Coca-Cola Polar Bears PR Campaign

  The following is an analysis of the Coca Cola Company’s Polar Bear Support Fund public relations campaign. This page includes an analysis of the campaign itself, use of news releases and the subsequent news stories written by the press employing Coca Cola’s news release.

The Campaign

   The Coca-Cola Company is one of the oldest soda companies in the United States and was founded in 1886. Coca-Cola has evolved its public relations campaigns with the changing times and has kept up with the modern standards of environmental sustainability. When choosing a PR campaign I decided to select the Coca-Cola Polar Bear Support Fund.

    The Coca-Cola company features a family of polar bears in all of its’ advertisements for Coke around the holiday seasons. These advertisements have been linked to an extensive public relations campaign in which the Coca-Cola company, in association with the World Wildlife Fund, have teamed up to promote giving money to a “Polar Bear Support Fund”. The tagline of the campaign is “It’s time for us all to take action. To reduce our human impact on global climate change. To help support the polar bear”.

    I think that this PR campaign does an excellent job in both promoting the Coke brand as well as promoting the Polar Bear Support Fund. By teaming up with the World Wildlife Fund, the Coca-Cola Company appears concerned for the environment and like they are actually doing something to prevent global climate change. The PR campaign ties in the popular advertisements and the branded image of the “Coke Polar Bears” with a concern for the environment.

Map of Polar Bear Habitats

   The PR campaign has its’ own interactive website where you can learn about the polar bear poulations and the WWF as well as adopt your own polar bear to give money to. The site also features interactive “E-Cards” that you can send to people about supporting the polar bears. There is also a section on the site where the Coca-Cola company promises to be sustainable and provides a list of “commitments” that the company has in regards to being environmentally friendly.

The "Take Action" Moto

Sustainability and Beijing

     The Coca Cola company has initiatives in other forms of sustainability including new forms of packaging for the bottles and environmentally friendly vending machines. One partnership that the company was able to make was a deal with the 2008 summer Beijing Olympics. The company made a documentary film featuring the personal stories of seven torchbearers that were chosen by Coca Cola. One torchbearer representing the Coca Cola Polar Bear Fund campaign was Filiz Demirayak of Turkey. Demirayak is the World Wildlife Fund in Turkey. Coca Cola was able to successfully tie in their partnership with the World Wildlife Fund through the Beijing Olympics. By choosing seven representatives that illuminate Coca Cola’s environmentally sustainable campaigns, the company shed a positive light on its’ image. The press release regarding the publication of the documentary can be found here.

In the News

   This news release about the importance of environmetal sustainability and the chosen partnerships Coca Cola decided to highlight in the torchbearing was used in several news stories. This story highlights the WWF and the connection between the Coca Cola brand and environmental organizations such as the fund. By publishing the news release and getting media coverage such as the above linked story, Coca Cola appears to be concerned for the environment and encourages consumers to purchase their brand. Overall the planning and execution of this campaign along with the publication of the news release was successful in bringing positive attention to the Coca Cola Company.