the rundown

Coke wanted to get young adults involved in Arctic Home, an effort by Coca-Cola to protect the polar bear and its habitat. Our idea Snowball Effect, a free mobile app that lets you spread the word about it by starting virtual snowball fights with Facebook friends. And since no one wants to back down from a fight - especially one for a good cause - challenges spread from friends to friends.

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The Building Blocks

We really wanted to get young adults to be more interested in Arctic Home. So instead of guilt-tripping them into it, or asking them to do their part, we brought the campaign to them where they are—mobile gaming and social media. We combined the two together to make a win-win, something that was fun to play and raised awareness about the plight of the polar bears.

The Votes

The Details

Agency
Brand
Coca-Cola
Targeted Regions
  • North America
Marketing Objective
Launch Date
Nov. 1, 2011

The Team

  • Leo Burnett Chicago www.leoburnett.us/chicago/
  • Doug Burnett, Art Director
  • Pablo Jimenez, Art Director
  • Jeremy Adams, Copy Writer
  • Rock Darlington, Producer
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The Stats

  • 8 team members working on this project
  • 375 tears of joy
  • 5 food categories replaced by Chinese takeout

The Results

Snowball Effect increased sales at 7-Eleven by more than 20%, contributing to the $1.7 million raised for Arctic Home. In just 9 weeks, players started more than 50,000 snowball fights and helped spread the Arctic Home message to more than 12 million Facebook friends. It was awarded a 2012 One Show Entertainment Gold Pencil, a 2013 FWA Mobile of the Day, 2012 Young Guns Shortlist, and a 2012 National ADDY Gold. Coke named it the all-time best retail campaign in its 125 year history.

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