Why Coke's New Campaign is Eternally Refreshing

In case you haven’t noticed, Coca-Cola’s new “Share a Coke” campaign is creating quite the buzz these days.

Since its launch in early June, the campaign has highlighted the newly designed coke bottles, whose iconic logos have been swapped with over a thousand millennial names and a catchy hashtag to boot.

It's, no doubt, a genius advertising ploy, which will help one of the nation’s most endearing products trend into more favorable marketing territory, especially after last year’s misfocused health-centered approach.

But perhaps what’s most encouraging about Coca-Cola’s latest crusade is how it has placed generosity back in the limelight, while also making community just as much of a refreshing appeal as the product itself. Considering the self-serving age we live in, you gotta give Coca-Cola major props for successfully pulling this off.

Yet, it’s the drive’s impeccable timing, which may be the sneaky-good wildcard in all this.

Think about it: Like location in real estate, timing is everything when it comes to smart marketing…and in the case of Coca-Cola, the tables turned once it considered how connectedness is trending in greater measure, especially among young people.

Basically, what Coca-Cola did was:

1) Consider the current social landscape…

2) Identify with the individual…

3) Identify with an entire generation…and…

4) Connect the two by a heart-warming maneuver…that also just so happens to contrast the cliché, commercialized idea that the individual is equivalent to the center of the universe.

I mean…seriously. It’s like Coca-Cola asked themselves what Jesus would do if he ever got his hands on an icy, cold bottle of coke….and then ran with it…

However, this story goes much deeper than a megacorporation’s winning move.

‘Cause when we twist the lid off this year’s campaign, we not only see 16 ounces of fizzy tranquility, but also a brewing evolution, where the selfless approach to harmonious relationships takes center stage.

And true, we’ve seen this communal side of Coke before, thanks, in part, to those fun-loving polar bears skating their way into the frozen tundra of our imagination.

But it’s entirely different when a creative stroke becomes something personal…something real and interactive…when the idea of sharing something refreshing starts inspiring us to dream about ways we can bless one another.

How awesome is it that God would use something as simple as an effervescent beverage to remind us why we’re here...and how even a popular product, like Coke, can challenge the world to be strong and courageous.

So next time you buy a coke, don’t just shake up the happiness, but give God thanks for the people in your life, how He inspires them…and then begin to pray that as people encounter random acts of carbonated kindness, they’ll find the eternal refreshment they've been looking for.

Until then, I encourage you to be the living embodiment of Proverbs 11:25 (NLT):

"The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed."

Stay thirsty, my friends.

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