Coca-cola sales tend to dip in the winter months, which includes India's biggest festival. Our objective was to increase the relevance of the product during this time and make it an integral part of Diwali celebrations. Diwali has lost some of its magic over the years, owing to people not making the effort to meet each other in person. Especially after the pandemic and the lockdowns, many have gotten used to wishing each other on Diwali through phone calls, whatsapp and video calls, instead of celebrating in person like they used to. As a brand that has always stood for bringing people together, Coca-cola seized the opportunity by surprising the world with a unique innovation - a Coke that inspires people to not just greet, but meet.

To bring back the magic of Diwali, we launched Locked Coke - a Coke bottle that anyone can send their loved ones as a gift. The catch? The bottle will only open when you meet face-to-face! The Bluetooth-enabled bottlecap will unlock when it is close to the sender’s phone, which means the only way you can enjoy the Coke is by making the effort to meet. Through this simple promise of meeting up, Coca-cola inspired millions to come together, and make Diwali feel like Diwali again.

Customers across the country could surprise their loved ones by having a Locked Coke delivered to their doorstep. All they had to do was visit a microsite, enter the recipient's address, and customize the message on the bottle cap. It is virtually impossible for the recipient to open the bottle by force. When they met in person, the sender could activate a bluetooth signal on their device to pair with the bottle and it would unlock instantly. The bottlecaps were configured to check the Device ID of the phone trying to unlock it, and couldn't be opened by any other device. Users who received Locked Cokes from their loved ones made the effort to meet, with some users traveling across the country to meet their friends after years of keeping in touch virtually.

Customers across the country could surprise their loved ones by having a Locked Coke delivered to their doorstep. All they had to do was visit a microsite, enter the recipient's address, and customize the message on the bottle cap. It is virtually impossible for the recipient to open the bottle by force. When they met in person, the sender could activate a bluetooth signal on their device to pair with the bottle and it would unlock instantly. The bottlecaps were configured to check the Device ID of the phone trying to unlock it, and couldn't be opened by any other device. Users who received Locked Cokes from their loved ones made the effort to meet, with some users traveling across the country to meet their friends after years of keeping in touch virtually.

Within days of the launch, the one-of-a-kind innovation was picked up by publications, social media channels and influencers from all over the world, and the campaign gained over 500 earned media placements and 33 million views. 120,000 participants invited their friends through this unique platform, and shared their experiences on every social media channel. A whopping 51,000 user-generated posts further spread the campaign to an even wider audience. Users who received Locked Cokes from their loved ones made the effort to meet, with some users traveling across the country to meet after years of keeping in touch virtually. The bottle brought all kinds of people together for Diwali, from childhood friends to relatives, and it even got some people to pay their parents a long-overdue visit. Not only was ‘Locked Coke’ one of the hottest topics during Diwali, it also proved to be Coca-cola’s most talked-about campaign till date.