Coca-Cola X Marvel: Gen Z Fandom Activation Strategy
Client: The Coca-Cola Company
Challenge: Brand Partnership Strategy
My role: Project Lead, Strategy Director
Tools: Mobile Diary, IDIs, Affinity Mapping, Storytelling
November 2023
New York, New York
How We Chose "Afternoon Hero" for Coke's X Marvel Partnership Strategy
Background
A brand partnership is the way to access an audience segment that one brand cannot reach on its own. It introduces the brand in a relevant and favorable context and suggests opportunities for enjoyment.
Challenge
Coca-Cola is on a quest to gain a cultural cachet especially among Gen Z - the next big cohort of customers. To energize the brand among young consumers, Coca-Cola approached my team at BAMM to explore how to partner with Marvel. Hence, it not only creates a short-term media spike but generates a long-term opportunity to grow the brand among Gen Z.
My role: As strategy director, I led the project, designing the research strategy and developing insights-based recommendations with a team of two junior members. Reporting directly to the client, I guided implementation across global regions.
Define what role the brand can play in a world of Marvel’s fandom rituals
Fandoms operate under unspoken rules and provide a “sense of belonging” through ritual, commonly known as “community spirit.” When you perform similar actions to someone, you feel like you better understand the world of a stranger. Ritual is key to belonging.
Getting to grips with these rituals takes time. Fandoms are passionate communities based on clear and, to a great extent, fixed identities. Missteps in engagement can lead to long-lasting negative perceptions.
Low-impact observational research methodology
Our research involved observational studies and in-depth interviews and took time. Several days, including two weekends, were spent building trust before conducting detailed interviews on fans’ insights. We worked with 15 self-identified "serious fans" rather than casual or super fans.
Research Components
Long preamble: Several days, including two weekends, allowed time to build trust.
Representative, knowledgeable, efficient sample: N=15, Gen Z, gender and ethnicity mix, those who self-identify as “serious fans.”
Mix of self-paced and guided tasks: Self-paced audit of Marvel material provided context of relevant objects, guided interviews and stress-test of fans’ do’s and don’ts.
Mix of Individual and group tasks: Friends interviewed each other and we observed their dynamics. We provided a list of provocative questions to encourage participants to challenge each other.
Fandom engagement is a lifecycle: Marvel's Wolverine premiere will be the next big spike in fandom
Marvel Premiere is a fandom festival. After the festival is over, memorabilia remains as a reminder of a moment, often shared with friends and family.
While a memorabilia strategy is a way to get the brand on the radar, an important step is to keep it there.
“My sister-in-law is also a fan and we speak about what happened in a comic, and the things that changed in the different worlds.”
-Naomi, 20
“When there is a new release, you see lots of Marvel fans and you can make friends very easily”
Brand Partnership: came for the memorabilia and stayed for the afternoon pick-me-up moment.
Coke has an occasion-based strategy. This company’s point of view has become a starting point for thinking about how to inspire fans to stay.
Is there anything better than a good energy boost during an afternoon slowdown? It sounds like a time for Coke. Afternoon pick-me-up is an existing connection to Coke’s equity. Why? The caffeinated base and bubbles represent energy, and Marvel has something to offer to this story as well.
Energy of Marvel’s Characters
While "energy" isn't Marvel's primary equity, its characters resonate strongly with this theme. We used projective exercises to understand a character’s intrinsic associations and decode which had the most “energy” in them, recommending a focus on characters, not the “Marvel” brand at large.
Revealing fandom Infrastructure
Fandom constitutes a robust infrastructure of norms, identities, and motivations. While less driven by insights, it answers where fans go to express their fan identity.
The ultimate value of comic books
In general, fandom rules stay true to the original source of the fandom. While Gen Z grew up in the movies, comics are the original source of ultimate truth. Coke’s campaign elevated the value of comic books, with campaigns built on comic characters, and not movie representations.
Conclusion
Overall, the campaign proved highly successful, and while sales numbers are yet to be revealed, this author appreciates the @Slicedude2004 comment: "One of the greatest Coca-Cola campaigns."