befitting of a socially responsible brand, Coca-Cola has showcased that companies need not spend ludicrously on product promotions to solidify their brand supremacy.
