The Coca-Cola Company

Global Water Replenishment Announcement

More than just a drop in the bucket

Challenge

When Coca-Cola achieved a milestone of replenishing the equivalent to all the water it uses globally for their beverages and production – a goal it met five years ahead of schedule – they wanted to tell the story in a way that would resonate with a global audience. Planning to publicly share this exciting news during World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, Coca-Cola tapped us to ensure the success of this announcement.

Jackson Spalding - The Cocoa-Cola Company, Replenishing Water

Hurdles to Clear

Despite the sustainability efforts Coca-Cola participates in worldwide, misperceptions exist around its environmental impact, particularly when it comes to water usage. The company also didn’t want any creative assets that were developed feel like an ad or look like their typical marketing. Finally, instead of announcing the news in its hometown of Atlanta, the beverage giant symbolically chose World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden. This meant coordinating logistics for an announcement held 4,600 miles away.

Our Approach

We consider ourselves storytellers, first and foremost. And for an announcement this large we knew that telling that story across several platforms would be key to its success. Our announcement strategy began by arming Coca-Cola executives with the messaging and communications materials to help them best tell their story – from broadcast media talking points and a media advisory to an international print campaign and a host of digital assets.

Jackson Spalding - The Cocoa-Cola Company, Replenishing Water

The Big Idea Unfolds

Our creative concept drew inspiration from a letter written by Coca-Cola Senior Director of Global Water Stewardship Greg Koch, who said, “Water is the heart of our business, so all of our efforts to replenish water we use are a true labor of love.”

Jackson Spalding - The Cocoa-Cola Company, Replenishing Water, Media

Using the concept “water is at the heart of what we do,” we developed a print ad that ran in national and international publications as well as infographics to illustrate the company’s progress. Our Digital Team also created several creative assets for Coca-Cola Journey, the company’s corporate digital magazine, to promote the announcement. We developed a new themed website skin, featured imagery and versions of our infographic optimized for desktop, tablet and mobile screens.

Jackson Spalding - The Cocoa-Cola Company, Replenishing Water

Jackson Spalding - The Cocoa-Cola Company, Replenishing Water, Online

Coca-Cola digital campaign

Global Impact

Our team helped coordinate an exclusive event in Stockholm coinciding with World Water Week to honor all of the partners, stakeholders and executives who helped Coca-Cola achieve this goal. As members of the Public Relations Organization International (PROI) network, JS was able to collaborate with The Gullers Group to help coordinate all the event and broadcast logistics leading up to live interviews with CNN and CNBC the day of the announcement.

Jackson Spalding’s energy, creativity, attention to detail and global network were essential in helping us flawlessly execute our announcement.”
 Serena LevyThe Coca-Cola CompanyCorporate External Affairs Director

The Results

Coca-Cola’s announcement received notable international attention, including live interviews with CNN and CNBC. Full-page ads ran in the Sunday editions of The New York Times and The International New York Times, which have a combined print circulation of 1.3 million. On Facebook, more than 94,000 people liked the post and more than 3,542 people shared it on their personal pages. But this is only the start of the journey, as Coca-Cola continues to grow its conservation efforts.

94 k

likes on facebook

1.3 m

impressions from New York Times

150 +

influential stakeholders attended our event

Team Coke

Meet the JS team that supported Coca-Cola across two continents to make this announcement such a huge success.

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