The Power of Association

In recent years, Coca-Cola has been trying different approaches to please the increasingly health conscious consumer. Coke has long been associated with fast-foods like hamburgers, pizza and chicken wings. It's an association that the Coca-Cola company is now trying to change. As people start moving away from drinking sodas and other sugary drinks, Coke is reminding consumers that Coke can be enjoyed with just about any kind of food.

Coke released this video just a few months ago. Take a look.

This video shows that the Coca-cola company wants you to enjoy a coke with home-cooked, healthier meals we enjoy every day. Whether it's fish, steak or fajitas, Coke wants you to know that it can be enjoyed with just about everything.

In a collaboration with Vox Creative, the Coca-cola company challenged food enthusiasts "to pair their 30 favorite meals with a Coke and post their creations on Instagram". Below are a couple of those entries.

Millennials are foodies. Many people nowadays truly have a love for preparing and eating a delicious, and healthy, home-cooked meal made with natural ingredients. So much so, that the industry predicts millennials will continue to influence the food industry, i.e. restaurants and grocery stores.

Coke's attempt at blending into the foodie culture has led to the new packaging including mini-cans and glass bottles and a new, green-labeled, Coca-cola life which has one third less calories and is sweetened with a blend of sugar and stevia leaf extract (which is green).

Although all these moves are a step in the right direction, Coke will need to keep advertising and repeating their message in order to create a new, more positive association with food. And they will need to repeat it until people feel it is true.

Morty Silber, CEO

Mad Strategies Inc.
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