Analysis of Coca Cola Heist Advertisement

    Coca Cola Heist Advertisement Rhetorical Analysis

Coca Cola is one of the leading soda beverages brands of the world. Apart from its large product portfolio with varying flavours, the brand is also known for its excellent marketing capabilities and advertising campaigns. You can identify the Coca Cola brand by its name and its logo easily among  large crowd of brands. This level of brand awareness is not possible without the years of investment that  the soda giant has made in marketing and advertising.  Coca Cola is known for having created some of the most exciting campaigns in the business world. In the recent years, its approach to marketing has changed a bit. Digital advertising is now one of its central focuses. However, its marketing videos have always been a  central element in its marketing strategy. These videos apart from generating excitement around its products also aim to engage its customers. They work to attract new as well as retain old customers. One major thing about Coca Cola’s marketing strategy is that  it targets the young customers mainly. The more interesting an advertisement is, the deeper will be the level of customer engagement made possible through it.  Coca Cola’s heist advertisement video is interesting like a fairy tale and just as beautiful and appealing. This is an analysis of the Coca Cola heist ad and its rhetorical elements and persuasive techniques. The Heist ad mainly demonstrates the popularity of Coca Cola but in a  way that will be equally interesting for kids and grown ups.

This time Coca Cola takes it to the nature where an army of bugs is busy stealing a sleeping picnicker’s Coca Cola. A well coordinated team of nature’s spies pretty skilfully steals the drink to have a sip of the elixir. The Heist ad won the 2009 Creative Arts Emmy awards for its creativity. The ad shows a man trying to have a nap with his bottle of Coca Cola on his right in a park. A red bug flies to the bottle and sits on its cap. Grasshoppers hiding among the grass buds are watching while a swarm of bees from the trees flies to the trophy and pushes  so  the bottle falls. Next come the grasshoppers who roll the bottle away from the man, aided at their work by a  butterfly which meanwhile sits on the man’s nose so he has to take his hands lying in the path of the rolling bottle away to move her.  They take it through stream on leaves of water lily to a safe point where a big bug opens the bottle. Elixir flows from the bottle into the small flowers from where each team members gets his due share to take away. The man wakes up to hear the sound of the bottle being opened and ends only a dozen butterflies on his side playing fools with him.  At last, Coca Cola is for everyone and even the bugs love it.

The three persuasive elements egos, pathos and logos are an integral part of marketing communications and are used to persuade the audience. This is an analysis of these there elements in the Coca Cola Heist ad.   

Ethos – Ethos or ethical appeal is generated by reference to ethical sources or is based on the credibility of the author. Coca Cola is a well known brand and has  strong image in the market. This world renowned brand and its market image are the most important sources of credibility for its marketing messages. Coca Cola is seen as a brand for the youth and carries a customer friendly image. The name and logo of coca cola are used in the ad to create connection and trust.

Pathos:

Pathos refers to the use of emotions in messages to persuade the audience. The emotions that the coca cola ad evokes include joy and merriment. A man is resting in a park amid flowers and trees. the ad shows the bigs having fun and stealing Coca Cola. the tone of the ad sets a playful mood and encourages fun with Coca Cola. This is done in order to connect with the emotions of the young generation.

Logos:

Logos or logical appeal is about the use of logic to persuade the user or the audience to buy. Coca Cola’s logic is not just to quench thirst. It is about creating happier moments full of fun. The one minute long ad is absolutely full of fun with a fitting tune playing in the background that  complements the tone and mood of the advertisement.

In this way, Coca Cola uses a clever mix of the three elements to connect with its audience and  drive deeper engagement. During the recent years, digital engagement has become a very important focus for the soda brands. However, these video ads apart from driving engagement also serve to attract new customers. this ad was highly popular because of its unique composition and the high level of creativity. The bugs and their theft of Coca Cola bottle excited the audience’s emotion and filled people with joy. It attracted more than one million views in YouTube alone.

Sources: