Inside Coke’s new London store aimed at building ‘brand love’

Coca-Cola has launched a new flagship store in London in an attempt to develop “brand love” between its prospects.

Released these days (28 April), the shop is positioned in London’s Covent Garden and shares Coke-branded components and quality apparel traces.

The new retail store ties in with Coke’s ‘Real Magic’ brand name platform, launched in September 2021. Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey has earlier reported a single of the platform’s vital aims is to make “best-in-course shopper-centric promoting experiences”.

Vice-president of licensing and retail, Michelle Moorehead, describes the new shop opening plays into this intention, the focus remaining on encouraging every person to opt for a “more human way” of operating.

“By embracing exclusive views, moments – and most importantly experiences – our retail areas, and in specific the new London keep, allow for us to convey unique Coca-Cola experiences to our buyers,” she states.

We feel that combining exclusive on the net activities, with strong in-individual experiences, will be essential to offering our fans the very best of Coca-Cola.

Michelle Moorehead, Coca-Cola

Direct-to-purchaser (DTC) is an location Coca-Cola has been investing in for some time now, but largely in an on the web potential. For case in point, during the pandemic the business launched DTC ecommerce marketplace, Your Coca-Cola.

Physical DTC offerings are additional unconventional for the manufacturer. The Covent Back garden locale is the very first-of-its-type in for Coke in Europe. The start builds on the “successful” development of very similar merchants in the US, says the brand.

Moorehead acknowledges that “digital platforms are the future”, declaring that Coca-Cola’s DTC platform has been “a hit with consumers”. However, actual physical retail does play a part in the brand’s innovation technique.

“Innovation can get many types and shapes, and this shop is just a person way we’re innovating to carry our brand name to new shoppers and engage our present shoppers to develop brand name adore,” she says.

“We imagine that combining one of a kind online encounters, with potent in-individual ordeals, will be crucial to providing our fans the ideal of Coca-Cola.”

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The keep is concentrated on trend, with specific consideration paid out to streetwear. The products readily available are top quality, featuring collaborations with designers these types of as Soho Grit, Alma de Ace, BAPE, Herschel and Staple.

There is also a possibility for consumers to engage in personalisation, by means of a Coca-Cola can customisation function. This ties in a electronic component to a physical keep, as people use a monitor to design their possess can.

The store also performs into Coke’s iconography from prints that hark again to the brand’s earlier, to a changing room with a door that looks like the front of a Coca-Cola fridge.

Moorehead describes the store’s item presenting is made with the millennial and Gen Z buyer in brain. The shop will be opened by RuPaul’s Drag Race British isles star Tayce, and influencers and articles creators will be in attendance with a view to reflecting the brand’s existence in culture.

Offering a thing “unique”

Although Coca-Cola is a single of the most perfectly-recognised and greatly obtainable brand names throughout the world, Moorehead suggests this shop provides “Coca-Cola fans” some thing unique.

“We’re generally asked by our enthusiasts where they can get unique solutions and products,” she suggests. “The retail outlet lets us put all of these interesting products in a single location and as portion of an immersive Coca-Cola encounter.”

The start has produced hype between Londoners. Moorehead describes how passers-by have been knocking on the entrance doorway of the Covent Back garden store asking whether or not they can occur inside of, something she states demonstrates their excitement to have interaction with the manufacturer.

Actively playing into the experiential topic the business has experimented with to produce under the Authentic Magic platform, the shop also has its very own bar. This sees bartenders serving up non-alcoholic mocktails and a twist on the conventional Coke float.

There are a lot more ties concerning the electronic and physical in the retailer, with a line centered all around Intergalatic, a new product released previously this year underneath new innovation platform Coca-Cola Creations.

Intergalactic is a new flavour, which imagines what house tastes like. The product or service was launched with a electronic-initial method, inviting individuals to accessibility an augmented fact concert from US singer and brand name ambassador Ava Max just by scanning a bottle.

The London shop brings Intergalactic to a bodily realm, with a line of outfits in collaboration with streetwear manufacturer Staple available in keep.

Moorehead points out the new actual physical spot also supplies Coke with an possibility to showcase its sustainability commitments. The store, for instance, capabilities a clothes and accessories line designed from recycled plastic.

The start will be supported by a focused media campaign, such as proximity OOH, geo-specific social and a takeover of Covent Back garden Tube Station exits.

Coca-Cola sights the London retailer as “a check of a concept”, suggests Moorehead, who is optimistic the outlet will be a hit with customers.

“We’re incredibly hopeful about the outcome offered prior experience and preliminary suggestions, and if prosperous, I believe there’s a good deal of fascination in possessing more of these in the potential,” she adds.