Cans, codes and Q&A: Coca-Cola details Hong Kong World Cup campaign

McCann Worldgroup has adapted Coca-Cola’s global FIFA campaign, ‘The World’s Cup’ to suit local markets and ensure local soccer fans spread excitement as they gather with friends.

As an official World Cup sponsor, Coke’s campaign tagline in Hong Kong is ‘人人樂場’, which roughly translates as ‘Everyone can join the matches’.  The phrase plays with the word 'happiness' (樂), which sounds similar to the word for 'cola' (可樂) as well as the Cantonese word for ‘join in’ (落).

Zero Kwok, McCann Hong Kong’s associate account director, told Campaign Asia-Pacific the agency is prepared to engage Coke fans with humour and creative ideas. McCann Hong Kong’s past efforts for the brand include the Coke 'iOpener' and the 'Chok! Chok! Chok!' campaign, which took a number of regional and global awards.

The World Cup campaign will roll out in three phrases from April through July, Kwok said.

During phase one, from 12 April to May 6, fans hunted supermarkets and convenience stores for 24 special-edition cans decorated with the colours of the competing countries.

The second phase, which Kwok said is the core activation component, is the ‘601 football-related Q&A’ (人人樂場 601 問), which starts today on a dedicated mobile mini site. This phase encourages fans to scan QR codes they find on cans in order to obtain wallpaper photos and match schedules, as well as answer FIFA-related trivia questions.

Sample questions include whether people have more hair on their heads than blades of grass on a football pitch, whether the circle mark on a football pitch is bigger than the world's biggest pizza, and how many feet Paul the Pyschic Octopus had?

In phase three, from 29 June, Coca-Cola will celebrate the ‘goal moment’ during the matches involving the final 16 teams. Fans who scan a QR code when a goal is scored will be entered into drawings to win the whole box set of 24 FIFA cans.

The campaign will also offer five weekly incentives, including the grand prize of sending the winner (and his or her lucky friend) to watch one of the final eight matches of the World Cup in Brazil in July. “We hope that with the activation mechanism, we could create lots of buzz and viral talking points for the campaign in town,” Kwok said.

The media buy, through UM, includes three TVCs rolling out today. Each spends 10 seconds on an interesting football question and 20 seconds on explaining the game mechanics. The ads will appear on TVB, bus TV, cinema, YouTube and Apple Daily’s Action News app, supported by OOH ads in trains and buses, plus online ads.

Earlier, Coca-Cola Hong Kong launched a digital online activation, 'Happiness flag' in its minisite, part of a global activation programme that encourages people to submit photos, some of which will appear during the World Cup opening ceremony in Brazil.