Last night I noticed the new advertising campaign from Coca Cola Enterprises…   Wait, hang on a second… Enterprises?  When did that suddenly spring up?  Has Coca Cola become a member of Starfleet?  Should we expect to see Captain Sisko drinking from a can soon (apologies if you don’t get these references but I promise you, they are very very funny!). 

The new campaign is yet another example of brands taking on a ‘boutique’ approach to communications.  It is interesting that in a time when consumers are losing faith in the power of big brands (thank you banks and government), the smarter brands are trying to communicate more directly and locally.  This has been seen across the globe and is a good way to really get under the skin of your ‘core target’ as well as giving your consumer the opportunity to interact and mould the mother brand.  People see more of the personality of a brand and not just the corporate face. 

Does the advert make me want to drink coke?  No.  Does it make me realise that it is not just a brand in outer space but something making a difference locally?  Yes.  So job done. 

My only criticism of the campaign is the timing.  For me, Coke has always been a part of Christmas – not because my family drink bottles of the stuff over the queens speech but I believe you really know it’s Christmas when you start singing ‘the holidays are coming, holidays are coming…’ I personally would have ran this in early in the New Year when people need a pick-me-up.  That would also add an element of ‘is this how Coke are planning to communicate moving forward?’ which is interesting… for me, the advert will get lost in the clutter apart from a select few (and me)