Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Today, you probably know Diet Coke for its silver and red branding—which is more or less how it’s looked since Coca-Cola’s sugar-free alternative first launched in 1982. But starting this month, in a market where diet soda sales are down, Diet Coke is going bespoke, as millions of unique designs are hitting U.S. shelves for the first time as part of a campaign called "It’s Mine."

So for the next several months, no two 12-ounce bottles of Diet Coke will look exactly alike.

"Personalization and customization is a huge trend, obviously," says Rafael Acevedo, group director of Diet Coke in North America. With Coca-Cola’s first major personalization campaign, Share a Coke in 2014, the company put thousands of people’s names onto bottles. The idea was that you’d spot someone’s name and want to buy them a Coke—and it’s an idea that worked, with measurable uptake in both short term sales and longer term brand loyalty. For Diet Coke, that concept got a tweak. "In this case, it’s more personal, "Acevedo says, "to have that sense that Diet Coke is giving you something no one else can have."...

Here's a fun way for brands to dole out product samples. As part of its sponsorship of this weekend's NCAA Men's Final Four competition, Coke Zero and Ogilvy & Mather installed a "drinkable billboard" that shoots soda through a massive straw into a public drinking fountain.

The 23,000-pound novelty is in White River State Park in Indianapolis, where the games are taking place. Coke Zero flows through 4,500 feet of straw to spell out "Taste It." Then the liquid travels from the bottom of the billboard to a sampling area with six fountain spouts where people can taste the soda....