Creating a positive perception of a consumer brand requires more than just showing off that company’s main product. For example, a food and drink brand can turn to apparel or housewares as a way to further engage with customers in other aspects of their lives, and use products with high perceived value as a way to elevate its core product and brand perception.
In this particular case, Coca-Cola is using a posh storefront in London’s Covent Garden neighborhood to sell items like apparel, accessories and drinkware and interact with shoppers beyond just the refrigerator.
The store appeals to London’s youthful streetwear scene, too, by offering products in collaboration with celebrated designers and brands like Soho Grit, Alma de Ace, Herschel, BAPE and more, according to Marketing Week. To reach that young audience globally, the store invited influencers to share their experience.
“We’re often asked by our fans where they can get exclusive products and merchandise,” Michelle Moorehead, vice president of licensing and retail for Coca-Cola, told Marketing Week. “The store lets us put all of these exciting products in one place and as part of an immersive Coca-Cola experience.”
LOOK INSIDE: Coca Cola has opened the doors to its first flagship store in Europe today, in a vote of confidence for the West End. @emilyhwkns was invited in: https://t.co/aqPB7Odwdx pic.twitter.com/zMVC2kdfT7
— City A.M. (@CityAM) April 28, 2022
Moorehead added that the brick-and-mortar location is part of a plan to create “best-in-class consumer-centric marketing experiences” and bring the brand to consumers in a “more human way.”
In the very digital-first landscape, choosing physical locations that depend on foot traffic is an interesting choice. But, Coca-Cola is betting that a collaboration with big-name designers, tying in social media usage through influencer marketing and the brand’s globally recognizable aesthetic, is enough to attract people. To enhance the experience beyond just shopping, too, there are “bartenders” on location to make Coke-based mocktails for shoppers.
There’s also the customization factor. Shoppers can create their own personalized Coke cans using a design screen within the store, meaning even if they don’t shell out the money for high end apparel, they’ll leave with something that reminds them of the brand and the experience.
And once they’re on their way home, they might even stumble across extended marketing on the tube, where Coca-Cola is housing a “geo-targeted social and takeover” of the Covent Garden station.
“We’re often asked by our fans where they can get exclusive products and merchandise,” Moorehead said to Marketing Week. “The store lets us put all of these exciting products in one place and as part of an immersive Coca-Cola experience.”
Creating a well-planned and far-reaching promotional experience that focuses on just that—the experience rather than just the products—makes a huge difference in how consumers view your brand. That is, of course, as long as it’s done right.
Coca-Cola nailed it on a few fronts here:
- Using apparel in a location known for high-end shopping in a major city to create a luxurious association with the brand from the jump.
- Integrating other aspects of the brand identity into the space, like changing room doors that look like red refrigerator doors.
- Using social media as a complement to the physical space and appealing to young consumers with influencer marketing.
- And guaranteeing people can leave the space with a souvenir even without buying a piece of designer clothing. A Coke can with your name on it becomes a keepsake, not just a thirst-quencher.
Coca-Cola is already weighing the chance of expanding beyond London if this store is successful. It speaks to the fact that, even in this digital world, there is always space for experiences, and for physical items like apparel and drinkware, in marketing and advertising.
