SITUATION

Every year, Coca-Cola kicks off the holidays with the world-famous Holiday Caravan, a consistent and disciplined approach that over more than two decades cemented Coca-Cola as the quintessential holiday brand.

But Gen Z brought a more muted sentiment around anything holiday related. Gen Z was joining fewer family get-togethers, giving fewer gifts and overall participating less in the most wonderful time of the year.

BRIEF

Gen Z was evolving how they valued holiday traditions, so we had to evolve one of our most iconic brand-owned traditions for our new audience.

OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Holiday Caravan has always been to connect feelings of celebration, togetherness and happiness with the Coca-Cola brand as well as increase consumption during wintertime.

Our objective was to future-proof Coca-Cola’s position as the ultimate holiday brand by evolving the Holiday Caravan and making it resonate with a new Gen Z audience.

Gen Z was craving authentic, immersive experiences that evoke emotions and create lasting memories. So, we saw an opportunity to evolve our Coca-Cola Holiday caravan to become a collection of experiences that tap into their desire for novelty and social connection.

Coca-Cola’s Holiday Caravan 2.0 took what had historically been a sampling activation and turned it into a global series of unique experiences aimed at capturing a reluctant Gen Z audience in over 100 markets, making this new iteration of the Holiday Caravan the one that generated more PR than any of the Holiday Caravans that came before it.

INSIGHT

Gen Z was craving authentic, immersive experiences that evoke emotions and create lasting memories. So we saw an opportunity to evolve our Coca-Cola Holiday Caravan to become a collection of experiences that tap into their desire for novelty and social connection.

KEY MESSAGE

We wanted Gen Z to get a taste of holiday magic by Coca-Cola.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Gen Z was a generation more reluctant than any other to participate in the holidays.

CREATION AND DISTRIBUTION

In Japan, 1,300 drones took to the skies to create holiday magic.

In Germany, the Holiday Caravan rode 1,287 km by train.

In New York’s Times Square, the campaign spread across 39 billboards.

In the 24 hours before Christmas, we rolled out activations in over 100 nations.

All of them were aimed at Gen Z but tailored to local regions.

A few examples:

In Germany, the Holiday Caravan 2.0 took over the rail system traveling by train from one major train station to the other — connecting Leipzig, Hamburg, Munich and Berlin.

In Japan, the Holiday Caravan 2.0 took over the skies around major cities with the help of over 1,300 drones, taking the real magic of the holidays to a whole new level.

In New York, the Holiday Caravan delivered a Times Square takeover by wrapping one of the world’s more ad-polluted places as holiday gifts while giving away thousands of actual gifts.

The campaign reinvigorated Christmas participation for Gen Z across more than 100 markets and was broadcasted on widely via social media. In the weeks leading up to the arrival of the Holiday Caravan 2.0, local news outlets created excitement and anticipation and reported as the campaign unfolded. Overall, this initiative cemented Coca-Cola’s Holiday Caravan tradition for years to come.

Over 5 million people interacted with our campaign in person.

Earned media was valued at $350 million.

7% net revenue growth

Gen Z Coca-Cola consumption increased by 2%.

800 million impressions in over 100 nations