Coca-Cola's refreshing new take on relationships with #ShareACokeIndia campaign

With the aim to provide unique experiences and enhance personal engagement with consumers, HP Inc. has collaborated with Coca-Cola India, one of the country’s leading beverage companies, to bring the famous ‘Share a Coke’ campaign to India. The initiative aims to give people the opportunity to celebrate relationships that have evolved over the years and reignite them by creating a moment of happiness that comes from sharing a Coke. “Share a coke” campaign is being technologically supported by HP Indigo digital printing.

Coca-Cola is on a journey of reconnecting and reigniting relationships. With the youth redefining relationships with new perspectives, it promises to be an exciting journey for a brand that is loved by millions around the world. With theme ‘Har Rishta Bola, Mere Naam Ki Coca-Cola’, the narrative draws upon the significance of relationships for Indians and reignites them by creating moments of happiness that comes from sharing a Coke.

In line with the initiative’s principal idea, Coke cans and bottles are now available with 20 special relationships printed on them, including Bae, Bro, Dude, BFF, Dad, Mom, Daughter, etc. Labels have been created in 12 languages, which are English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Malayalam, Oriya, Assamese, Gujarati, Punjabi and Marathi. Each relationship is accompanied by an exciting descriptor, such as Grandad (Old School. Yet Cool), Grandma (Scolds me. Spoils me), Daddy (My teacher. My friend), Mom (Above the rest. Simply the best) Son (My devil. My angel), Sis (Supermodel. Super role model), Bro (Troublemaker. Merrymaker), Boss (Pushes me. Promotes me) and nicknames including BFF (Laughs with me. Cries with me), Bae (Bugs me. Hugs me). A total of 11 crore labels will be printed digitally using HP Indigo 20000 digital press on PET bottles through the machine installed at Mumbai-based Huhtamaki.

Explaining the thought behind the campaign, Ajay Bathija, Director-Colas, Coca-Cola India & South-West Asia said, “Share A Coke campaign has sparked imagination across the globe and received overwhelming love from the consumers. We are delighted to bring this campaign to India and create more ways for people to enjoy their special moments of togetherness with the people they care about. We are delighted to partner with HP for the Indian spin of our #ShareACokeIndia campaign, that takes a refreshing new look at relationships. Capturing the essence of unique relationships, it is this refreshing take on changed nuances of relationships that is the core of our communication.”

Amar Chhajed, president of the labeling business at Huhtamaki PPL, added: ‘It is an advantage to have a sound customer with us as we made this significant investment. Bringing India’s first HP Indigo 20000 should be seen as Huhtamaki’s stepping stone into digital printing. And this investment into digital comes with a much bigger commitment and confidence.’

Explaining the complexities on the ‘Share a Coke’ label printing job, Chhajed commented: ‘The variable data printing for the job comprised of 32 relationships, 12 different languages, and five descriptors to each relationship, which summed up to 3,000 artworks getting printed simultaneously.’

Commenting on the campaign from HP, A. Appadurai, country manager, HP Indigo Graphics Solutions Business, India said: “In this time of information overload, brands are working harder than ever to connect and engage with a young audience. With brands increasingly focusing on targeted marketing campaigns to engage with customers on a personal level, this has resulted in the rise of customization and personalization. The changing tastes of consumers in packaging of goods has the potential to chip away market share of brands as customers value packaging with a personalized touch which adds to the overall emotional quotient of the customer.”

Michael Boyle, vice president, Graphics Solutions Business, Asia Pacific and Japan, HP, concluded: “As brands continue to look for ways to connect with their audiences, we are seeing a growing trend of mass personalized packaging, including desktop label printing campaigns in stores. The HP Indigo 20000 opens a realm of possibilities for flexible packaging converters, by enabling them to efficiently and profitably cope with changing market demands for shorter runs, more varied SKUs, and customized campaigns. HP Indigo is the only digital color printing process that matches gravure quality and is safe for primary food packaging.”

The HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press thrives in the most demanding converting environments to deliver the highest quality for the world’s leading brands. You can deliver high performance applications with immediate time to market. HP Indigo 20000 is best in class digital press for doing these kinds of print jobs with lot of new innovations. The HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press is a market-proven, 762 mm mid-web solution with an image format, speed and imposition capability that make it a highly productive and cost effective digital labels and flexible packaging solution.