To regain relevance we had to create something unique that would infiltrate the very culture and fabric of young women’s lives. We wanted more than just another passive brand association, so instead of sponsoring someone else’s party, we created our own with the Diet Coke Little Black Dress collection.

The core of the campaign was a celebrity-studded bespoke catwalk show at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, Australia’s premier fashion event. Reviewed as the highlight of Fashion Week, our collection also provided an opportunity for a cross-over promotion with Australia’s Next Top Model where we featured in the penultimate episode.Beyond fashion week, we staged fashion shows across the country, giving women the chance to experience the collection – and the brand. Our journey from inspiration to catwalk provided content and creative that was rolled out via out of home, magazines, online, TV, live events and sampling, in store and pack.

The show was the launch pad of a ground breaking campaign shifting us from the usual ‘Big Coke’ ad to beautiful designer sketches, highlighting the silhouette of the iconic bottle, more typical of couture fashion.The topical, engaging content created through the events allowed us to use media more effectively than traditional advertising. As a result we generated AU$2m+ in PR, and were able to stretch our media by over 40%.Following the campaign, ‘brand relevance’ shot up from 14 to 23%. Most important was the shift in actual behaviour – sales decline halted and sales actually increased by 5%.