Coca-Cola replaces 'Open Happiness' with 'Taste the feeling'

The fully-integrated 'Taste the Feeling' campaign, which will roll out globally throughout 2016, celebrates the experience of drinking an ice-cold Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola has replaced its 'Open Happiness' tagline with the new 'Taste the Feeling'. This marks a major strategic shift in the global beverage brand's marketing strategy as the company replaces its seven-year old brand proposition of 'Open Happiness'. It will now adopt the 'one brand' approach which will extend the equity and appeal of the brand to Coca-Cola Light/Diet Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Life.

The company stated that while Coke's award-winning 'Open Happiness' campaign leaned heavily on what the brand stood for over the last seven years, 'Taste the Feeling' will feature universal story-telling with the product at the heart to reflect both the functional and emotional aspects of the Coca-Cola experience.

.@CocaCola replaces #OpenHappiness with #TasteTheFeeling. Which is better? https://t.co/gpQUlwqLgM #Tellafaqs!

— afaqs! (@afaqs) January 21, 2016

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony in Paris, Marcos de Quinto chief marketing officer, Coca-Cola, says, "We are reinforcing the brand image that Coca-Cola is for everybody. Coca-Cola is one brand with different variants, all of which share the same values and visual iconography."

According to de Quinto the 'Taste the Feeling' campaign will bring to life the idea that drinking a Coca-Cola -- any Coca-Cola -- is a simple pleasure that makes everyday moments more special. "We've found over time that the more we position Coca-Cola as an icon, the smaller we become. The bigness of Coca-Cola resides in the fact that it's a simple pleasure -- so the humbler we are, the bigger we are. We want to help remind people why they love the product as much as they love the brand," he says.

The fully integrated 'Taste the Feeling' campaign -- which will roll out around the world throughout 2016 -- celebrates the experience of drinking an ice-cold Coca-Cola.

An international network of agencies is developing the 'Taste the Feeling' promotion. Four agencies, namely, Mercado-McCann, Santo, Sra Rushmore and Oglivy & Mather, produced an initial round of 10 TV commercials, digital, print, out-of-home and shopper materials. Six additional shops will work upon the creative as the campaign evolves.

And @CocaCola shifts from #OpenHappiness to #TasteTheFeeling in a marvelous take on our lives and the emotions that stem from xpriences

— Aditya (@adiactually) January 20, 2016

Meanwhile, in India, Coca-Cola has heavily used Bollywood celebrities such as Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, and Siddharth Malhotra to reach out to consumers. Its campaigns have hovered around youthful and family-centred themes. With the 'Thanda matlab Coca-Cola', to 'Saath khao, khushiyaan badhao', the company reached out to the young and old consumers alike.

Coca-Cola re-entered the Indian market in 1993, and expanded its portfolio with offerings that have grown to include Diet Coke, Thums Up, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Maaza, the Minute Maid range of juices, Georgia and Georgia Gold range of hot and cold tea and coffee options, Kinley and Bonaqua packaged drinking water, Kinley Club Soda and BURN. The company, along with its bottling partners, claims to have a network of over 2.2 million retail outlets. Its major competitor is Pepsi.