MANILA – In celebration of Pride Month, Coca-Cola and Ogilvy join the LGBTQIA+ communities around the country as they advocate for diversity and inclusivity by turning bottle labels into wearables, and not just any wearables — the bottle labels turn into Pride wristbands that people of all genders can wear loud and proud, in support of the LGBTQIA+.
On how the team came up with the idea, Ogilvy’s Social Xperience Lab Content Lead Gretchen Que said, “So naisip namin ‘Anong pwede nating gawin dun sa label para ma-maximize natin siya.” Dun siya naging wrist band. [So our team thought, ‘What can we do really maximize the label?’ That’s how we came up with wristband.] And then of course now that people wear it, people interact with it, and then the video became the natural progression of that idea.”
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola’s ASEAN Connections Planning Director Yasmin Mallari remarked, “The framework that we follow is actually about the integrated brand experience so if you look at it, it needs to be grounded on the product. It’s creating experience out of it.”
The Coca-Cola rainbow-colored labels are the beverage brand’s way of being one with the community in the promotion of diversity, equality, and inclusivity – not just among the members of the LGBTQIA+ community – but in the country. The labels enable their consumers to take part in showcasing Pride on a day when labels do not matter.
“The first reason why we created this bottle because we were thinking what’s the simple way of greeting the community in such a very very simple way, we can actually execute it,” Ogilvy’s Social Xperience Lab Content Lead Hans Malang revealed.
Que added, “It was important for the execution to be simple, not only for execution’s sake. But also for the people who will interact with it. Pag tiningnan nila, they will understand agad what it is. [When the community sees the bottle and the label, they will immediately understand what it means.] What it’s telling them even without so many words.”
Coca-Cola worked around the concept of having just one day to celebrate pride and turned one part of the Coke bottle into something people can wear. The rainbow is used as it is the most widely recognized LGBTQIA+ symbol all over the world.
“The campaign doesn’t speak to the LGBTQIA+ community alone, but to everyone who shares the ideals of love, togetherness, and inclusivity. These are universal shared values that cuts across society segments and borders. So regardless of what we identify ourselves with, these are human principles we all should celebrate,” said Ogilvy Managing Partner Donnah Alcoseba.
Diversity and inclusivity have always been at the heart of Coca-Cola for over 100 years. This is reflected in the way they do their business, and in how they develop their policies, marketing campaigns, and sustainability initiatives. With this simple change in label, Coca-Cola continues to share the aspiration of the Philippine LGBTQIA+ community for a more open, progressive, and accepting society.
Mallari opined, “The intention is not to sell, not to make money. I think the reason why we decided to do this because as a company, we’ve always looked at diversity and inclusiveness. I think our experience in Coke in the Philippines, it’s all about people being together. So it’s very much aligned with the brand. It’s not because we need to mass produce everything.”
Indeed, Coca-Cola displayed their all-out support to the LGBTQIA+ community, doing as far as replacing their trademark logo with the community’s symbol. Coca-Cola’s IMCR ManagerI PH PAC Samantha Sanchez declared, “As you know, Coca-Cola’s logo is a billion-dollar trademark. So for us to actually remove all of those and replace it with something more relevant to the consumers. It’s really a big move for us. And that really shows our commitment to how much we support and share the aspiration of the community when it comes to inclusivity and diversity.”
